Sandy Island wrestles between simplicity and safety

After three died in a boating accident, Sandy Island's community is wanting a safer way to get to the mainland, yet is still hesitant to make the island too accessible to tourism and development.

Read more stories on this subject in our Sandy Island topic page.The Post and Courier has a great little story profiling the rural island with minimal infrastructure, in part:

The years have brought changes to this secluded island in the Intracoastal Waterway: electricity, cable television, city water, cell phones. But one thing has remained a constant: "You still have to get across that water," Weathers said.

Just 300 yards of river separate this 12,000-acre island from bustling tourist communities along the Grand Strand. But with access limited to boat travel, that has been enough to preserve a simpler way of life on this rustic island, home to 120 people. Most residents are kin to one another, descendants of slaves who worked on rice plantations before the Civil War. For more than a century, life here has followed the subtle rhythms of the seasons and the tides.

Go check out the whole story and take a look at their photo gallery, too.