Port Royal Boardwalk Park
Robin Carter
Directions
From the junction of US 21 and US 21 Business on the west side of Beaufort go south on US 21, Ribault Road. In 3.3 miles US 21 turns to the left to cross the high bridge over the Beaufort River. Keep going south on Ribault Road, which is now SC 802, for another 1.6 miles to East Paris Avenue. Turn left (south) onto East Paris Avenue and go south for about 0.5 miles to 6th Street. Here turn left (east) and go 0.2 miles to the parking lot by the boat launch.
Birds to look for
Lesser Scaup (w), Bufflehead (w), Red-breasted Merganser (w), Common Loon (w), Horned Grebe (w), Red-necked Grebe (w), Brown Pelican, Double-crested Cormorant, American Bittern (w), Black-crowned Night-Heron, Osprey, Bald Eagle, Clapper Rail, Semipalmated Plover, American Oystercatcher, Willet, Ruddy Turnstone, Red Knot, Sanderling, Dunlin, Short-billed Dowitcher, Laughing Gull, Bonaparte's Gull, Herring Gull, Royal Tern, Forster's Tern, Least Tern (s), Black Skimmer, Eurasian Collared-Dove, Sedge Wren (w), Marsh Wren, Palm Warbler (w), Savannah Sparrow (w), Nelson's Sparrow (w), Saltmarsh Sparrow (w), Seaside Sparrow
Description
Port Royal Boardwalk Park, known locally as “The Sands”, is a small but attractive park at a point where two tidal estuaries (Battery Creek and Beaufort River) join. The park has salt marsh, a bit of sandy beach, and some scrub. There is a boardwalk along the edge of a marsh, leading to a 40-foot high multi-tiered observation tower, a great vantage point from which to look for birds and mammals such as raccoons, river otters, and bottle-nosed dolphins.