Driving 60 miles northeast of Savannah through Beaufort County, S.C., at the very end of U.S. Highway 21 lies Hunting Island State Park, gateway to St. Phillips Island. Once, a rustic getaway for media mogul Ted Turner and family, in 2017 South Carolina State Parks acquired St. Phillips with help from the Nature Conservancy.
The 4,682-acre island, accessible only by boat and recognized by the National Park Service for its intact ecosystems and near lack of human development, is portal to another era.
Turner, consummate conservationist, worked diligently in his 40-year stewardship of St. Phillips to maintain the marsh, forest, and dune ecologies just as they are. The island’s interior boasts untouched stands of mature pine, live oak, magnolia, hickory, and cherry trees. Wistful strands of Spanish moss cascade from the upper canopy. Saw palmettos punctuate the understory.
When Travis Easterlin was laid off last July, he took it as a sign that it was time to do what he’d always wanted. Easterlin and his wife Katie put their heads together to set up their own fishing charter. In early April after nine months’ planning, the husband and wife team officially launched Georgia Bight Charters.
“Basically, our five-year plan became our right-now plan,” said Katie Easterlin. “We were able to use some of the stimulus money to pay for business start-up costs, so the timing of everything was a positive push towards our dream.”
With 15 years’ experience as a boat captain, Travis Easterlin wasn’t new to the sea or the regulations governing it. He renewed his captain’s license, obtained a fishing license from Georgia Department of Natural Resources, and got certified in CPR.