The May River

The May River is the reason Bluffton is here. The town began on the bluff above its north bank, and Old Town still runs down to the water at the end of Calhoun Street. It is a tidal, salt-water river: it fills and drains twice a day, winds past Old Town and Palmetto Bluff through wide bands of spartina marsh, and meets Calibogue Sound behind Hilton Head. Bottlenose dolphins feed in it, and pelicans and eagles work the banks.

South Carolina lists the May River as an Outstanding Resource Water, and its oysters are why the Bluffton Oyster Company has shucked by hand at the end of Wharf Street since 1899. The river has had to be looked after: parts of the headwaters were closed to shellfish harvesting from 2010 as the town grew, the Town adopted a May River watershed plan in 2011, and one harvesting area reopened in 2021. Pick up after your dog and carry your trash out, sandbar included.

Twice a day, as the tide goes out, a long bar of soft sand appears in the middle of the May River, and for a few hours it is Bluffton’s beach. Boats nose onto it, kayaks drag up beside them, and people bring chairs, a cooler, a ball and the dog. When the tide turns the water covers it again, so the whole visit is timed by the tide table below: go out on the falling tide, and leave before the rising tide floats your boat off.

There is no road, no dock and no restroom. You need a boat, a kayak or a trip with an outfitter, and every boat needs a sober captain: SCDNR, the county and Bluffton police patrol the river, busiest on summer weekends. Bring water, shade and sunscreen, and take everything home. If you want an ocean beach instead, Bluffton has none; see Bluffton’s beaches and our Hilton Head beaches guide for the island’s, a short drive over the bridges.

Kayaking is the quiet way to see the river. A guided paddle follows the tide along the marsh edge and into the creeks, where dolphins surface close to the boats and the water is too shallow for anything with a motor. The outfitters run two-hour nature and history paddles on the May River, private lessons, and full-moon tours; the booking cards near the top of this page show every May River kayaking trip with open dates.

If you bring your own boat, launch at a public landing (below) and plan the trip around the current: it runs strongest between the tides, and a paddle that is easy going out can be a slog coming back against it. The river widens toward Calibogue Sound, where wind and chop build, so beginners are better off in the upper river. On the island side, our Hilton Head water sports guide covers kayaking and paddleboarding on the island.

Two outfitters run most of the trips on the river. May River Excursions works from a small shop on Calhoun Street and leaves from the public dock, a short walk from Old Town’s galleries and restaurants. Outside, the island outfitter, runs its Bluffton trips out of Palmetto Bluff: guided kayak tours, naturalist and dolphin cruises, a history and heritage cruise, and painting trips on the water. On the Hilton Head side, Outside also runs from Shelter Cove.

The river is also a working one. Inshore fishing trips go after redfish and trout in the creeks, and crabbing and shrimping trips show children how the Lowcountry has always fed itself. For the rest of Bluffton, off the water, see our things to do in Bluffton guide.

Old Town has two ways onto the water: the public dock at the foot of Calhoun Street, where the tour boats pick up, and the boat ramp at Oyster Factory Park on Wharf Street. Farther down, the landings at Alljoy and Brighton Beach open onto the wide lower river, toward the sandbar and Calibogue Sound. Next to them is Alljoy Beach and the rest of Bluffton’s parks.

Everything on the May River runs on the tide: the sandbar, the best kayaking, and whether a boat can reach the shallow creeks at all. The card above uses NOAA’s Bluffton station, at Old Town, so its times are the river’s, not the ocean’s. High and low water here come later than on Hilton Head’s beaches, so don’t plan a sandbar trip from the island’s tide table. For the island itself, our Hilton Head tide chart has the month ahead.