Awesome Weekend!
We had such a beautiful weekend! Michael had the rare opportunity to see some friends that he used to work with in Texas, some of whom he hadn’t seen since 1995. They won a company trip to Hilton Head Island, and invited us to come see them while they were there. We jumped at the chance, hooked up Soul Mate, and headed to HHI.
We launched at a great public landing, just after the main bridge into HHI. It’s only a short cruise over to Harbour Town Marina, where the red and white striped lighthouse stands guard over HHI. It’s in the Sea Pines resort, which is the nicest part of HHI, in my opinion anyway. Sea Pines is where the Heritage Golf Tournament is held every April, which is a major PGA event. There is a very nice marina there, called the Harbour Town Yacht Basin, and it is surrounded by shops, restaurants, condos, hotels, and every amenity your heart could desire.
We have never anchored in the HTYB before, and were amazed at how nice the staff was, and how well we were treated. Our little Soul Mate looks like the dinghy to the mighty 80 to 100-foot yachts docked in the marina, but we were treated like we were one of yacht owners. They greeted us with a bottle of wine, brought ice to our boat when we needed it, helped us handle the boat, pump out, hook up and set it up. Also, we were pleasantly surprised to find out that being a guest in the HTYB entitled us to all the Sea Pines amenities, including the pool, clubhouse, and most importantly—the fitness center. I took one set of workout clothes just on a whim, but I didn’t think I would have a chance to work out, and we ended up having two great circuit workouts in the very nicely remodeled fitness center.
And the best part is how reasonable the whole weekend was. For our little boat, it was only $60 per night for our slip, plus $10 for shore power. So the whole weekend cost less than $150 and we were living like kings! I cannot recommend enough to stay at the HTYB if you have a boat with living quarters. It is the best value we have ever seen.
We made friends with the crew of a yacht two boats over from us, and they gave us a tour of the ship. I had never been on a big yacht like that. It was an 80-foot Hatteras. Wow! I could totally sell my house and live on a boat like that! It was bigger than our house, to begin with. Seriously, I bet there is more square footage on that boat than in our house. It has five bedrooms, and at least five full baths. And they are all full-size rooms, just like in a stick-built home. It was so nice, and beautifully furnished. I liked the high fly bridge on the third story. You had a such a great view from up there, and it had all the cool instrumentation, plus a big party platform and wet bar!
We met up with Michael’s friends as soon as we arrived, had lunch and then headed for the beach. I played ‘beach racquetball’ with three of them, and we had a blast, plus got some great exercise. I was sprinting as hard as I could run to catch up with the ball, which was really tough in the sand. And boy, are my calves sore! Obviously, beach sprinting would be a great way to build up my calves into cows! We then met them after dinner to go out. We found a great little place called the Brick Oven which had an awesome live band playing great dance music. These Texas people aren’t shy about dancing! I loved it. It’s so hard to get people around here out on a dance floor, so I had a blast cutting up and dancing our tails off.
Saturday, we cruised up to Savannah, GA to spend the afternoon. It’s only about 45 minutes to an hour boat ride from HHI. We skirted beautiful Daufuskie Island, hit Fields Cut, and rode up the Savannah River to the historic riverfront docks, where we tied up Soul Mate. We walked around the riverfront and then into the city. Savannah has such amazing history. We saw Paula Deen’s restaurant, but didn’t eat there. Paula’s food is NOT on my bodybuilding diet! There were buildings from the early 1700’s, the first church ever established in the state of Ga, and two cannons from the 1750’s still in pristine condition.
We cruised back to HHI, anchored for a while to swim and cool off. The heat index was 105 degrees. The current was running so hard I had to hang on for dear life. I think I could have stood up on the float like I was skiing! We had a dolphin surface within 20 feet of our boat. I love dolphins so much!
We went back to the harbor, took showers, ate dinner, and then danced for a while at Monkey Business. Sadly, it was the last night Monkey Business was open. The economy has just killed so many things, and MB is the latest casualty. We noticed how sparse the crowds were for the high season at HHI. Usually it is packed. Not so this year. So sad. But heck, if it hadn’t been so reasonable to stay in the marina and we hadn’t brought our own personal hotel with us, we couldn’t have gone there either. The real estate slowdown has been quite dreadful for me, so we are having to be very conservative ourselves. But it is still sad to see so many long-established landmark businesses become victims of the recession.
Sunday, we simply cruised across the Calibogue Sound to the Bull River and anchored out. I just laid on a float and tanned—my favorite boating activity. We saw two dolphins who swam right by our boat, but the highlight of the day was a big sea turtle! I saw this huge head come out of the water that was as big as mine (minus the hair), and realized it was a turtle. He swam within 5 feet of my float, and his shell was every bit of 3 feet in diameter. I pulled my feet and hands on top of the float just to be sure he wouldn’t mistake them for fish! He could have snapped my foot off in one bite. That was so cool. We named him ‘Crush’, for one of our favorite characters in Finding Nemo. ‘Crush’ hung around for a few minutes, and then swam out toward the ocean.
One little oddity of HHI was all the tiny little crabs running around. They are the size of large spiders, and easily mistaken for them. They were all over the dock. One jumped on my ankle as I was untying the boat. I thought they were so cute. My other favorite features at the marina are the magnificent live oaks, with their branches swooping down to graze the ground before rising again to display cascading greenery draped with Spanish moss.
What a wonderful weekend. I needed that. It’s been a busy and stressful few weeks. I got to work out—a chest & triceps circuit, & a back & biceps circuit. And I made delicious food that we took with us, so we didn’t have to waste money on eating out, or be relegated to unhealthy fare. Overall, I think this was one of the best trips we have ever taken. I highly recommend HHI & the HTYB!!!
Be Defiant!
Christy
______________
No Comments
No comments yet.
Comments RSS TrackBack Identifier URI
Leave a comment
