Marina businesses moving, refocusing in wake of storm

For more than a decade, Capt. Tim Trigg and his wife, Beth, have helped locals and tourists explore the Lowcountry through their businesses, Palmetto Bay Watersports and Dolphin Seafari.

Their office had been located for years at the docks of Palmetto Bay Marina, but Hurricane Matthew scattered those docks throughout the marsh where the Hilton Head Island marina once stood.

“There is no marina there anymore,” Tim Trigg said.

As the tourism season nears, the Triggs are among a group of marina-based business owners facing disruptions brought on by the Category 2 hurricane that hit the island five months ago.

Palmetto Bay Marina managers previously said it could take years to rebuild, leaving those who worked from the marina displaced.

Trigg said it wasn’t easy to come to the realization that they would need to move.

“We have 14 years of our life in that place,” he said. “That was our home. We raised our daughter there. She came to work with us and rode her tricycle up and down the docks.”

Trigg said it was November when he started to understand their businesses could no longer stay at Palmetto Bay Marina. By January, he had a new spot at the island’s Shelter Cove Marina.

That meant, however, getting rid of their Palmetto Bay Watersports business, which focused on renting Jet Skis and paddle boards, he said.

“We can’t do that as easily here,” he said.

The Triggs have decided instead to fully focus on Dolphin Seafari — a dolphin-tour charter business.

Another Palmetto Bay Marina business, Pau Hana & Flying Circus, also was forced to relocate because of the hurricane.

Owner Jeanne Zailckas said her business, which charters two catamaran boats, had been operating at the marina since 1989.

“We were the oldest running operation out of the marina,” she said. “It has been a very fond marina for us.”

“Flying Circus,” a 27-foot-long, 16-foot-wide boat, has started operating out of Shelter Cove Marina, she said, though adding that the future for “Pau Hana,” a 53-foot-long, 26-foot-wide boat, is still unknown.

“Right now we are in la-la land because of the hurricane,” Zailckas said. “Both boats survived, but Pau Hana is a large catamaran, and she is still trying to figure out where she is going to charter from.”

It’s a tough situation to be in as the boating season has already started, Zailckas said, noting her smaller catamaran is chartered about one to two times a day and, at peak season, runs four to five trips daily.

The larger boat typically runs about two trips daily during peak season, she said.

“We are still optimistic that we will find a place,” Zailckas said. “I love this island. I have evacuated twice before, and you didn’t think it was going to happen. For a lot of us, it is still a shock, and it is still affecting us.”

David Fleming had been running Mighty Mako, a fishing charter, out of Palmetto Bay Marina for 22 years.

“I mostly do backwater to near-shore fishing,” he said. “Lots of families. I have people over the last few years who are taking their children fishing for the first time, and they were once children when they first went fishing on my boat years ago.”

Fleming said he plans to start running charters out of Shelter Cove Marina with his 24-foot custom center console boat but has been out of operation for months.

“I just put my business on hold after the hurricane,” he said. “My boat has been sitting at a friend’s house.”

It isn’t abnormal to take January and February off, though October and November are typically busy months, he said.

“I took a financial hit there through the fall,” Fleming said. “I also usually start back up by mid-March.”

Fleming said he likely will start operating out of Shelter Cove around Easter time.

Jay Prescott, owner of Top Shot Sportfishing, had been operating his business out of Palmetto Bay Marina since 2002. He said Friday he has moved his company to the island’s Broad Creek Marina.

The Palmetto Bay Marina business owners affected by the Oct. 8 hurricane said they are trying to be optimistic.

“Something good has come out of the bad,” Trigg said.

This story was originally published March 9, 2017 at 4:11 PM with the headline "Marina businesses moving, refocusing in wake of storm."