Georgetown County, South Carolina

Explore Pawleys Island Your Way

A local guide to the beaches, the creek, the kitchens and the quiet stretch of coast between Murrells Inlet and Georgetown. Search it, or scroll and let us point.

Water
84.2°F
Air
84.9°F
Next high
7:16 PM
Season
Summer

Live from the water

Tides, water temperature and what is biting

Ocean and creek run on different clocks here. We pull both gauges separately so you fish, paddle and crab on the right one.

Pawleys Island Pier

Ocean side. Use this for surf fishing and beach walks.

Rising

  1. High 7:16 PM 6.7 ft in 2 hr 17 min
  2. Low 1:53 AM 0 ft Wed
  3. High 7:45 AM 5.6 ft Wed
  4. Low 1:48 PM -0.3 ft Wed

NOAA station 8662006 MLLW datum

Pawleys Creek

Bennet's Dock. The creek runs roughly forty minutes behind the ocean.

Rising

  1. High 8:20 PM 4.7 ft in 3 hr 21 min
  2. Low 3:09 AM 0.4 ft Wed
  3. High 8:29 AM 3.7 ft Wed
  4. Low 3:14 PM -0.1 ft Wed

NOAA station 8661989 MLLW datum

Litchfield Bridge

North end of the marsh, closest gauge to the Litchfield launches.

Rising

  1. High 8:20 PM 3.8 ft in 3 hr 21 min
  2. Low 4:51 AM -0.1 ft Wed
  3. High 8:49 AM 3.2 ft Wed
  4. Low 4:49 PM -0.4 ft Wed

NOAA station 8661867 MLLW datum

Water and air

Nearest NOAA sensor to the island is Springmaid Pier, Myrtle Beach. It is not in the creek, and we would rather say so than pretend.

Water84.2°F

Air84.9°F

Observed 4:24 PM local

Biting in August around Pawleys Island

7 species in season. Peak runs are marked. This is local practice rather than a published dataset, so treat it as a starting point and check SCDNR for anything with a limit.

  • Peak

    Blue Crab

     

    Creek docks, the causeway, any muddy bank

    Chicken necks on a string, or a baited trap

    Slack high water off a dock is the whole game. Pull slow and have the net in the water before the crab sees it.

  • Peak

    Flounder

    southern flounder

    Creek mouths, dock pilings, the inlet channel edges

    Mud minnow or finger mullet on a Carolina rig

    Drag the bait slowly along a sand to mud transition. When you feel weight, wait. Setting the hook early costs you the fish.

  • Peak

    King Mackerel

    kings

    Nearshore reefs and ledges, offshore of the inlet

    Slow trolled live menhaden on a stinger rig

    A charter trip out of the inlet is the practical way to reach them. Fall is the strongest stretch.

  • Peak

    Tarpon

    silver king

    The inlet, the sound and the deeper sloughs

    Live or fresh cut menhaden on the bottom

    A genuine summer possibility here and a long shot on any given day. Heavy tackle, and let it eat before you lean on it.

3 more species running this month

Licence: A South Carolina saltwater recreational fishing licence is required to fish from shore or boat in salt water, including the creek and the surf. Licences are sold online and at every bait shop on the Neck. Buy or check yours at South Carolina Department of Natural Resources

The place itself

A barrier island that never got around to changing

Pawleys Island sits on the Waccamaw Neck, the strip of land between the Atlantic and the Waccamaw River that runs from Murrells Inlet down to Georgetown. Two causeways off U.S. 17 are the only ways onto the island itself.

The first thing visitors notice is what is missing. There is no boardwalk, no arcade, no high rise casting a shadow across the sand at four in the afternoon. The island is a narrow strip of mostly private houses, a good many of them old, with the Atlantic on one side and a tidal creek on the other. Public parking is limited and the access points are marked but modest. That constraint is the whole appeal, and it is deliberate.

What you get instead is a place that rewards paying attention. The creek behind the island fills and empties twice a day, and the entire rhythm of a week here bends around that. Crabbers show up at the causeway on slack high water. Kayakers launch on the incoming push so they are not fighting current on the way back. Surf fishermen read the sloughs at low tide, then fish them as the water comes in over the bar. Learn the tide and you stop guessing.

Just north, Litchfield spreads inland from the beach into golf and marsh. Litchfield by the Sea keeps its own beach access, pier and boardwalks for owners and registered guests, which is worth knowing before you book a rental and assume you can walk on anywhere. Keep driving north and you reach Murrells Inlet, where a half mile of boardwalk runs past restaurant decks and charter docks over the salt marsh. Twenty minutes the other direction puts you in Georgetown, one of the oldest cities in South Carolina, with a working waterfront and a walkable historic district.

We built this guide the way we would answer a neighbour. Business listings and hours come straight from Google so they stay current instead of rotting in a spreadsheet. Tide times and water temperature come live from NOAA gauges, and we name the station so you know exactly where the number was measured. The opinions are ours, and we tell you when something is an opinion.

  • Parking

    Public access parking on the island is genuinely tight and enforced. If you are staying off island, arrive early or plan on the state park up at Murrells Inlet, where parking is not the constraint.

  • Golf carts

    A cart is the normal way to move around the island and through the Litchfield neighbourhoods. South Carolina regulates where a permitted cart may legally be driven and how far from its registered address, so read the rental agreement rather than assuming.

  • The creek runs late

    Creek tide lags the ocean by a meaningful margin. Our panel pulls both gauges separately for exactly this reason. If you plan a paddle off the ocean table you will be dragging your boat across mud.

  • Bugs

    The marsh produces no see ums at dusk from spring through fall. Screened porches exist here for a reason. Bring repellent that actually works on midges, not just mosquitoes.

  • Storm season

    Atlantic hurricane season runs June through November. Rental terms, evacuation routes and insurance all matter more here than at an inland destination. Georgetown County issues the local guidance and it is worth reading before you travel in late summer.

Start here

Six places that explain the whole coast

The island, the gated stretch to the north, the gardens and the state park inland, and the two towns on either end.

Sea oats bending in the wind on a low sand dune above the beach

Pawleys Island Beach

Pawleys Island Beach

A narrow barrier island reached by two causeways off Highway 17, with public access points at both ends and a tidal creek running the length of its back side.

Read the guide
A quiet stretch of shoreline with dune grass under an overcast sky

Litchfield Beach Gated access

Litchfield by the Sea

A gated resort community north of the island where beach access, the fishing pier and the marsh boardwalks are reserved for owners and registered guests.

Read the guide
Live oak branches heavy with Spanish moss

Murrells Inlet Gardens and zoo

Brookgreen Gardens

American figurative sculpture set in formal gardens on a former rice plantation, with a native wildlife zoo and creek excursions on the property.

Read the guide
A wooden boardwalk crossing salt marsh at sunset

Murrells Inlet State park

Huntington Beach State Park

Directly across Highway 17 from Brookgreen. Three miles of undeveloped beach, a saltwater marsh boardwalk, the Atalaya house, and some of the best birding in South Carolina.

Read the guide
Salt marsh and a tidal creek with a waterfront village in the distance

Murrells Inlet Boardwalk

Murrells Inlet MarshWalk

A half mile of boardwalk over the salt marsh with waterfront restaurants, live music decks and charter docks along the inlet.

Read the guide
A working waterfront with fishing boats tied along a dock

Georgetown Historic port

Georgetown Harborwalk

One of the oldest cities in South Carolina, about twenty minutes south. A working waterfront, a walkable Front Street and museums covering rice, indigo and the maritime trade.

Read the guide

The directory

Everything open on the Waccamaw Neck

Listings, hours and ratings sync from Google so they stay current. We choose the categories. Google keeps the facts fresh.

Things to Do

Beaches, gardens, charters, paddling and golf.

Food and Drink

Seafood, coffee, creekside decks and markets.

Fishing

Tides, water temperature and what is biting.

Places to Stay

Island houses, resorts, inns and campgrounds.

Rentals

Golf carts, beach gear, bikes and boats.

For Residents

Services, wellness, schools and real estate.

Technique, not fluff

How to actually catch fish here

Four short guides covering the creek, the surf, the bait counter and a dock full of blue crabs.

How to fish the creek

Pawleys Creek is a tidal system, so the water is either working for you or against you. Fish structure on moving water and ignore slack. Find where a small feeder creek drains onto an oyster bar and fish the last two hours of the fall, when everything that was hiding up in the grass gets flushed past you. Live shrimp under a popping cork covers most of it. Mud minnows on a light Carolina rig cover the rest.

GearMedium light spinning rod, 10 to 15 lb braid, 20 lb fluorocarbon leader

Full guide

How to fish the surf

Walk the beach at low tide before you ever make a cast and look for the slough, the trough of deeper water that holds between the sand and the first bar. Note where it is. Come back on the incoming tide and fish it. Most people overcast and put their bait on the bar where nothing is feeding. Whiting, pompano and drum work that trough close in.

GearNine to eleven foot rod, pyramid sinker, two hook bottom rig, sand spike

Full guide

Bait, licences and where to ask

Live shrimp and mud minnows are the two baits that cover almost every inshore situation here. Buy them locally the morning you fish. The counter staff at a Neck bait shop will tell you what came in over the last two days, which is better intelligence than any forecast, and they sell the licence at the same register.

GearAerated bucket, landing net, pliers, a measuring device you trust

Full guide

How to catch blue crabs

Chicken necks, cotton string and a dip net. Tie the bait, drop it off a creek dock or the causeway, wait, then lift slowly enough that the crab keeps eating instead of letting go. Slack high water is the window. A baited trap works too, and the same rule applies about checking current SCDNR rules before you keep anything.

GearString, bait, long handled dip net, basket, cooler

Full guide

If this, then that

Tell us the day you want and we will point

Why it looks like this

Two centuries of deliberately not changing

Pawleys was a summer refuge for rice planters long before it was a vacation. That order of events explains almost everything you see.

  1. The rice years

    Built to escape the fever season

    Rice planters worked the Waccamaw and the Pee Dee, and the inland summers were dangerous. Families moved to the island for the season to get away from the mosquitoes and the fevers of the rice fields. That seasonal migration, not tourism, is why houses went up here in the first place.

  2. The old houses

    Antebellum cottages, still standing

    A cluster of those early summer houses survived storms that took almost everything around them. The Pawleys Island Historic District is listed on the National Register of Historic Places. Wide porches, high ceilings, shutters built to be closed. They were designed to move air before anybody had another option.

  3. The hammock

    A hammock born on a hot boat deck

    The rope hammock that carries the island name is credited to Joshua John Ward, a riverboat captain who wanted something cooler and less miserable than a grass filled mattress on the deck. The design spread from here. Woven hammocks are still sold on the Neck and still made the same basic way.

  4. The chapel

    A small chapel on the creek

    The Pawleys Island Chapel sits back on the creek, plain and cypress lined, used for summer services and for a great many weddings. It reads exactly as intended, which is to say it does not announce itself.

  5. The lore

    The Gray Man, and a motto that stuck

    Island folklore holds that a figure known as the Gray Man appears on the beach before a hurricane to warn whoever sees him. Treat it as a story, because that is what it is. The other piece of local shorthand is more literal: Pawleys has described itself as arrogantly shabby for decades, and the phrase is a statement of values. Peeling paint is not neglect here. It is a position.

Read the full island history

Questions we actually get asked

Everything people ask before they come

Straight answers about access, tides, licences and what the island is really like.

Is Pawleys Island beach open to the public?

Yes. The Town of Pawleys Island maintains public beach access points along the island with marked walkovers. Parking is the real limitation rather than access, since spaces are few and restrictions are enforced, so arriving early matters more here than at a larger beach.

What is the difference between Pawleys Island and Litchfield Beach?

Pawleys Island is a narrow barrier island reached by two causeways off U.S. 17, made up mostly of private houses. Litchfield sits just north on the mainland side and spreads inland into golf and marsh neighbourhoods. Litchfield by the Sea is a gated community within it, and its beach access, pier and boardwalks are reserved for owners and registered guests.

Do I need a licence to fish at Pawleys Island?

Yes. A South Carolina saltwater recreational fishing licence is required to fish in salt water from shore or from a boat, including the creek and the surf. Licences are sold online through SCDNR and at bait shops on the Waccamaw Neck. Check the current SCDNR regulations for size limits, creel limits and seasons, since those change from year to year.

When is the tide high at Pawleys Island today?

Our tide panel pulls high and low water live from the NOAA gauge at Pawleys Island Pier for the ocean and from the gauge at Bennet's Dock for Pawleys Creek. The two are not the same, because creek tide lags behind the ocean, so check the station that matches the water you plan to be on.

What fish are biting at Pawleys Island right now?

Red drum are available all twelve months and peak in the fall. Spotted seatrout run strongest in spring and again from October into December. Flounder hold through the warm months, sheepshead turn on around the pilings in cooler water, and whiting are the most dependable fish in the surf for most of the year. Our run calendar highlights whatever is in season on the day you visit.

Do you need a golf cart on Pawleys Island?

You do not need one, but most people who stay a week end up with one. Carts are the normal way to move between a rental house, the beach access and the creek. South Carolina limits where a permitted cart may legally be driven and how far it may travel from its registered address, so read the rental terms before you plan on driving it to dinner.

What is there to do near Pawleys Island when it rains?

Brookgreen Gardens in Murrells Inlet has indoor galleries alongside its sculpture gardens. Huntington Beach State Park sits directly across U.S. 17 and its Atalaya house and marsh boardwalks hold up in weather. Georgetown, about twenty minutes south, has museums and a covered Front Street worth a half day.

How far is Pawleys Island from Myrtle Beach airport?

Pawleys Island sits south of Myrtle Beach along U.S. 17 in Georgetown County. Myrtle Beach International is the closest commercial airport, with Charleston the next practical option to the south. We list drive times on the getting here page rather than here, so the number stays in one place and stays correct.

Are there alligators at Pawleys Island?

Yes. American alligators live in the fresh and brackish water of the Waccamaw Neck, including the ponds and rice field impoundments inland of the beach. They are common at Huntington Beach State Park and on the guided creek and marsh eco tours. Keep your distance, keep dogs leashed near fresh water, and never feed one.

What does arrogantly shabby mean?

It is the island's own long running description of itself. Pawleys has resisted the development that reshaped the rest of the Grand Strand, and the phrase is a point of pride rather than an apology. Weathered cedar shingles and unpaved lanes are the intended condition, not deferred maintenance.

Where our numbers come from

Every figure on this page has a source

Data sources used across Explore Pawleys Island
WhatSource
Tide predictions NOAA CO-OPS, stations 8662006 and 8661989
Water and air temperature NOAA CO-OPS, station 8661070 at Springmaid Pier
Business listings, hours and ratings Google Places, refreshed on a schedule
Fishing regulations and licences South Carolina Department of Natural Resources