Holiday Inn Beaufort

After spending most of the day in Charleston we arrived in Hilton Head after dark. I could make out the silhuettes of hundreds of palms, reminding us of CA. The 7x12 mile Island, or more acurately the peninsula has a number of gated/guarded "Plantations" or subdivisions. Timeshare developments are popular as wel found out during one of their ...

... Neptune's Bellows, a small break in the caldera wall which allows the ship to sail right into the bowl of the caldera. Inside we anchored in Whalers Bay and went ashore where we could see a few Gentoo Penguins, some Cape Petrels, Skuas and quite a few ruined buildings. It seems that the Norweigans set up a whaling station in 1911 that lasted until 1931. It as a very big operation with some 250 people working here. They had several very large storage and heating tanks ...

Dear Family and Friends,

Today we drove from Myrtle Beach to Ridgeland, out last stop in the Carolina's. We stopped off today at the USS Yorktown at a place called Patriots Point. A chance to have a good ...

... me to free drinks and dinner upon arrival at Grover's...a very nice gesture and I planned on repaying him by buying him a beer or something after his shift, but, nope...He gets everything free anywhere on the beach.

As the night progresses and I meet with some of the locals, apparently this is only the tip of the iceberg. Girls there want him and guys want to be him and police wouldn't dream of taking him to jail. All this leads me to think he ...

... to Daufuskie's shores. Not only does he have this v**y special stature on the island as keymast** to all of the storytelling rooms, he's willing to help the thrillseek** do what no one else does or would even conceive of doing - daring the island at night.

So who is this bold and unusual charact** and why is he so det**mined to freak people out? Joe Yocius, aka, Low Country Joe has been a "Daufuskian" for ov** 10 years and has been visiting the island off and on for two ...

WE LEFT SAVANNAH AND HEADED 64 MILES NORTH TO BEAUFORT,S.C.AS WE HEADED TO THE SAVANNAH RIVER WE HEARD SEVERAL CARGO SHIPS AND BARGES ALERTING NORTH AND SOUTH BOUND TRAFFIC OF THEIR APPROACH.WE ENTERED FIELDS CUT AT SOME WHAT LOW TIDE AND WAS CRUISING AT 8-10 KNOTS THEN ALL OF A SUDDEN THUD,BUMP AND THE WHOLE BOAT LIFTED UP OUT OF THE WATER OVER SOMETHING WE BACKED DOWN AND ACCESSED THE SITUATION ALL SEEMED TO BE OKAY BUT WE DEFINITELY HIT SOMETHING.WHEN WE REACHED THE DOWNTOWN ...

Wednesday April 15th 2009 We arrived Wednesday morning on a beautiful, sunny and warm day. Instead of going to the campground we headed right for the beach! The town is cute, friendly and very "beachy". There was a public beach access with plenty of parking for Crazy Fish. Off to the beach we went!! We walked on down to the end of the Island and around the point. I was interested in noting how much black there was in the shells. Mostly the shells are oyster shells ...

... for us. She was from New Mexico and was retired American style with a part time job. In the evening we went to a cook out organized by the liveaboard couple on the Hunter next to us. Met some pleasant people - mostly from trawlers. Heard harrowing stories of rough weather in Albermarle Sound and a fouled anchor in Mile Hammock Bay. Had some drinks with the locals in the marina bar. On Sunday after a late start and lunch at the marina ...

... Hollywood scene. The Big Chill was filmed here (one of the antebellum houses featured in the pictures below), Forest Gump Vietnam scenes were filmed here and Prince of Tides (Mike Conroy's) story was filmed here with Nick Nolte as the actor playing Mike. Parris Island (Marine training base) is also here. We saw lots of soldiers. Capt Maggie continues to be the ship's photographer so any ...

... to be out on the roads at that time. After some fine dining, of camp grub, we had a game of scrabble, while listening to our iTunes on the laptop, what did we do without it. Taking the time to recharge the camera, I'd hate it to lose battery power just when we want a picture. The Westy is driving fine, no mechanical problems, thank goodness and the cracked windshield is manageable. Tomorrow we head towards Charleston, but then again maybe to another island.....