Summer on the southern salt marsh of the South Carolina Lowcountry is a symphony for the senses. The pluff mud at low tide crackles with the sounds of tiny snapping shrimp. The air is filled with the aroma of decomposing marsh organisms, which can be either foul or sweet, depending on your mood or makeup. Visually, the landscape flows freely like a painter’s brush coloring a canvas in vivid shades of blue, green, and brown. Various species of shorebirds gracefully wing through the sky or pose like statues in the mud-brown water. Shrimp boats are docked in the distance after bringing in the day’s haul. The marsh grass gently sways from side to side in a light breeze, making you forget—for just a moment—the heat from a July sun.
I am standing on a dock about a quarter of a mile into the salt marsh from dry land on Seabrook Island, just south of Charleston. It’s soothingly quiet, except for the snapping shrimp and the occasional whirring engine of a motorboat off in the distance. Big, puffy clouds stretch across the sky like giant cotton balls, a perfect scene to capture in a time-lapse video to expose their animated movement in the atmosphere. I’m filled with gratitude and peace in this pristine environment.
