The Southern Experience - A Visit to Hilton Head


I've been enjoying travel this year - Cuba, France, NY and most recently, South Carolina and Georgia.  Each trip has been so very different but this was a getaway jam packed with my sisters and friends and we lucked out on a magnificent week weather-wise and lots of cool adventures.


We were celebrating sister Liz's 60th and just happened to luck out on an opportunity to stay at a condo, for a very reasonable price, which was located a few short miles from where her dear friend, Linda, has a beautiful retirement home.  Linda is president of the Sea Turtles Patrol in Hilton Head so we got quite an environmental education while there. I even saved a turtle - albeit the pond type.

We toured Daufuskie Island which was quite a treat - an island you can only get to by a private ferry boat, which is 5 miles long and 2.5 miles wide and is steeped with history and charm. Folks get around on unpaved roads with golf carts and everyone seems to know everyone else. Quiet, laid back and beautiful, Daufuskie has an intriguing history as well as a handful of artisans who embrace the lifestyle and share their crafts.

Metal sculptor Chase Allen of Iron Fish Gallery offers metal fish, turtles, mermaids, crabs and other artsy objects at a unique outdoor gallery with an honor system payment plan. 



Daufuskie Blues which is housed in the historical Mayfield's School is a place  where you can learn about  how indigo was a plantation crop here years ago. While here you can also grab a delicious treat at School Grounds Coffee, housed in the same building.

We also biked, swam, dines, went out on a sunset cruise and a pontoon boat but I think our favorite trip was on Captain Amber Kuehn's Marine Education tour on her boat, Spartina.  Captain Amber's enthusiasm for her salt marsh estuary home and sharing the living things within it was absolutely contagious.




She shared the importance of the green grasses (called Spartina) that make up the marsh and explained that there is more of that particular grass in South Carolina than anywhere else in the world.  She talked about the need for natural filtration and that sometimes the smell that tourists complain of is the earth and the waters doing what they need to to keep aquatic life healthy.



Captain Amber showed a passion for the world around her - something I believe we all need to embrace and realize how fragile this ecosytem is and how much we are taking it for granted.

She offers a short video clip on her website and concludes with: "As the sun sets on the marsh, it's like a finale of a performance that went on all day long and we are so privileged to be in the audience."

Our trip was more than just fun - it was eye opening and thought provoking...I guess that's why I enjoy travel so much.  I hope my readers embrace travel and enjoy my photography,  Please leave me a comment below if you do.

Meanwhile, keep on embracing your lives and doing what you can to realize this is a great big wonderful world that we live in and we need to appreciate it, help protect it and share the good in it.

Thanks for stopping by.

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