Some more beach time
Happy to have enjoyed some time on the water that even included a dolphin-sighting, we walked back to the suite to have some lunch. We pulled some things together: the last of the Bullies BBQ, some cheese, fruit, tomatoes, and a beer. Mine is the more gluten-y side of the table.
Recharged, we got ready and biked to the beach. It was along that bike ride that I realized, “Wow! I could do this vacation again!” I was loving it. I loved how carefree it was. We could get up and have a nice boat excursion in the morning, and bike to the beach in the afternoon. Or lounge at the pool. Or, we could’ve gone on a nature excursion. We’d had a great evening the night before with such a fantastic meal, and the sight of all of those kids having so much fun at the pool (just before the storm hit) was still rolling around in my mind. I could see how this resort could make for a great vacation spot for couples or families, even without the parks. I made a note that I should check how much points were going for on the resale market. We still haven’t made that purchase since we’re in the midst of the college-years with our kids, and we have a wedding to pay for next year, but someday…someday, this would be a great add-on.
And how perfect is the location, when you think about it? For people in the northeast, making that trek down I-95 to the World, Hilton Head would be a great stop along the way (either down or back) to break up the trip. Much better than Vero Beach, which actually
adds driving time to the trip. Driving between the Philly area to/from WDW in a straight-shot can be done, but isn’t worth it, in my opinion. We did it one time, to Judy’s sister’s house in Florida, and we were such zombies for the next several days that we said we’d never do that again. But Hilton Head is only a 10-12 hour trip (depending upon traffic), and is totally doable in a day. What a great spot to break up the trip, either down or back, or both, between the northeast and Disney World!
But yeah, this bike ride was the moment that I realized that I was really enjoying being here. A lot. It probably helped that for this bike ride my seat wasn’t moving from side to side, and I knew how to get to the Beach House. But Hilton Head had really grown on me. We were about halfway through the vacation and I was already past regretting that it would eventually end...I had moved right to planning a return. So, for our trip this coming summer, we’ll be spending 6 nights at the Boardwalk, and then 3 nights at Hilton Head, stopping on our return home. I was initially only able to get 2 nights and waitlisted the third, and it came through a couple of weeks ago. I was sooo psyched because I think that extra night will make all the difference in the world as far as having some downtime and giving the kids some time to explore the resort and enjoy the beach.
Anyway, back to this report. We got to the beach and set up shop under our umbrella. Please pardon all of the gunk that was on my lens.
Here’s the view from my beach chair. It was low tide and man, it looks like there’s a mile of beach between me and the surf…that’s how gradual the beach is. So, in the water, you can go a long way out there just bobbing along and still touch bottom, if you dare.
Those green and white striped towels are Disney towels.
The gradually sloping beach creates great little tide pools like this one at low tide.
They’re great for kids to play in. Extra warm, and with the occasional critter to find.
The water was really calm when we got there. Here are a couple of shots from the water, looking back at the beach.
Yes, we were enjoying it!
We cooled off. We read. I caught up on my trip notes (mostly all of that miscellaneous stuff from the Dolphin Cruise!).
I tried to take an artsy umbrella shot
Some people discovered a horseshoe crab at the little tide pool in front of us.
A girl was worried about it and tried to move it to the ocean from the tide pool. She wasn’t handling it very carefully, and thankfully a lady was able to convince her to just leave it alone, it’d be fine. When the girl left, I told the lady, “thank you for rescuing it…from too much help!”
The wind picked up later and people had to start taking down their umbrellas. (That’s one nice thing about renting the beach chairs and umbrellas -- those things are put into the sand pretty solidly.) I laughed out loud when a guy in front of us was struggling with his umbrella and it whipped closed and it looked like he’d been eaten.
By 3:30 we decided it was time to move up to the Beach House to get a break from the wind (note that’s
from the wind) and get some treats before Signals closed. This time, I decided to go with the classic Mickey Bar, while Judy stuck with the Dole Whip.
Sometime after Signals closed we decided to get our mugs refilled and exchange our towels for clean ones. The only place I could do that was at Surfmen’s Bar, where you have to ask the bartender/attendant to do it for you. I like the honor system at the Kidani pool much better, where there’s an available drink dispenser that you can walk up to, and a towel bin to put used towels and pick up fresh ones. And of course, I had to wait behind a lady who ordered 6 smoothies. A day or two before it was a lady ordering pina colava’s and mango slush’s. They’re bartenders, so that’s what they should be doing, but why do they make them hand out towels too?
Anyway, we hung out until around 5pm and then biked back to the resort. It started sprinkling on us as we left. It was one of those light rains where it seems that there’s no raincloud over you. Fortunately, it didn’t rain too much while biking back, but after we got back to the room Judy said, “come look at the rain!” and it was coming down pretty hard. We left the Beach House just in time apparently.
We had dinner in the suite that evening. Bad news: I had leftovers. Good news: They were from Vine! Judy cooked up the rest of the chicken and broccoli she’d bought.
I think I’ll end this chapter here, bookended with food pictures. I know my audience.
Up next: I begin to see the signs
[URL="http://www.disboards.com/threads/keepin-it-on-the-downlow-country-at-hhi-some-more-beach-time-pg-20.3309082/page-21#post-53193112"]Link to next chapter[/URL]
Did they have benches as well? I figure you would be the one to ask since you clearly have a photographic memory.
You two look like you're having a really great time soaking up the sun (well, you were). Please tell me you wrote that trivia stuff down. Otherwise I'm going to have to question your priorities on filling brain space. 
More money than sense.
Thanks for chiming in. Yes, we had a good time learning about the area from Tony. He was a good captain and tour guide!
Yes, it can be a touch place to decide on what to get!
I was looking forward to posting this one!
