Kayak Tour Reviews

My wife and I are both avid kayakers and when we decided to go to the Charleston, SC area explored the options of doing some kayaking. We wanted to do an all day paddle in the Francis Marion National Forest and a saltwater paddle as well. Their staff was very helpful in planning and setting up our trips in advance. We had two great outings John our guide in the Francis Marion was super and Clark on Shem Creek was so much fun we hated to call it a day. I've worked with a lot of kayak and canoe outfitters and Nature Adventures is one of the best.

I highly recommend NAO! My two friends and I had a wonderful time kayaking for two hours on Shem Creek and visiting Crab Island. The tour guide was knowledgeable, the sights were amazing, and it was fun to kayak alone. No tandem required this time! Last November, I kayaked with my four-year old daughter, husband, and family, and it was fantastic both times! NAO is right for all types of groups. :) Can't wait to come back for the Moonlight Tour in the future.

Great tour and workout. Enjoyed everything about it. Took the kayak tour up Shem Creek and had a wonderful time! Would highly recommend it!

Did the two hour kayak morning tour with merril. She was extremely knowledgeable, friendly and explained how to use the kayaks clearly. 2 hours was the perfect amount of time on the creek - we even saw dolphins. Clean bathrooms available near where you kayak from and tons of restaurants nearby. Would return

Matt was our guide this morning on Nowell Creek! Amazing knowledge of flora and fauna. Also very kind and patient with all levels of kayaking ability. Learned a lot today from Matt. Great experience.

We loved our guided kayak tour with Clayton! It was super chill and not strenuous at all. We learned a ton about the Shem creek ecosystem- especially how cool and important oysters are!! We saw one dolphin at the beginning really close to us which was awesome! Besides that we mostly just saw some birds, so not a huge amount of wildlife. It was really pretty and peaceful. Clayton gave us the option of where we wanted to go, but no one really cared so I think we took the easier route since there were kids in our group (so we didn’t go into the uplands). Besides being super knowledgeable about the ecosystem, Clayton also gave us some great restaurant recommendations and was just a way cool guy overall. While we loved the guided tour, if you aren’t really interested in learning about how the ecosystem here works, it’s probably better for you to just rent the kayaks and go out yourself.

We did the 2 hour guided tour, and chose the early morning. We had hoped to see manatees and/or dolphins, but unfortunately we didn't see either. We did have good weather and saw many different birds. It was very peaceful and we didn't really encounter many people until we were headed back in. Our guide was very knowledgeable and identified and explained much of the wildlife we saw. The kayaks are easy to manage even if you aren't a "kayaker"

Our family of four had a wonderful time on the two hour tour. Our guide was friendly and knowledgeable - our 7 and 9 year olds really enjoyed it - especially when the dolphins came right by our kayaks.

Our guide Matt provided a fantastic tour with his scientific & historical perspectives. He provided precautious instruction with the tide & weather issues. ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

Clayton was a wonderful guide who shared so much about the ecosystem we were kayaking in! It was a highlight of our trip!!

My boyfriend and I are new to Charleston and wanted to find an affordable place to go on a kayak adventure. I booked a 2:00pm tour on a Sunday. The girl on the phone was very friendly. I'm glad she mentioned to bring bottled water, sunscreen, and a hat. It was quite hot that day. We arrived and found out it would just be us and two other people. Our guide, Will, was very laid back, down to earth, and informative. He did a nice job describing in detail all the wildlife we saw throughout the trip. He also told some of the history surrounding Mount Pleasant and Charleston. It was very busy on the water that day with boats, which can be kind of intimidating when you are on a kayak, but Will continuously kept an eye on us making sure we all stayed together and were safe. My boyfriend and I had a great time and were able to get lots of pictures. We will definitely be coming back again!

Staff are very friendly and welcoming. The tour guide Steven was excellent!

We had a fabulous paddle today with Ryan up the creek and out into the harbour. Ryan was an excellent guide firstly by his careful and clear instructions as we were all novices and with his fun stories as we leisurely paddled past the oysters beds. We were very lucky to see dolphins very close by, a mother was teaching her baby to catch fish by stunning them with her tail. It was amazing. We also were surrounded by lots of pelicans fishing, a blue heron, wood stork, turkey vultures, egrets, ibis, cardinals and red wing blackbirds. All in all a wonderful day.

Great tour guide but a little low key if you are looking for active kayaking. Great for beginners and families with kids but teens will be bored. Nice wildlife and beautiful area - unfortunately we did not see any dolphins (10am tour).

I had such a great time on the 2 hour kayak tour!! We were in a tandem kayak and the tour group was 6 total. It was such a great experience and I highly recommend! We saw dolphins, which made it even better. But best of all was our tour guide. Ethan made the experience and it was a highlight of our vacation!

This tour was amazing! I went with 2 other friends, one is a history buff & the other just likes to go with the flow. It was a great activity for us, as we learned history facts along the way & even got to see parts where Outer Banks was filmed!

Excellent tour, highly recommend! My husband and I took out a tandem kayak. We were the only 2 on the tour and loved getting to see parts of the beautiful harbor and backwater marsh! Even had chance to see a larger pod of dolphins with an adorable baby dolphin :)

Our tour guide, Eric, was excellent, and despite a mistake booking the correct date, it was way to fix with a phone call within 24 hours.

Myself and my partner enjoyed a really chilled out 2 hour tour with Caroline who was extremely knowledgable on the local ecosystem, took photos of us and helped us find shark teeth. Shem Creek is an amazing place and this was the best way to see it and an added bonus was sharing it with a dolphin.

There were 17 of us. The staff took the time to acquaint us all to our own comfort level. When we put in the water it was pouring down rain but it soon stopped. We had the boards for 3 hours and this was the right amount of time. There were dolphins everywhere! On our return, a family (a mom, dad, & baby) joined us! They played around our boards, putting on a very good show, for about 40 minutes. We were the ones that had to leave, not the dolphins! I would certainly recommend this and I would do it again!

Kathy and Ethan were both spectacular tour guides. It was a beautiful route, animals abound, and we learned a ton about the area along the way.

What a great way to see Shem Creek and Mt Pleasant from the water! Christian was a great tour guide filled with knowledge and stories to share with us. The dolphin swimming past us on the way back in was an awesome touch!

Although it starts off in a busy place among restaurants and boats, it was very peaceful once we got into Shem Creek Park and paddled along the grasses and a few very nice houses. For a very hot summer day, our choice of the 6:30 pm guided tour worked out well. The closer to sunset the nicer it became. In the busy Shem Creek area along Shrimp Boat Lane we did see a few dolphins. Our guide was very nice and went out of her way to help those who had any trouble maneuvering their kayaks.

My husband and I took the 2 hour kayaking tour this past weekend. Due to COVID, Nature Adventures limited the number of people that could go out at a time which in the end really benefited us as it was literally just us and our tour guide Graham. Graham was great and brought us all throughout Shem Creek and brought us out the the Charleston Harbor. I would not only recommend Nature Adventures for kayaking, but I'd also recommend the 8AM time slot. I know the time may look early and daunting, but it was so worth it! It wasn't as busy out on the water and it was extremely peaceful. We had so much fun and cannot wait to come back again to kayak again with Nature Adventures!