Today at the Beach
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Walking to the Beach
The sand is only a 7-minute stroll from the front door — less if you're chasing excited kids or dogs. The one secret is the pedestrian bridge, which doesn't show up until you know where to look.
- Walk to the end of Ginger Beer Court and turn right onto St. George Road.
- Follow St. George for roughly 500 feet. As the road starts to curve, watch on your left for a paved path down to a small wooden footbridge over the lagoon.
- Cross the footbridge and turn right onto Ocean Lane.
- Beach Access 77A is just ahead, past the hotel parking lot — follow the boardwalk over the dunes and your toes are in the sand. 🏖️
Heads up: the footbridge crosses a lagoon. Keep dogs leashed and away from the water's edge, especially around dusk — this is alligator country.
Open walking directions in Google Maps →The Dunes Buggy
Palmetto Dunes runs a free shuttle, and most visitors never find out about it. We use it constantly: dinner at Shelter Cove, the summer fireworks over the harbour, a drink at the marina — no parking, no driving, no designated driver.
How it works
Call 843-689-4222, tell the dispatcher you're at 7 Ginger Beer Court and where you're headed, and they'll give you a realistic wait time. It goes anywhere inside Palmetto Dunes, Leamington and Shelter Cove: the beach, the golf courses, restaurants and shops, the tennis center, Shelter Cove Harbour, Towne Centre and the Plaza. Call again when you're ready to come home.
Good to know
- It's free. Owners fund it through the association. A few dollars for the driver is appreciated but never expected.
- Runs 8 am – 9 pm daily in season. The season dates change each year — check the PDPOA page before you count on it.
- Call early on big nights. Fireworks and holiday weekends are busy.
- One wheelchair-accessible van is in the fleet — mention it when you call.
Sea Turtle Season
Loggerhead sea turtles have been nesting on this stretch of sand since long before any of us. From May through October, Palmetto Dunes' beach is a nursery — and it's one of the things that makes this place feel like this place.
How it works
A 300-pound female swims a thousand miles to the beach where she hatched, crawls up after dark, digs a nest, and lays about a hundred eggs. Volunteers from Sea Turtle Patrol HHI walk the beach at dawn and stake off every nest. Two months later the hatchlings dig out on a dark night and head for the brightest horizon — which should be the ocean. Only about one in a thousand makes it to adulthood, which is why all of this matters.
What we ask of you (and the Town requires)
- Lights out by 10 pm, May through October — outside lights off, blinds closed on anything facing the beach. A lit window can pull hatchlings the wrong way.
- Red flashlights only on the beach after dark; no phone lights, no flash photos.
- Fill your holes and flatten the castles before you leave — they're traps for hatchlings (and mamas).
- Bring chairs, tents and toys in at night. Turtles have died tangled in beach furniture.
- Give nests, turtles and hatchlings space — never touch, never crowd, and keep the dog well back.
Palmetto Dunes takes this seriously: every summer there are weekly Turtle Talks, "Put the Beach to Bed" evenings, and the Turtle Trot 5K (kids run free), all raising money for the patrol. Dates change each year — see Palmetto Dunes' turtle page and seaturtlepatrolhhi.org for this summer's schedule. Found a turtle in trouble? SC DNR hotline: 1-800-922-5431.
When Should We Come?
Every month has a case. Here's what the weather, the ocean, and the Town's dog rules typically look like.
Tonight's Sky
Walk out to the beach after dark and face the ocean — it's the darkest direction on the island.
Rain Radar
The last hour of radar over the Lowcountry. Summer storms usually build inland in the afternoon and drift toward the coast — you'll see them coming.
In Season at the Docks
What the Lowcountry boats are bringing in right now. Ask for "local" at any seafood market on Skull Creek or Broad Creek and that's what you'll get.