rebecca & i went to the coast last weekend. our final destination was charleston, but, luckily, we spent a night in edisto. that was lucky for me because rebecca has been going to edisto almost all of her life- she was the perfect tour guide! one morning she took us over to botany bay, a place i have heard her talk about many times. there are thousands of acres open to the public, but the best part is the 2 mile stretch of beach that was completely absent of people when we visited. on one side, the vegetation ran right up to the water (it was high tide) and there were scraggly, fallen trees everywhere- beautiful. and, there were more shells there than i have ever seen, anywhere! perhaps it is because, at botany bay, you are asked to not take anything away with you from the beach. it was an interesting exeprience to just look and *not* collect the shells...especially for me, as there is nothing i love more than beachcombing. at the other end of the beach, it is wide open and you can see the open marsh. again, there were conch shells, fallen trees, and beauty, everywhere.
words & photographs by rinne allen