Dumb Luck vs Great Planning
We have stayed at or visited some of the the best islands in the U.S.
I had no idea my taste for adventure aligned so closely with Travel + Leisure voters until I read it for myself. While researching my recent day trip to Driftwood Beach, I stumbled on a Travel+ Leisure reader poll which rated the Top 15 U.S. Islands this year.
Released in mid July the number one rated Island this year was Golden Isles, home to Jekyll Island and Driftwood Beach. This destination has been my favorite day trip thus far. I scanned the list and noticed that our home for the entire month of July, Longboat Key, finished at number seven. Check it out. Our current temporary residence is Hilton Head Island, South Carolina. It is ranked two spots higher this year at five. Check and Check.
I kept scanning.
Sanibel Island, home to the best shelling the country according to my wife, finished sixth on the chart. We actually visited Sanibel for the day while staying in the Sarasota area.
Quick story ~
Sanibel Island is a two hour drive from Longboat Key and we were both saddened when we arrived last month to see how much this Island has been impacted by Hurricane Ian which struck in September, 2022. So many of the shops closed. People and businesses packed up and left the area. We didn’t find any sea shells during our visit to one of the beaches while we were there. Here’s hoping to a healthy recovery.
At number 15, The Outer Banks has been on our visitor list since we began planning this adventure, but as of now, we are not sure we will get there. File it under to be decided.
Also a near miss is Amelia Island. Just a little over an hour south from Driftwood beach and Jekyll Island, we drove past it while transferring our belongings from Florida to Savannah, GA. It is just north of Jacksonville, FL.
We have settled in at Hilton Head, South Carolina. Our two bedroom condo is a brief three minute walk to the beach and the warm waters. With the beach so close, Debbie and I have settled back into our morning routine which includes sunrise walks along the beach.
The first full day we arrived, I made the beach walk a solo one, and encountered a man in colorful longboard shorts and a yellow t-shirt reeling in a catch. Whatever was on the other end was giving him a good fight so naturally I had to stop and see what he caught.
It didn’t take long for a shark fin to pierce the top of the water. Yep. It’s true. The man caught a shark standing at the edge of the shore. It would be the pool for me moving forward.
While I stuck around long enough to capture the photo, I finished the walk shaking my head how close to shore the shark must have been.
Back to Travel + Leisure’s List…..
While we are checking off Hilton Head and number five, Debbie and I have also made plans in the next week to visit Daufuskie Island, number 13 on this same list. It’s a 45 minute ferry ride away and I will certainly photograph and document the experience for a later post.
Here are just a few pf the photographs I have captured from Hilton Head, followed by T&L’s entire list of Top U.S. Islands. Curious how many of these places you have visited as well.
![Father, Child, Hilton Head, Beach, Sunrise, South Carolina, Charles Harris, Charles Harris Photography, My Radical Sabbatical, Radical Sabbatical](https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/w_1456,c_limit,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F274c9fe2-82be-4614-af45-dbfab0b0e013_1512x2016.jpeg)
Sunrise of the coast in Hilton Head, S
![Sunrise, low country, Hilton Head, Beach, Sunrise, South Carolina, Charles Harris, Charles Harris Photography, My Radical Sabbatical, Radical Sabbatical](https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/w_720,c_limit,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2Fc3ffd10c-658e-4274-9ab3-cc7f1645fe34_960x1280.jpeg)
![Sunrise, low country, Hilton Head, Beach, Sunrise, South Carolina, Charles Harris, Charles Harris Photography, My Radical Sabbatical, Radical Sabbatical](https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/w_720,c_limit,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F32ed3338-426b-44ba-8a77-c6bd6ab64030_1512x2016.jpeg)
Travel + Leisure Readers' 15 Favorite Islands in the Continental U.S. of 2023
The Full List
1. Golden Isles (Jekyll Island, Little St. Simons Island, Sea Island, St. Simons Island), Georgia
Reader Score: 92.15
2. Mackinac Island, Michigan
Reader Score: 90.67
3. Kiawah Island, South Carolina
Reader Score: 89.27
4. Mount Desert Island, Maine
Reader Score: 86.77
5. Hilton Head Island, South Carolina
Reader Score: 85.55
6. Sanibel Island, Florida
Reader Score: 84.96
7. Longboat Key, Florida
Reader Score: 84.44
8. Amelia Island, Florida
Reader Score: 84.19
9. Florida Keys, Florida
Reader Score: 83.47
10. Captiva Island, Florida
Reader Score: 82.90
11. San Juan Islands, Washington
Reader Score: 82.60
12. Nantucket, Massachusetts
Reader Score: 82.48
13. Daufuskie Island, South Carolina
Reader Score: 81.94
14. South Padre Island, Texas
Reader Score: 81.68
15. Outer Banks, North Carolina
Reader Score: 81.61