Where The Dream Started...

For many years we have vacationed for a week at Hilton Head Island, as a matter of fact, HHI is the reason we ended up in Charleston. As most vacationers do, we imagined what it would be like to live in paradise, then one year we decided to stop imagining and, well you know the rest of the story. Ultimately, we decided on Charleston, for many reasons, but we still love HHI and still get here every chance we get. Unfortunately, most of those chances involve driving to the island for a high school football or baseball game and back home late at night.


Morning is one of my favorite times at HHI. Over the years Michelle and I have enjoyed many walks and bike rides with our besties Todd and Lisa from Elkins, West Virginia. This morning I decided to capture a little bit of what I like about those early morning beach jaunts.

As you can see, my morning stroll began with a casual walk along the water. I love to watch for dolphins feeding along the shore, remember, "I'm such a baby, yeah the dolphins make me cry." (BTW we have our tickets for the Hootie and the Blowfish Homegrown Concert in Charleston in August).

Not too far down the beach I came across two teenagers catching sharks in the surf, and a little farther down this group of friends chatting about the day caught my eye. These two images pretty much define mornings on a South Carolina Lowcountry Beach.

It is loggerhead turtle nesting season along the Lowcountry coast and HHI has a fair share of nesting sites that are protected quite aggressively by local laws and regulations. It warms my heart to see this nesting site co-existing with the outside world, notice the boat in the background. I am proud that the South Carolina Aquarium in Charleston has such a great turtle hospital and each year saves the lives of many of these ancient sea creatures who have the misfortune of being injured by propeller strikes, shrimp nets and other dangers that they face.

Finally, after a nice walk and bike ride we made it back to our villa in Shelter Cove and enjoyed a little breakfast, a cup of coffee and a little blogging harbourside From The Land of Palm Trees. Whether you are enjoying the good life today or hard at work, I hope you have a wonderful day. Thanks for stopping by my blog and remember, don't just dream about it, make it happen, you will be glad you did.