Hilton Head is the second largest barrier island on the East Coast, behind Long Island. As seen from space, the island looks like a big Nike shoe with a backwards "swoosh" logo. It was first explored by Europeans in 1521 and was named by British sea captain, William Hilton, who explored land in the Caribbean for King Charles II of England in the mid 1600's. Hilton, who was actually looking for Barbados, spent several days on the island and named the "head" of the island after himself. The island also was known as "John's Island" and "Jenkin's Island", but it was eventually named Hilton Head Island by people who settled there.
The island was an important part of Civil War history as it was used by Confederate forces as an outpost to help keep the Port Royal pass open for ships to travel up two navigable rivers to keep commerce and trade open in South Carolina. In November of 1861, with the largest Navy armada ever assembled by Union forces up to that point, the Battle of Port Royal began. Within 10 days, 12,000 Union troops stormed the island and took over Fort Walker. The fort became a Union outpost that helped choke off shipping in and out of South Carolina, further crippling their cotton trade during the war.
Today, the island annually hosts an estimated 2.25 million visitors. While the beach is the main attraction, there are a number of world class resorts on the island. There are also over 250 restaurants to choose from on the island, with a varied mix of cuisines to choose from.
We stayed at the Hilton Oceanfront Resortwhile we were on Hilton Head. The hotel had all the amenities you'd want to have at an oceanside resort - great beach access; good restaurants (although we only ate breakfast there), an attentive staff and a great view from your hotel balcony. This is our view from our fifth floor room looking southeast over the family pool (which did get sort of loud during the day) out toward the ocean. We got there early in the afternoon and they had our room waiting for us. As much as I loved Savannah, I could have stayed at the Hilton on Hilton Head for a week.
Our room was rather large with a King-sized bed, a sitting area, a large balcony, plus a small kitchenette in the room. With the wind coming in off the ocean, it was very tough to keep the sliding doors shut. We had a refrigerator that allowed us to stock ample supplies of beer, white wine, and lemonade for an occasional Bacardi Limon and lemonade drink. I have to say that there was nothing more relaxing than sitting on the balcony in the early morning light watching the waves roll in on the beach.
This is the adult pool at the Hilton where no screaming little shits could come and disrupt the calm and quiet of the area. I spent a good portion of one mid-day camped out on a chase lounge, reading, napping and just hanging out. The pool was very inviting, but I couldn't get in because of my incisions from my hip replacement surgeries. I couldn't submerge my hips into either chlorine or salt water for up to four months after my last surgery. And that's too bad because they also had two large hot tubs that would have felt great on my legs after some of the long walks we hand on the beach.
Speaking of the beach, here is a shot of low tide on Hilton Head beach around 6:30 in the morning. We would get up early each day we were there and go out and walk up and down the beach. Eventually, we were joined by scores of other people who were enjoying the early morning breeze coming off the ocean. Dog owners could run their dogs on the beach without a leash up to 10 a.m. each day. We just loved the roar of the ocean and the tranquility of the surroundings. God, I love being at sea level.
Fishing and shrimping is big on Hilton Head Island with a number of fisheries headquartered mainly on the west side of the island. A few of these fisheries feature restaurants that serve a lot of fresh seafood caught earlier in the day. Here is a small fleet of shrimping boats docked at a marina next to a restaurant Cindy and I ate at one evening, Hudson's on the Docks. This may have been the most pleasantly surprising meal we had while on vacation. You'll read about Hudson's in my next post.
If there is one area that is considered a "central" or "downtown" area is the Sea Pines Resort, although a lot of the locals still refer to its long-time name, Sea Pines Plantation, or simply, "The Plantation." The resort boasts a world-class championship golf-course (Harbour Town Golf Links), stadium tennis courts, shopping, restaurants, private homes and condos, and the famous Hilton Head Lighthouse. For non-residents and non-guests of the resort, it cost five bucks to drive onto the property. We went out at dusk to watch the sunset and to check out the lighthouse. Parking was a pain in the ass at the small public lot near the lighthouse. I thought about parking at the Sea Pines Resort hotel, but I saw people getting towed from that lot if they didn't have a tag on their car for the resort.
I let Cindy out so she could walk out onto the pier to take some pictures. There were dolphins swimming along in the bay, their dorsal fins popping up out of the water from time to time. A number of people were hanging out on the pier enjoying the evening and the sights.
I talked Cindy into walking up to the top of the lighthouse. She's scared of heights, but the stairs were inside the lighthouse structure. It cost $3.00 a person to go up. They got you coming and going if you want to see the lighthouse. We got to the top and walked around the outside taking some pictures. This is a shot of the marina at Sea Pines, as well as some of the shops and restaurants on the left, with some condos on the right. There was an outdoor music show going on that evening featuring a troubadour entertaining younger kids. I have to say there may have been a crowd of 600 or so along the marina listening to the music.
I was talking to a guy on top of the lighthouse who hadn't been to Hilton Head in over 10 years . He said, "They've really changed this out here. There was nothing out here 12 to 15 years ago, just the lighthouse. Now they've got this resort and restaurants and stuff. They ruined the scenery out here."
All in all, Hilton Head was a great place to chill out and de-compress. The time we spent there was too short. I found that I could be a good beach bum when I was on Hilton Head. It was probably a little too expensive and a little too "high-brow" for my taste, but it was very nice, to say the least. I'm sure that if we go back to Savannah, we'll book more time for a few days at Hilton Head.
Comments