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

Friday & Saturday 11 + 12 May

This is just like the 2 horseshoe crabs Ben caught

Friday was a beach day - hot and sunny with a strengthening sea breeze in the afternoon.  The apartment has a beach trolley to transport folding chairs/towels/umbrella etc - very different from our Croyde holidays when Ben acted as a mule carrying all this - often in 2 trips!

Ben took his fishing rod and spent most of the day in the sea up to his waist fishing
 - he eventually called it a day when the waves were getting bigger and bigger.  He caught a couple of whiting which were returned to the sea.   The other catch was extraordinary – 2 horseshoe crabs mating.  He managed to disentangle them from his hook and returned them to the water where they serenely propelled themselves side by side out to sea.  I have since looked them up on the internet and they are an endangered species so we will contact the local marine ecological people to let them know about it.

In the evening we ate out at a local Greek restaurant - we weren't over impressed with it.

Liz dodging the fairway watering system

On Saturday we played golf on the Galleon/Clipper combination at Shipyard Golf Course.  Again the course was very pretty but not in such as good condition as the others we have played.  We were joined for most of our game by 'Don' an American post office man who caught us up.  He had already played 18 holes but he was a bit younger than us!  We were caught up by another solo golfer with 3 or 4 holes to play- we waved him up to see if he wanted to join us or play through.  To our surprise it was Mike McGrail from Lutterworth Golf Club who was instrumental in our decision to come to Hilton Head.

We both liked this golf course property

When we were having a drink afterwards  Mike gave us some more tips for shops and places to eat.  We hope to be able to arrange a game with Mike & June before we return.  We visited 'Harris Teeter' food shop which was full of fresh produce and streets more attractive than Walmart.  Having topped up salad supplies we returned to have a BBQ.

More wild life - fortunately no sign of mum!

Thursday 10th May

What a great beach

We decided to go and search out the beach this morning. It turned out to be only a 10 minute walk and when we reached it we were amazed. In both directions as far as we could see was white sand! We walked down to the shore line and found the water was not too cold. There was a group of people looking out to sea and on closer inspection we saw they were watching both dolphins playing out to sea and sharks swimming just a few feet away in the sea along the shore line. Needless to say there was no one swimming in the sea! We walked along by the edge of the water and came across 2 cannon ball jelly fish which were out of the water on the beach and some little water birds playing on the edge of the water.

Shark!!

and again

In the afternoon we found some cheap golf at Dolphin Head which turned out to be another very pretty course with lots of bunkers and dog leg holes. We were joined by Rob, who occasionally managed to hit the ball a long way and straight but he spent a lot of time looking for his ball in the trees by the side of the fairways. Liz won again (Ben wants to dock her 2 shots each time she wins but Liz doesn't agree!).

Dolphin Head 

When we got back to our apartment Ben built the small BBQ which we had bought cheaply in Walmart. Eventually he put it together and despite having 2 wing nuts and washers left over it lit easily and cooked our steak and sausages well.

Wednesday 9th May

Ready to play - Ben played off the blue tees

We awoke to another sunny day. Golf had been booked for 11.20 am, using one of our vouchers, at Oyster Creek golf club. The course was excellent and in great condition with well defined fairways wending through the pines.  The greens were large and undulating and very fast.  There were houses tucked into the pines at the sides of the fairways which did not in any way interfere with the golf.  We were told it would be slow as we were a 2 ball amongst groups of 4. However it gave us plenty of time to enjoy the scenery and the lovely aromas which one experiences amongst the pine trees. The course was difficult with many bunkers, which we were later told are to be made smaller, and putting on what seemed like glass (I noted that even Phil Mickelson is complaining about the speed of the greens at TPC Sawgrass which is about 150 miles south of here). We saw our first alligator of the holiday basking on the edge of a lake - we have named it Alice!

Liz has a new friend

I played slightly better than yesterday and Ben's driving was much improved from the last round but he struggled with his putting. Score so far 2-0 to Liz!

After golf we explored a couple of marinas and made a quick visit to Walmart before returning to our apartment and eating the remains of last evening's pizza.

'Alice' the alligator

Tuesday 8th May

Another lovely sunny day.  We spent most of the day visiting the Sea Pines resort area - which takes up a lot of the Island and includes Harbour Town with its iconic lighthouse and Marina - both adjacent to the world famous Hilton Head Heritage Golf course where the PGA competition is held each year the week after the Masters.  It costs $6 to take your car into the resort for the day.  We first went to South Beach Marina which was a very pretty location.  We stopped in the Salty Dog café and had a light bite (salad) for lunch.

The Salty Dog Café/Restaurant

We then moved on to Harbour Town which was bustling with holidaymakers.  The lighthouse is effectively a museum depicting the history of the Island and for a modest fee we were able to climb the 114 stairs to the top which provided outstanding views of the local area as well as looking over the famous Harbour Town golf course.

The houses in the resort are blended in with the many pine and oak trees - a 3-bedroom property with ocean views costs in the region of $1,250,000 - but it will be furnished!!

Harbour Town Lighthouse

The Pier

An aerial view of the 18th Green

The Clubhouse!!

We were able to walk on the golf course and watched some players finishing on the 18th (a tiny green by the Ocean); it is also mandatory to have a caddy. We then went and had a look at the Clubhouse which was very opulent.  There was a room set aside presenting the history of Peter Dye who was one of the leading golf course designers - I now know what the USPGA standard is for the construction of greens, including drainage so will be chasing our head green keeper on our return!!

We had a drink in the Clubhouse overlooking the 9th Green and practice facilities.

We rounded off the day with a home delivery Pizza which in keeping with their portion sizes will feed us for a couple of days

Monday 7th May

The forecast is for a sunny day with 80+ temperatures (hurrah).  We were booked to play at the Hilton Head National Golf Club at 2:00 pm.  We first, however, had been talked into attending a property presentation on the promise of vouchers to play some of the finest heritage courses on Hilton Head.  This took a couple of hours with no real pressure to buy anything (we didn't!!) and we now have vouchers to play 8 golf courses.

Liz found the water on this hole

There were some frogs living in this ball washer!

After the round

We were buddied up with Joe - an investment manager from Ohio.  The course was in pretty good condition with fast undulating greens - we reckon the green keeper must have thought it was finals day at Augusta with some of the pin positions!  All the fairways were tree lined and there were no 'on course' houses which is quite unusual.  There was not a lot of water to contend with although we both managed to find it!  One alligator was spotted with lots of other wild life.  Ben struggled to find the fairway off the tee which he found quite frustrating.  Congratulations to Liz who chalked up her first win as Ben lost his ball on the 18th having blocked his drive again.

We ate in and tried to familiarise ourselves on what was available from a plethora of booklets advertising various activities and places to see.

Sunday 6th May 2018

We had a good breakfast, which helped after only a few hours sleep (for Liz).  Satnav programmed we set off for Hilton Head and quite quickly found ourselves on the motorway towards our destination - which was a major plus given our experiences in both Los Angeles and Miami!

We attempted to visit a couple of 'towns' on the way, but in reality they were a cluster of very spread out houses with no real centre..  We did , however, find a suitable place to stop for a coffee and 'Scooby snack'.  Our waitress - who was a slip of a girl with a southern drawl, very kindly let us photograph the back of her T-shirt (she also said she would love to come with us back to England - something to do with Ben's charm and charisma!).

We arrived at Hilton Head on time to take possession of our apartment.  It is a 2-bedroomed (both en-suite) with all mod cons.  Having unpacked we headed off to do an initial shop at Walmart and then set off on foot to locate a local restaurant.  Suitably fed and watered (lobsters, prawn and clams) we hit the sack.

Saturday is departure day

We left the car in Tring and were kindly chauffeured to Heathrow T5 by Aaron (Phil's father in law).  Check in was painless and after a bite to eat in Wagamama's (very good) we wandered up to the gate.  The flight was full and took about 9 hours to Atlanta.  Immigration was a nightmare as 5 international flights had arrived in the space of half an hour (something to do with the strikes in France).  We were shuffled between various queues and I eventually took about 2 hours to get through.

On board getting ready to go

The car pick up went
well as I had registered as an 'Alamo insider' and did not have to queue at the registration desk but go straight to the car pool and select one.

The view from our hotel bedroom

We then drove a short distance to the airport hotel who claimed they knew nothing of our booking!  I showed them the booking.com paperwork and they found us a room as well as honouring the price we had been quoted.  We had a few hours sleep before setting off for Hilton Head