Day 41 - 48/ 632 Statutory Miles: Hilton head

 

Isle of Hope to Hilton Head was all virgin water for the GS. It was a gorgeous day and we finally got to ride topside, which hasn't happened for a while.  We decided to head to HH a day early since the weather reports were calling for the winds to pick up on Wednesday.  Well, there were no winds which meant there were plenty of no-seeums.  "Off" does nothing to deter those little buggers, but Fuentes takes care of them, no problem.  Mr. B had to take one for the team and smoke a cigar @ 8:30 in the morning. 

Trip was largely uneventful with the exception of passing through Fields Cut at low tide.  This brought some "no talking" moments when we saw 4.2 ft on the depth finder - thank goodness the bottom here is nice soft mud. Notes have been made on the chart to take this at mid to high tide on the return trip.  

Hilton Head Yacht Basin is pretty nice!  The dock hand met us in a small boston whaler and escorted us to our slip.  After getting us checked in he asked "red or white" and handed me a complimentary bottle of wine.  Very nice touch! 

The marina is in the middle of Harbour Town with easy access to the restaurants, shops & bars.  Lots of good people watching; Friday we had a wedding about 50' from the boat and Saturday was "pre-prom".  Check out the pictures of the guys showing up on their center console boat in their tuxedos.

Woke up Wednesday morning and it was not only sunny but warm enough to enjoy our morning cup-o- joe on the fly for the first time in a really long time. Good  call coming a day early, even though it was sunny - there were some pretty high gusty winds.  I never realized how windy the south was until the last few years since having the GS.

Sea pines has miles of bike paths, so we took advantage of the sunny (or not rainy) days  to pull the bikes out;

• Day 1 - 13 miles, 2 bars, 2 beaches and a grocery store covered. 

• Day 2 - Sea Pines Forest Preserve - a great walk in the woods on real dirt & mud, not a paved path.  Its a great walk over rice dikes, 2 freshwater lakes and several alligators.

• Day 3 - Rich & Linda joined us for the weekend and we biked to the Salty Dog, the neighborhoods and to the Stoney-Baynard Ruins, which are the remnants of an antebellum plantation home built 1793-1810 by Captain John "Saucy Jack" Stoney. The original house was 1885 square feet, built of timber and tabby; a mixture of oyster shells, lime, and sand. There is a pix of the tabby which is pretty amazing, simple, yet so strong and to last so many years. 

The golf course @ Harbour Town is preparing for the Heritage tournament the week after Easter, so there was lot of activity getting the stadium seating and the VIP tents - it was fun to see it in process.

We concluded the day with the best steak dinner @ Santa Fe!  Great food, atmosphere was terrific & you couldn't beat the company. Thank you guys! 

Day 4 - the farthest ride yet ~ 16 miles - lunch at one end of the island (Salty Dog) and desert at the opposite end (Caligny Plaza) 

Seems like when Mother Nature gives us a couple of nice days she balances them out with a few rainy ones... Thursday brought a gentle all day which equaled laundry done, boat cleaned and a walk in the rain (which is one of my favorite things) to the newly built club house at Harbour Town - it's quite impressive. 

Sunday's rain afforded us a tour by Blue of some surrounding areas; by car none the less and dinner aboard the GS. 

HHI has been a great stop on the trip.  Next stop Beaufort, SC - and I get to see my #1 girl on Saturday :-)

Mobil link to Pix