20 Nov 2015

20/11/2015 : Hilton Head Island

We cycled around some of the island yesterday on the marina's bikes, heading off to Dolphin Point at the top of the island where we were told by a local that some fishermen caught and tagged a 12' Tiger Shark the other day. The Hilton Head Plantation where the marina is located is an exclusive gated community with myriad golf courses, expensive houses and loads of posh cars (right up Debra's street, you might say). The two of us trundling around on the bikes must amuse the locals who seem to drive literally everywhere - we have yet to see anyone carrying golf clubs or even towing a set, they all ride buggies which rather defeats the purpose of exercise!

Anyway, as we were wending our merry way back to the marina we passed a lake where there was a fisherman sitting by the bank. As we rode towards him I noticed a slight movement in the water. I called to Debra and asked her what she thought it was. We stopped and watched and sure enough it was our first alligator sighting.  We stayed chatting to the fisherman and discovered this 'gator, all 6 feet or so of him, is a regular and hangs around waiting to steal the fish off the line when they are being reeled in.

The weather for the week ahead is very windy and so we're having to pick our days for sailing carefully, but with only 250 miles to go before we reach Cape Canaveral, we've got plenty of time to make it in time for flying home.  We're heading 110 miles south tomorrow to Brunswick in Georgia in a 24-hour weather window before high winds return and have booked into a small marina there so we have easy access ashore.