Today is the final day of my Palmetto Getaways series. All this week I've been helping you plan a vacation on a budget. I've been showing you places you can visit right here in the Midlands that won't hurt your wallet or your gas tank!
We traveled to Santee to spend some time at Lake Marion at Santee State Park in Orangeburg County. When I was a child I lived near a state park and loved it because I could hike, fish and have a picnic basically spend most of the day outdoors. At Santee State Park Lake Marion is the main attraction and the lake provides many activities for the family. You can camp there on land or on top of the water! No lie they actually have cabins you can rent and they are on top of the water – way cool. Then you can take a nature-based boat tour of Lake Marion courtesy of Fish Eagle Tours. It departs from the Tackle Shop at Santee State Park on Wednesdays, Fridays, Saturdays and Sundays (times may vary). To top off my visit I took advantage of "Captain Eddie Campbell's Fishing Guide Service." Captain Eddie gave me a quick boating and fishing safety lesson and within a matter of minutes we were off. Once we got to 'the spot' Eddie wanted to take me…I waited and waited and waited. I mean I bet you I have six lines set. Finally after about 20 minutes or so I got a nibble and then as Eddie said it "Lucas fish on!" I had a catfish on the end of my line, but I had no idea how big it was. After 10 minutes of huffing and puffing the catfish finally emerged. When it was all said and done I caught a 24 pound catfish!!! And I would be considered an amateur.
I hope you've enjoyed this series and hopefully it saved you some money. Remember (and listen I'm in the same boat) with the current economic situation you might have to look closer to home when planning your vacation.
Santee State Park
HOURS –
Admissions: $2 adults; $1.25 SC seniors; age 15 & younger free
Office Hours: M-Su 8am-5pm (Hours may extend during peak season)
- Days and Hours of Operation: M-Su 6am-10pm (year-round)
(803) 854-2408
- CAMPING –
- 1-866-345-PARK
FISHING GUIDES
"Captain Eddie Campbell's Fishing Guide Service"
(803) 897-4663
I really enjoyed your segment with Captain Eddie Campbell out of the Santee State Park. What a great experience and a really nice fish! Keep up the good work bringing such interesting news about such facinating people.
Posted by: Carole Hinten | July 11, 2008 at 08:59 AM
We enjoyed your info so much we sat out for the area on Saturday, visited all the sights, ate lunch at the barbeque old store, bought local fruit, spent way too much in the Russell Stover store and visited Santee State Park where we went into the park area info place to inquire about accomodations for a lake cabin on the pods, we wre NOT greeted by the woman at the desk, she was too busy on the computer, my husband had to pu7ll answers out of her and she was very annoyed that we bothered her, obviously !!! We finally just picked up paper info and left. We are from Tennessee originally and do not know the area well, we are used to the Tenn. park rangers just overly glad to be of help, SHE WAS NOT, we would like to rent for the week3end in August, but this treatment will run off a lot of people, please address this to someone, I have sent the S.C. state park assoc. a note, thanks again for the wonderful day trip other than this rude person, Linda Simerly, 600 Whitewater Drive, Irmo, S.. 29063
Posted by: linda Simerly | July 20, 2008 at 10:06 AM