HHI Memorial Week Trip Report 5/26-5/31

[bfrosty]

Greetings all,

It's late, but I'm excited to post my trip report because I have a lot of good things to tell you about. Let's start with the airline and get that ordeal out of the way. Note to self: never fly delta again. Okay...that is it for the airline.

1st day - Memorial Day 5/26/08
Arrive 1hr late, grab the Dodge Caravan (Nice, sluggest motor though) and onto our 45-50min drive to HHI. No traffic at 1pm, no construction and easy to find the island and the resort at Mile Marker 8.5 after you get over the bridge. Check-in was expediant and our room was 2422 near the pool. Awesome location, marsh view, playground and pool steps away. Room was great and just saw one big cockroach the first day(smashed it w/shoe)...nothing afterwards. The resort was not busy at all during our stay.
The RESORT: We headed to the pool, signed up for Memorial Day kids games that included "The Ice Cream Drop", "Mud Marsh Pie" and other games. We crabbed for a bit out on the pier.

2nd day - Low country Fishing tour 5/27/08
9am departure w/our captain Scott. We just had to bring drinks/snacks and everything else was provided by our captain (cooler/ice/rod/reels/bait). We headed out and saw a few dolphins (very cool), rounded the sound and anchored off shore about 200ft in about 25ft of water. We had a bunch of hits and started to reel in 3ft Sandbar sharks, 16in Stingrays, a 32in Cobia and a few whiting fish that we used for bait. We came back about 12:30pm and had a blast. I highly recommend the tour and ask for Scott. He was a great conversationalist, guide, captain, fishing expert and seemed like part of the family. Afterwards, we had lunch at the room. Dinner was Kingfishers and I was not impressed...more of a bar fly lounge than great food. Scott recommended "Scott's Fish Market" in Shelter Cove. We didn't get a chance to try it though during our stay.

3rd day - Early morning Beach House 5/28/08
Combed for shells and such, we ended up seeing a ton of aquatic animals in the water...moonjellies, live starfish, live sandollars, hermit crabs and crabs. I noticed if you look down at the water while shuffling your feet look for a black knob sticking up out of the sand a bit. If it's hard, dig it out and it could be a huge hermit crab in a conch shell. You can feel them with your foot in about 2ft of water w/o seeing the bottom. Really fun, if you can get the hang of it. Swam at the beach house, played water volleyball, drank a mango margarita, played ping-pong. Visited "Sea Pines" and walked to the top of the lighthouse, bought soveniers, took photos and got lost driving around. We finally found a perserve and found a few alligators by the ponds. Dinner, we ordered "Guiseppes Pizza" and it was mediocre.

4th day - Savannah Tour 5/29/08
Drove to Savannah (rainy day) and stopped at the "Museum and Visitors Center". We toured the Museum and view the film of Savannah's history and were very delighted. The park bench from "Forrest Gump" was a replica and not the one they used in the movie. We tried to find "The Lady and Sons" restaurant and it was crowed and we toured the downtown area and got bored pretty quick. Headed back to HHI and stopped at the Savannah Forest Preserve off I-95 just before leaving Georgia. We found a ton of alligators, birds, lillipads, baby gators and more. A 4 mile drive on a one-way rock road...very private and enjoyed the serenity. Took the backroads up to HHI and hit Bluffton Town. Bluffton was okay..not much there. Dinner was leftovers.

5th day - Low Country Fishing Tour #2 5/30/08
Tour started at 9am and our guide was Captain Scott again. He took more time and we found more dolphins and snapped some photos. The next stop was our old fishing hole. My father inlaw and son hit 3-4 Sandbar sharks right off the bat. I snagged a stingray (20in) and then waited for the big one. About 1hr later, I had a MegaHit on my line....Bamm!!! A cobia (catfish/sharkish looking fish) the limit was 34in or bigger to take. I restled him for about 20min. He did a dozen depth dives and took more line....I was wearing out trying to wear the fish out. We finally snagged him. Afterall the fuss...he weighed about 30lbs and was over 50inches long. Our captain cleaned it and we split the meat. That night we grill at the resort (10 steaks) and had the best, fresh seafood meal ever. It was kind of link MahiMahi or SeaBass. Very good fish. A little garlic, lemon, capers and white wine for a sauce.

6th day - Beach House/Airport 5/31/08
9am headed to the beach and built sandcastles, swam and played more volleyball. Ate at "Signals" (Great!) and headed to the airport.

Highlights-
Savannah Airport (The Most Beautiful Airport that I've ever been in), HHI Disney Resort, The beauty of the Island, especially around Palmetto Dunes and Sea Pines, Room Location (Pool, Playground,Mercantile,Campfire), Room View (Marsh/Pier), Cast Members, Fishing Captain (Scott), Fishing, Dolphins, Weather (rained one day), no crowds, no traffic.
Bummers-
Delta flight leaving St. Louis - sat on plane 1 1/2hrs so they could fix the right engine, Alamo return (computers were downed, delayed 40mins), Cockroach in room first day, Gas prices, We didn't see B'Lou Crabbe or Shadow the entire time.

Summary - Our family (DW, DS9, DD4) and my Inlaws to HHI Disney's Resort was a blast, very relaxing, different from the hustle/bustle of WDW, still had the Disney flair, Cast Member excellence and top marks for cleanliness, service, etc, etc, etc. We thoughly enjoyed the beach, beach house pool, resort pool, smores and our Fishing excursions, the weather and much, much more. Thank you Disboard members for all your hints, tips and suggestions. We look forward to returning with more friends some day soon.

Suggestions - Bigger trash cans in room, constantly emptying the trash. A dish towel. A bit more Mickey theming.

Photos to come...as soon as I figure it out.

 

[luvindisneyworld]

Oh, I cant wait to see your pictures. We are wanting to try HH in the next couple of years.

 

[alldiz]

Thanks for the report....I can't wait to go to HHI one day.
Kerri

 

[Disneyaholic]

This happens every year starting about this time... people head to Hilton Head for the first time and fall in love with it!! We did the same thing in 1996 when the resort first opened and the love affair is still going strong...

The "cockroach" you saw was actually a Palmetto -- kind of a flying roach. They're everywhere in Hilton Head. Likely someone before you left the door to the porch open and it made its way in. Sorry that it was part of your inaugural trip, though. I know the resort recently had the pest contol people in, but those little (?) guys can be sneaky about entering!

Your fishing trips sound wonderful; we are not "into" fishing, but that certainly sounds like fun, not to mention good eats!

You should have had a dish towel in the room; housekeeping would have brought one if you had asked. (Since we tend to eat in the room more at HH than we do at WDW, we usually bring one or two extras from home, as well as a hand towel for hanging on the oven door handle. The one dish towel provided gets wet much too quickly. We make sure that the ones we bring don't look anything like the ones provided by the resort so that Mousekeeping doesn't accidentally pick them up; kind of like the people who bring brightly-colored fitted sheets for the beds.)

Can't wait to see your pictures. We left the resort the day you arrived, after a weekend of the most perfect weather. Even when it rains, though, the resort and the marsh are beautiful.

 

[bfrosty]

Okay, I've been fighting with Charter to reset my webspace account and they said..check back in a couple days.

Does anyone know of a quick webhosting place I can put my pictures for now?

Thanks a million.
Bfrosty.

 

[BWV Dreamin]

Okay, I've been fighting with Charter to reset my webspace account and they said..check back in a couple days.

Does anyone know of a quick webhosting place I can put my pictures for now?

Thanks a million.
Bfrosty.

www.photobucket.com

 

[Conan the Librarian]

The "cockroach" you saw was actually a Palmetto -- kind of a flying roach. They're everywhere in Hilton Head. Likely someone before you left the door to the porch open and it made its way in. Sorry that it was part of your inaugural trip, though. I know the resort recently had the pest contol people in, but those little (?) guys can be sneaky about entering!
.

Oh yes! The Palmetto bug is a magician. You can't stop them with mere walls or glass. They can get in anywhere. This is not a sign of cleanliness, it is just that the buggers just can walk through walls (they are actually after fresh water). Only a few chemicals kill them, microwaves won't kill them. Best thing is a well placed shoe.

I am glad you enjoyed the area. The Savannah downtown area is more entertaining if you take one of the guided tours or have a tour book. I recommend Sojourn in Savannah, that you can get at most local shops. It's a self-guided tour of my wonderful town with maps and descriptions.

Can't help you with better fishing, in my fishing career, I mastered catching the anchor.

 

[bfrosty]

May 27th Sunrise over the Marsh

Another Sunrise Pic.

Shadows Home...we never saw here our entire trip! =((

The Marina, early morning

Our friendly neighbor..."Nick" the Dolphin

Our first fishing trip on Tuesday...Stingray!

Me and the first "SandBar Shark" we caught that day.

 

[bfrosty]

Our first "Cobia", we had to throw back...under 34" in length. Bummer!

Blue Heron along the pier at Disney's Hilton Head Island Resort.

Starfish on the beach...lowtide.

Moon Jelly or Cannonball Jellyfish....we picked these up...they won't sting.

Hessian Gun in Savannah Museum...Remember! The Headless Horseman was a Hessian from England in Sleepy Hollow?

 

[bfrosty]

Savannah Forest Preserve...Gator Number One!

My Father In-Law's first SandBar Shark.

My DS first SandBar Shark.

"Nick" begging for food again...It is against the law to feed them..but people still do it.

 

[bfrosty]

Okay, the one that didn't get away. A 50+ Inch 30lbs "Cobia", we had her for dinner Friday night.
Reeling her in for about 20minutes....She kept doing depth dives on me...taking more line out each time.

Grilling her up!!! Garlic, Butter, Capers, White Wine and a little salt/pepper.
This was just HALF of the fish...we gave the other side to Captain Scott.

 

[Disneyaholic]

You should print out those photos of you with the fish you caught and send them to the resort. I'l bet they make the bulletin board by the rental desk!

Thanks so much for sharing!