We usually stay at Bluewater Resort & Marina when we visit Hilton Head Island. It is a timeshare resort with a private dock on the Intracoastal Waterway. They offer free kayaks and life jackets while you stay. You have to do an orientation, which is just watching some videos and a short lecture. Then you [...]
As you drive over the bridge to Hilton Head Island, you go over Pinckney Island. The bridge is the Mackay Creek bridge. As you go over it, you can see the big sign that says Pinckney Island National Wildlife Refuge. Pinckney Island is between Hilton Head and the mainland. It is nearly 4 miles long, [...]
Step back in time at the historic Honey Horn Plantation. These are the only remaining historic buildings on the island. Discovery House museum has natural history and cultural heritage exhibits. It follows island history from pre-European natives, to plantation history and other islanders who lived, worked or hunted on Hilton Head Island. Exhibits at Discovery [...]
Cranes are often seen in flocks. Herons chase each other away. Herons fly and forage alone, although sometimes a few will sleep in the same tree. Cranes’ necks are a shorter and they usually hold them straight. Herons curve their necks into an S. When they are flying they pull their neck totally in. Cranes [...]
I saw an episode on National Geographic about dolphins that chase fish onto the beach to eat them. Hilton Head Island is one of the places they do this. Dolphins will round up a school of fish and herd them toward the shore or river bank. They push the fish onto the sand or mud, [...]
This is a Ghost Crab. They are a common shore crab all over the world. You can see them on the beach on Hilton Head Island. They go from really tiny, up to a little over 2” across. They look see-through, but actually they are just the same color as the sand. They can change [...]
Live Oak is called “Live” because they do not lose their leaves in the winter. There are a lot of varieties of Live Oaks, but the kind on Hilton Head Island is Southern Live Oak, Quercus Virginiana. There are many very large, old trees on the island. Live Oak trees can grow over 65 feet [...]
Hilton Head is a great place for birders. There are more than 200 varieties of wading and shore birds, raptors and song birds. Even if you don’t know what you are looking for, you will enjoy all the wildlife. These are some of the best places to see birds: Hilton Head Island Birding Trail Maps [...]
Hilton Head Island has beautiful beaches. They are clean and well maintained. The water is warm and the surf is usually not rough. There are natural grasses and many birds. It is a relaxing beach. Hilton Head Island's hard sand beaches are perfect for bicycling. All of the beaches are public up to the high [...]
Discovery House, the museum at Honey Horn Plantation, has a stuffed Carolina Parakeet. They were much bigger than my parakeets. Budgies are a little over 1 oz. to 1.4 oz. Carolina Parakeets were 3.5 to 4 oz. Carolina Parakeets used to live all over what early Spanish colonists called Carolana, the territory from the Atlantic [...]