This is a fairly nice way to spend an afternoon in Hilton Head. The cruise is leisurely and leaves the dock at Harbour Town. You will pay $8 per carload to drive into Sea Pines Resort, which is where Harbour Town is located. Sea Pines is a lovely and exclusive part of the island and your $8 only buys you a day pass. If you are already staying in Sea Pines, no extra required. I recommend getting some money’s worth out of the $8 by driving through Sea Pines and out to South Beach, where you can see the fronts of some of the exclusive homes on that beach. Watch out, as the pathways continue throughout Sea Pines and there are many walkers, joggers, and cyclists crossing the small lanes.
The boat tour is good. You travel along South Beach on HHI, then get to a place where the islands open up to the Atlantic. There was a definite change in the air and water when we crossed this area—chillier and windier. Then on to Daufuskie Island. Daufuskie can be reached only by air and water. It’s an exclusive residential community. Read about it on Wikipedia before you go so you know what you are looking at. Daufuskie Island is the famous Yamacraw Island of Pat Conroy novels.
During the trip, we did see two or three lone dolphins but no pods. The dolphins surfaced and dove several times as our captain held the boat in place. There is some limited indoor seating at the snack bar. There is high-level seating on top, which was rather windy on my trip day. I enjoyed the entire rear (aft) of the boat to myself and was somewhat sheltered from the wind.
Warning: A number of people boarded the boat in shorts, flip flops, no jacket, and children without jackets and in shorts. No matter what is happening on land in January, the water is cold and the wind across the water is very cold. Take a jacket/hoodie, hat and some gloves. Wear shoes, not sandals, if you want to be comfortable and not shiver and shake the whole trip.
I especially appreciated the information about oyster beds and shrimping in the area.