Sunday before last I packed up my family right after church and headed out in the boat to enjoy one last day of “summer” on the south end of Morris Island. With cooler temperatures forecasted and water temperatures sure to drop I knew it would most likely be our last opportunity for the kids to comfortably swim and throw the cast net.
While on the sandbar we two girls in their early 20s paddle up on kayaks. They then drug their kayaks across the sandbar and paddled on out into the surf ultimately ending up around of the lighthouse. There was a moderate breeze bucking the outgoing tide so the water was somewhat churned up. Uncertain of their paddling experience and fitness level I kept an eye out. Fortunately they returned to the beach within about a 45 minute time period and appeared to be ok.
When they got on the beach I noticed one of the girls was really struggling to get her kayak back across the sandbar and they both appear to be fatigued. After a short break they relaunched and then attempted to paddle against the tide in lighthouse inlet. Both girls were struggling and getting washed out to the ocean with the fast moving outgoing tide. I was preparing my boat to go and pick them up when they both made a last-minute ditch effort and were able to paddle perpendicular to the current and barely make it back to the safety of the sand bar.
My wife and I then went over and consulted with the girls to determine their plans and find out exactly where they were has launched from. We had both just assumed the girls had left from one of the closer docks on the north end of the Folly River. This was not the case, the girls had actually left from a kayak outfitter that was located all the way back at the Folly Creek Bridge. They had paddled the long way around going down Folly Creek, around Truluck Island, to the Folly River, down past the boat ramp and then out to Lighthouse Inlet by way of Rathall Creek. Not only were these girls exhausted and attempting to paddle back miles against the outgoing tid