Hilton Head Island, SC - March 2012

It was another two days on to Hilton Head.  Since the goal was to meet family in Charleston for the Cooper River Bridge Run, I had extra time on my hands.  The plan was to spend a week hanging out in Hilton Head and doing projects on the boat.  Unfortunately, I got the news that my mother had passed away.  She was a lovely, gentle lady, and at 92, had a good full life.  I ended up leaving the boat in Hilton Head to return home for the funeral.

The second day out from St Simons, I awoke to a chart plotter that did not want to work.  So, this was a day of reverting back to paper charts and visual navigation.  Guess we all need to do this once in a while to keep up the skills.  That evening, before I got into Hilton Head, I was anchored just to the south in the bend of a river at the southern end of Daufuskie Island. A line of thunderstorms came through, with pretty dramatic lightning - a hard thing to capture in a picture,but I got at least one shot.  

Thunderhead - Daufuskie Island SC

When I got to Hilton Head the next day, I went to the top of Broad Creek and anchored off of Shelter Cove.  This gave me a couple of days to visit the island, trouble shoot the chart plotter and water heater (no hot water) and have dinner with friends, before heading back to Charlotte. The anchorage off of Shelter Cove was a good one - 10 feet of water, and no one else around.

Shelter Cove - at Hilton Head Island

The afternoon was spent touring the island on a rented bicycle (and visiting West Marine). Later, I met friends from Charlotte at their place in Palmetto Dunes.  We went for a little light refreshment and seaside entertainment - which turned out to be a very nice combo.  They played a good mix of classic and contemporary music - and one of the guys could really hit the high notes.

Entertainment - Palmetto Dunes - Hilton Head SC

The chart plotter turned out to be a blown fuse.  The water heater was a kinked hose.  Pretty quick repairs. After a last night at anchorage, I left the boat at Palmetto Bay marina, went back to Palmetto Dunes for dinner (nice friends), and left the next day for Charlotte (driven by the same friends - now you can't beat that).  Here's a shot of the last night at anchorage....

Sunset - Shelter Cove