Port of Call: Hilton Head, South Carolina

So happy to be back blogging again, after a 6-month hiatus. I tend to look back, and I'm not sure if it's a good thing, but it lets me relive all the fun times and keeps my memory sharp. I am grateful and blessed to have the life I've had. Boater friends Keith and Marianne inspired me to write this post. They are cruising on their sailboat Coddiwample. and their pictures of Hilton Head brought back sweet memories of our stop there in 2004 (wow, twenty years ago!) You can track Coddiwample's location under the  Boating Links on the right.

It was our second time cruising north on the Atlantic Intracoastal Waterway (AICW). By the way, there is good news for boats with deeper drafts! Cruising World magazine recently published an article about the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers (USACE) getting funding from Congress to repair/dredge the 1,100-mile ICW that runs from Key West, Florida to Norfolk, Virginia. Constant shoaling has made navigating the ICW dicey at times. Mai Thai's draft is 3.5 feet, and we had our share of running aground and helping boats from running aground (see posts on Cumberland Island, Daytona Beach and Marco Island).

This particular April, we were determined to stop at places we  had missed the first time. Hilton Head made the bucket list. We were greeted by kayakers as we dropped anchor in Shelter Cove, where we stayed for almost a week.

We dinghied into Shelter Cove Harbor and Marina and a nice sail boater gave us permission to tie up  next to his boat. We had brought our bikes and enjoyed exploring the sneaker-shaped island. We found  Hilton Head rather pricey.  I remember paying a hefty $4 for a scoop of ice cream on a cone. Thank goodness for free anchorage! Harbortown Marina, now Harbor Town Yacht Basin, was charging an exorbitant amount for a slip. There was a major golf tournament going on, but still. The website now lists $4-$5 a foot, a much more reasonable price for the East coast.

One evening, we heard a splash so loud we thought some kayakers had tipped over and fell into the water. We ran out to see a pod of dolphins near the shoreline. Were they stranded in the outgoing tide, like some kayakers previously did? We later learned that they were cornering the fishes into the shallows and feasting on their catch. Everyday at low tide these agile and playful creatures mesmerized us for hours. What a pleasure to watch nature in one's "backyard"!

These photos and video were taken with our Sony video camera, back when 1 Megapixel was high resolution, and took up precious disk space. Amateur photographers like us are happy with the quality. We hope you like them too.

Now back to making more memories so that the first mate can look back and blog about it :-)

Take pictures, have fun and enjoy life!

This post is shared on Image-in-ing, My Corner of the World, Skywatch Friday, and Random-osity.

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