Thursday & Friday 24th + 25th May

'Archie' the alligator followed Ben round the lake!

We played golf early Thursday morning at Oyster Reef hoping to go to the beach afterwards. We were joined by Jim who's roots are from Northern Ireland. He moved to America from Northern Ireland when he was 16 and was drafted (national service) into the marines doing 2 tours in Vietnam. His wife is a GP and still works part time in the hospital at Hilton Head, while Jim enjoys a life of retirement - he is one of only 50 members at Oyster Reef!  Ben played well but my game was not good so Ben won today. We played the last 9 holes with thunder in the background and by the time we arrived back at the apartment it was raining. Ben went to the beach and spent a short time fishing. He caught one fish but gave up as the waves and current made casting difficult.  We ate the remnants of the BBQ from last night.

A grey heron looking for lunch

Friday was a lovely day with light winds and temperature in the low 80s, our last full day at Hilton Head. We played our final round of golf at the Golden Bear course - our third visit to a quality course. This time we were joined by Rich and his son Doug who were playing their annual fixture.  Rich lived in Texas and Doug near Savannah, Georgia.  They were very good company - so much so that after waving a few 2-balls through and 'chewing the fat' on a number of subjects, it took us 5 hours + to play the round, which was very entertaining.

Rich, Doug, Liz and Ben after a fun round!

Rich has encouraged us to visit Fort Worth Texas next time we come to USA and will arrange a game at the Colonial!  Ben had a shaky start but after 3 holes started hitting the ball well, including his irons which he has struggled with during the holiday (and before).  Consequently Ben won again so it's a good job we are coming home before he can catch me up!!



We ate out this evening using the last of our vouchers at a restaurant called Nick's Steak and Seafood.  We shared a starter of shrimps in coconut with a spicy dip.  Both our mains (entrees over here) came with linguine which were very tasty.  We had a bottle of Ernie Els red wine which was very palatable! Nick's was essentially a sports bar with several TVs showing sport but pleasingly not very noisy.  The TV near us was showing a baseball match between the Cardinals and the Pirates - neither of us could fathom out the rules!

We will be leaving Hilton Head tomorrow morning and have a leisurely drive to Atlanta. Our flight leaves there in the evening and we should be back in UK by 11am on Sunday where son Phil will meet us and take us to his home in Tring where are car is. We hope to be back home by Sunday afternoon and back to cooler weather and the 'normal' life we lead at home, having had a wonderful holiday.

Looking forward to next year...…….

Wednesday 23 May

Liz 'living dangerously close to the water'!

We woke to a lovely sunny morning and the sun continued to shine all day (87F on the way to the golf course) . We decided to play Palmetto Hall Plantation today, which we hadn't played before but had vouchers for. Once again it turned out to be a very pretty course with some water but not coming into play much. Ben hit some excellent shots today - both off the tee and around the greens so consequently took the honours.

A new 'large' house under construction - wood frame at its best!

When we got back to the apartment we had a BBQ with New York Strip steaks and shrimps we bought from the fresh market on the way back - the food is not cheap but is delicious. The shrimps were unprepared so Ben did the necessary to top and tail and clean; once prepared they cook in 2 minutes in boiling water!  The steaks were very meaty so we effectively ate half of what was on the plate with the remainder for tomorrow.

Monday & Tuesday 21st + 22nd May

a feisty hammerhead shark

On Monday Ben went off fishing on his own to the pier he had previously visited.  He managed to catch a hammerhead and a blue fin shark, the latter being a good size.  He rounded off with an ordinary fish which he has not identified yet.  I did some retail therapy and then went to the pool. There were quite a few people at the pool, all American, so it was a good opportunity to do some people watching as well as reading and swimming.

Blue fin shark

Jaws!!

Sunset from the beach

After supper we went for a long walk down the beach and watched the sun set. We watched a chap racing up and down the beach being driven by a para sail - which reminded us of son Philip out of control on a land yacht at RAF Dishforth many years ago. The air temperature was very pleasant as was the sea temperature. We just managed to find the correct exit off the beach as it was dark by the time we got back to the apartment.

We tried to arrange a round of golf for Tuesday at the Legends course on Parris Island. This would have given us the chance to look around Beaufort which is the second oldest town in South Carolina, Charleston being the oldest. Parris island is a big training base for the US Marines and having booked our golf we discovered it would take at least 2 days to get the correct pass to get onto the military base. This isn't clear on the golfnow.com booking website, however, Ben phoned the Pro Shop who were very helpful and tried to see if they could speed up the pass process (they couldn't) so they arranged a refund for us with golfnow.com.  We subsequently booked to play at Robbers Row course on Hilton Head where we played last week. We were joined by Mike and his son in law Matt from Atlanta, who again were good company.  True to form Liz reverted to hitting the ball down the middle of the fairway and knocking putts up to the hole from wherever she was on the green.

soaking up the evening vibes

This evening we ventured back into the Sea Pines Resort and Harbour Town to eat at the 'Crazy Crab'. We had recommendations in the apartment blurb and from Mike McGrail to eat here - we were not disappointed.  We both opted for the 'Captain's Platter' which consisted of broiled lobster tail, crab cake, scallops, shrimp and flounder.  Needless to say we passed on the starters etc.  Following an excellent meal and a bottle of wine we went outside and sat on rocking chairs overlooking the marina listening to live music before heading back to the apartment.

Saturday & Sunday 19th + 20th May

We woke early to watch the Royal wedding on tv so by the time it had finished it was about 9am. There has been huge coverage here with breakfast TV providing all sorts of info and re-creations of British and royal traditions - from how to drink tea to what to wear and much more.

The signature par 3 course approached the sea.

This info site shows the main unionist battleship

that blockaded Hilton Head in the Civil War

Saturday's rain was forecast for 1pm so we decided to go fairly early to play golf at Oyster Creek before the rain started. We were joined by Scott and Mike who had come before their main 'tour group' from Atlanta, who were playing for 3 days at Hilton Head. They had decided to play Oyster Creek before the main party arrived. They were good fun although we didn't spend much time socialising with them on the course as they spent most of the time in the trees bordering the fairways! The rain came early and there was a downpour which lasted about 20 minutes whilst we were waiting on the tee of the signature par 3 6th hole. Whilst we sat in the buggy waiting for the rain to pass we chatted to a course marshal who pointed out Parris Island about a mile offshore, where 20,000 US marines are trained annually - Ben mischievously suggested that there initiation was to swim there through shark infested waters! Afterwards the skies cleared and it was fine for the rest of the round. I managed to beat Ben again - albeit this time by only by 1 shot!

We barbecued afterwards with excellent New York strip steaks bought from the fresh market on the way home from golf.

Liz in the bunker - note Ben's ball a foot from the hole 

after a spectacular chip!!

We had a later start on Sunday and after considering the weather forecast and 'value' golf decided to play Pine Crest at 2pm. This course was a few miles off Hilton Head Island in nearby Bluffton. The forecast was for light rain and there was a warning on the website about greens which had been hollow tined. We played on our own and were glad we were in a buggy as there were long rides between holes. It was a pretty course but putting was not what we had been used to with heavily sanded and hollow-tined greens - we had, however been advised.

Our first snake

On the wild-life front we saw some colourful birds and our first snake which was slithering across the fairway in front of an area of rough - we think it was a brown water snake.  It spotted with rain for most of the round but was raining quite heavily by the time we finished. Ben won today for the first time - he was driving much better and his shots into the green were much more accurate today.

On the way back to our apartment we visited Shelter Cove marina. There were lots of expensive looking boats as well as artisan shops, bars and restaurants with live music in

paddling boards in the Marina

the marina area. It was surrounded by apartment buildings but had been tastefully built so as not to be intrusive.

We cooked a pizza for supper in the evening.

Thursday & Friday 17th + 18th May

Liz on the 89 yard par 3 - she only 

gets 2 shots here!!

Once again it was wet first thing in the morning but we managed to find a reduced tee time at the Golden Bear course which we had played a couple of days previously. By 12:00 the rain had cleared and we had a mostly sunny but very humid round of golf. We played on our own, Ben played better but I still managed to beat him (again). In the evening we went for a walk on the beach and sampled some of the Hilton Head night life in a beach bar which had live music. We reckoned we were about the oldest people there.

groovy baby

On Friday morning we decided to go and visit 'Old Town', Savanna. We drove through torrential thundery rain but by the time we had parked the car in Savanna the rain had stopped. We eventually managed to find the visitor centre, having been given completely different directions by 2 Americans.

Gertrude in full flow

We decided the best way to see the city was to take a trolley bus tour with a guide. 'Gertrude' was dressed as a southern belle from the Confederate period and coming from Savanna had the accent to match.  Her amusing yet historically interesting anecdotes of the points of interest she was telling us about was very good but there were so many historical buildings which made it virtually impossible for her to point them all out. It was very interesting, more so than Charleston which we visited many years ago. Having been driven around the historic part of the town we decided to walk through it and ended up walking along by the river which was buzzing with visitors and market stalls. We watched an enormous container ship sailing down the river towards the sea.

Gertude had told us the river was 53ft

deep in the channel - it needs to be!

By tradition we like to eat at the Red Lobster and as the nearest to here is in Savanna we ate there on the way home. We both enjoyed our lobster, Ben's accompanied with a New York Strip steak and mine with shrimps and salmon; Ben thought the standard  was not as good as our previous meals - indeed the waitress admitted they were staffed mainly by trainees and knocked $10 off the bill.

General James Oglethorpe and the 114 passengers of the good ship "Anne" landed on a bluff high along the Savannah River in February 1733. Oglethorpe named the 13th and final American colony "Georgia" after England's King George II.  His passengers were all from debtors prison and excluded Catholics and lawyers!

Tuesday & Wednesday 15th + 16th May

Sting Ray

We awoke to the forecast heavy rain showers on Wednesday morning so didn't go out for our daily shop until the rain had stopped around 11:00am; we have found a weather web-site where you put your street name in and it tells you to the minute when it will rain and subsequently stop - not entirely accurate but pretty close! The rest of the day turned out to be warm (low 80s), mainly cloudy and quite breezy with the odd glimpse of the sun. In the afternoon we went to a pier where Ben had been told that you

'Friendly' Hammerhead shark

could fish from - in the event it was a shallow stream as the tide was out.  We then set off to the Atlantic Inter coastal highway where there was a pier you could fish from in any tidal situation.  Much to Liz's surprise Ben caught a stingray followed by a hammerhead shark and then a small black tipped shark. The lady fishing next to Ben caught a much bigger hammerhead  shark which had to be cut off the line as it was too big to land.

Port Royal was a Confederate fort taken by the Unionists in the Civil War

Showers and thunderstorms were forecast for Thursday but we were lucky as it was sunny for most of the day until about 5pm. We played golf on the 'Robbers Row' course at Port Royal Golf Club which has 3 courses with houses alongside the fairways. Port Royal is famous for being one of the pivotal wins by the Unionists in the American Civil War, which effectively cut the supply lines to the Confederate forces and helped lead to their subsequent defeat. We were buddied up with 2 American men Greg (Ohio) and Chris

A scenic hole

(Tennessee) who were good company and very complimentary of Liz's golf.  The course was not quite so pretty as others we have played but we both played well - Liz still managed to beat Ben with 40 points!! [note from Ben - Liz is playing fantastically well with drives of upwards of 170 yards and approach shots to 3-4 feet of the pin. Given that her tee is on most occasions about a 100 yards ahead of mine this is difficult to live with!!].

We are having a BBQ tonight and have been to the 'Fresh Food' Store for meat and salads - yum yum!

The BBQ!

Sunday & Monday 13th + 14th May

Our 'beach buggy'

Sunday was another sunny day, which we hope will return as rain is forecast for the next few days. In the morning we went to the beach as the tide was right for Ben to fish from the beach. By lunch time the sea was getting rougher as the wind strengthened so we went back to our apartment. In the afternoon Ben went fishing again from a pier he had seen but it was very hot as there was no shelter from the sun. I went to the pool which is a hundred yards from our accommodation and swam and did some sun bathing. Ben had a little success with his fishing but has yet to bring home a meal!

Liz 'in action'

On Monday it was cloudy, very humid but dry. We did some shopping in the morning, which seems to be our daily routine. We had booked to play golf on the Golden Bear course in the afternoon. It turned out to be another pretty and well maintained course with plenty of lakes and bunkers. We played on our own this time and as it was quiet we played at our own pace. Ben played better today but I still managed to beat him on points.


We rounded off the day with a BBQ

Liz riding her luck - my ball would undoubtedly have found the water

Liz being waited on