Around Hilton Head

So, I know I probably should not complain as many of you north of us have it worse than we do, but what is up with the clouds and windy, cool weather?  Keith and I both thought it was to be in the mid 60s low 70s while we were here in Hilton Head.  Instead both Saturday and Sunday were a bit chilly.  We did take a long bike ride around part of the island on Sunday.  This was a deer we saw when we stopped to take off our windbreakers.  She did not seem scared of us at all.

Even this morning (Monday) dawned somewhat cloudy with a bit of a wind, but by noon the sun was at least out and it was about 65.  So Keith and I separated for  some outdoor island activities.

This was Keith's activity pick for the day.  Golf at Harbortown Golf Links where the PGA Heritage Classic is played.

This was my pick.  Kayaking on Broad Creek.

My kayaking adventure in the late morning was very nice.  I had a dolphin that followed me for a while up the river.  He did not come out of the water for very long at any one time, and I knew I couldn't get a good picture of him but he was only about 20 feet from me.  I did however get pictures of the oyster beds all along the tidal river here.

Yes folks those are all oysters.  And they are all along the banks of the river.

I also got some shots of something that is as abundant here as the oysters called "pluff mud".  The stuff is everywhere and it is a gooey mud.  It looks like chocolate pudding.  If you were to step into it you'd sink to your thighs and getting your legs out of it is nearly impossible.  Oysters seem to love growing in the stuff however.

I came back in the inlet to the marina around noon and this is a shot of Southern Style as I was coming in.  She is on the right.

Since it was early in the day and Keith would be gone several more hours; I decided to take a bike ride.  I headed up the island about 3.5 miles to a brand new distillery that just opened here last year.  Pengi wanted to go but since he does not have an ID he couldn't taste test, so I left him on the boat.  He said people would talk about me drinking alone, but I said hey, you only live once. Hilton Head Distillery has their own vodka and several rums.  These are the distilling tanks.

The rum only goes through 7 distillations while the vodka goes through 49.  They are also getting ready to release their first aged whisky shortly.  These are the barrels with the whiskey patiently aging.

They are upright instead of laying sideways to maximize the amount of liquid that can be put into the barrels.  This is the bottler.  It only does 5 at a time.  They are still a pretty small facility.

I bought a bottle of the toasted coconut rum.   (Yummy).   Can't wait to try this in something.  It sure was good at the tasting and in the pineapple concoction I had as part of the tour.  Pengi also can't wait to crack it open.

Tomorrow we leave for the Savannah area.  They did not have any space for us at Thunderbolt Marina, so we will be at a nearby marina called Bahia Bleu.  Look out Paula Dean.