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Outdoors & Water Editor
Beat: Beaches, With Kids, Free Things to Do
Tom guided kayak and fishing trips out of Broad Creek before he wrote about them, and still keeps a tide chart in his head rather than his phone. He covers paddling, boats, beaches and wildlife for us, and he will tell you when the conditions are wrong for the trip you had in mind.
4 guides · 4 news posts
Last updatedTom's most recent update to this site was .
Long-form
Reported guides to Hilton Head Island, each with its own publication and last-updated date.
Guide
Loggerhead sea turtles have been coming ashore here for far longer than the island has had visitors. What the season involves, what the rules ask of you, and what to do if you meet one.
8 min read
Guide
Hilton Head's beaches face east. The ocean side gets the sunrise, and the sunset belongs to the creeks, the sounds and the marsh on the other side of the island. That one fact changes where you should be standing at seven o'clock.
9 min read
Guide
The dolphins here are residents, not migrants, which changes how you plan a sighting. What the tide has to do with it, what a fair price looks like, and where to watch from shore for nothing.
10 min read
Guide
Seventy-two miles of paved public path, seventeen more inside Sea Pines, and twelve miles of hard sand that only exists at low tide. Here is how to ride all of it.
8 min read
News desk
Shorter, dated pieces about what is changing in Hilton Head Island.
How this was written. News published under Tom Brantley's byline was drafted by machine from primary sources — operator notices, government and municipal releases, published schedules — and every factual claim in it was matched to one of those sources before it published. A Hilton Head Guide editor can change or pull any of it. Our editorial standards.
Seasonal
The time you booked in July is often not the time you sail in October. Operators reset sunset departures every couple of weeks through the shoulder season.
Seasonal
Loggerheads come ashore here between May and October, and the Town's lighting ordinance, hole-filling rules and volunteer dawn patrols all key off those dates.
Beach update
Shore Beach Service staffs up from late March and peaks in summer. The Town's paid-parking window opens the same month, with one notable exception.
Seasonal
More than 60 miles of public pathway, a Gold-level Bicycle Friendly rating, and a hard-packed beach that only exists for a few hours either side of low water.