Kiawah Island

The 2nd leg of our journey took us to Kiawah Island.

I didn't have high hopes after my son shielded his eyes exiting the airport screaming,"There's too much sun!" We've been holed up like hermits in Chicago this Fall, Winter, and let's just add Spring to the list too... Sun is new to these kids.

I agonized over this part of the vacation. There's only about 4,000 rental options to choose from and we had never been before so you're trusting your gut. Good thing mine is full of probiotics.

A few things to know about Kiawah:

1. It's a private island. You need to be staying on the island, or know someone who is, to get on (same for neighboring Seabrook). And even when you're on, there are places you can't go (Vanderhorst Plantation).

If you want to do a beach day on Kiawah and you're not staying on the island, Beach walker Park is open to the public.

2. There are alligators. There are lagoons and signs that say "Danger! Don't feed or bother the alligators." As if! We stayed on the lagoon and saw them a few times. There are also a lot of bugs ... they are the kind you don't seems to see and then you looks down and have 20 bug bites on your legs.

Our alligator swimming in the lagoon

3. The pools are for resort privileges only. This means that if you rent a condo, make sure it has these privileges to enjoy the pools. And I recommend it if your kids are little - the pools are 0-depth and are mini splash parks.

West Side Beach pool

 The beaches however are beautiful! Wide open with boardwalks over dunes to preserve the natural terrain. The sand is very fine and will stick to everything!

4. Bikes. Rent them! You won't regret it! We rented ours for our 3 full days there and it took us everywhere we wanted to go. The bike paths are paved nice and pretty easy to follow (we got lost a little - well not lost but more like our paths always went straight to the beach!) You can also bike on the beach if your thighs need a workout.

5. Not too many restaurants.  The resort restaurants were expensive but lovely. We ate at Jasmin's Porch for dinner and Mother's Day brunch. But we also ate poolside one afternoon and the food was good and reasonable. There are a few good restaurants nearby, so we had dinner on John's Island at Fat Hen -- I sucked the LowCounty Lemonade down. Freshfields is right at the island entrance and has a few restaurants and grocery store too.

Mothers Day Brunch on the Terrace

I need one of these right now.

Where did we decide to stay?  Condo on the ocean? 10-bedrom villa in Vanderhorst Plantation? In the end we chose a 2-story townhouse across the street from the beach that had resort pool priviledges which we rented through VRBO.com. The actual Kiawah island resort managed the property (even though it was owned privately) which made check in/out a breeze and we weren't worried about being scammed.  Next time we go, we feel that we can stay further from the beach and bike there (if it saves money).

On the balcony for Mothers Day

Home Away from Home

 This was a great place to come visit and we know we'll be back and as the kids get older there will be different and exciting stuff to do -- like fishing for crabs and maybe an alligator tour?