11 Jun 2025
My family just had a spectacular experience with Captain Mark! We have been vacationing on Hilton Head Island for 37 years, and over that period we have taken many boat tours and outings focusing on dolphin-watching, sunset cruises, secluded swimming, and more. The trip to Vanishing Mile Isle was a standout of our various adventures!
First we went to Vanishing Mile Isle. Captain Mark made sure to get us to the Isle early. Our family had the sand bar to ourselves for almost an hour. We found so many sand dollars and beautiful seashells. We saw crabs and starfish and other shell-inhabiting critters. Mark was knowledgeable about each creature, and really enhanced our experience. When we were about to leave, several other tours had arrived and the Isle was somewhat crowded. The time we had without other tours wonderful, and we really appreciated Capt. Mark’s planning.
After leaving the Isle, we set off in search of dolphins. Capt. Mark knew exactly where to take us, and we soon came upon a pod of dolphins. He explained to us that this particular pod was a maternity pod of mother dolphins and their calves. It was absolutely charming to see them surfacing together. At times the dolphins seemed to be performing synchronized swimming for our enjoyment. The truly spectacular part of dolphin watching was that we were able to witness them strand feeding. Three of the dolphins pushed themselves onto the pluff mud bank to corral some fish. Egrets and a heron watched from the banks, hoping for “extra” fish. I have never seen anything like it before, and the dolphins treated us to this performance at least four times.
This was a wonderful experience, and will go down as one of my family’s favorite HHI experiences. I know we will be reaching out to Capt. Mark before our next trip!