Wild Waves at Hilton Head Beach

Some days, the ocean is very calm at Hilton Head beach. I shot this photo one rainy day, when the skies had cleared for a few minutes.

There was a thunderstorm and lots of rain that night, and the waves were wild the next day.

In fact, the waves were big enough that one brave guy went surfing!

But whether it’s calm or wild, the ocean is always interesting.

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Lunch at Luthers in Beaufort

It was a beautiful day today, so we headed to the waterfront park in Beaufort. There’s always something interesting to see in the park, and a few ships float by in the river.

It was almost noon, so we headed to Luther’s for lunch, and sat out on the patio, with a view of the river.

Mr. D had a hamburger – his favorite meal at Luther’s – and I had the chicken fingers. As always, the food was great, and the staff was polite and speedy.

After lunch, we wandered further along the park, to see the new memorial plaques that had been added to the park. There are 10 plaques in a circle of trees, and each plaque has a chapter in the story of Beaufort’s history.


There is also one smaller plaque, that commemorates the celebration of Beaufort’s 300th anniversary, on January 17th, 2011.

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Lunch at Wren Restaurant in Beaufort

Last weekend, we made a day trip to Beaufort, to visit the lovely waterfront park, and have lunch. It was a beautiful day, with a few clouds in the sky.

One of the highlights of the waterfront park is the view of the bridge, and we saw this sailboat going through the bridge opening. It’s fun to watch the center section of the bridge turning, to let the boats pass through.


We walked to the end of the park, and found that the ground had been dug out, in shallow rectangles, between all the trees in this circle.

We guessed that some plaques were going to be installed, but there sure were lots of holes to fill!

Next, we wandered up to the Wren Restaurant, that someone had recommended to us. It’s in a low white building, with menu by the door, and its name under the front window.

However, that sign was so discrete that we didn’t even see it when we walked past, looking for the restaurant. It was only when were were standing on the opposite corner, looking back, that I realized we had passed it.

There are pretty planters by the door, which almost look like little Zen gardens.

The restaurant is fairly small, with a rustic brick interior, and a string of lights just inside the front door.

There were two rows of tables, close together, and the restaurant was quite busy. Our server was efficient, but not overly welcoming. She barely looked at us, even when taking our orders, and spoke very little.
The food was okay – I had a chicken salad plate, and Mr. D had a fish sandwich. My plate had a large ball of chicken salad, a few greens, and fruit slices. Everything was fresh, but the salad didn’t have much flavor. There wasn’t anything to really complain about, but nothing to inspire us to go back again either.
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Beach Birds at Hilton Head

There are always a few shore birds on Hilton Head beach. Some of them like to stand alone, far away from the other birds.

Occasionally, someone starts handing out bread crumbs, and the birds come rushing in, from all over the beach.

There are usually a few sandpipers too, like this little group. They scurry along the beach at top speed, stopping for very short times, to grab a speck of food from the sand.

On the way back to the condo, we sometimes see this egret, wading through the swamp.

He moves slowly and gracefully, sticking his neck out with each step.

We can always hear other birds too, singing in the trees. They usually stay hidden, so it’s hard to get their picture. Mr. D got this nice picture of a female cardinal though, perched on an inside branch of a tree.

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Knobbed Whelk Eggs on Hilton Head

While walking along Hilton Head beach, I found a few of these spine-shaped things, that you can see in the picture below. I thought that they were seaweeds, like the other bits of debris that are around it.

The “spine” in the next picture has thicker, flatter discs, and looks like it could have been a snake in a past life!

However, these aren’t seaweeds, or skeletons, they are the egg containers of a large sea snail – the Knobbed Whelk. Each of those discs is a capsule that can hold almost 100 eggs.

So far, I haven’t seen any Knobbed Whelk shells on the beach – they apparently look like a large conch shell. You can read about them in this Wikipedia article, and see a couple more pictures – The Knobbed Whelk.

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Lunch at The Nosh in Bluffton

It was a clear, cool day today, so we decided to visit the Tanger outlets in Bluffton, to do some shopping. There were still a few holiday decorations on display, and this star looked pretty between the palm trees.

There were vehicles for the children to ride, but I guess that it was too cold for anyone to hop on.

For lunch, we stopped at Robert Irvine’s restaurant – The Nosh in Bluffton. It was about 12:30 pm, but the place was almost empty. We were seated at a table near the door, with a nice view of the shoppers walking by.

The service was excellent, with a very friendly server who kept an eye on us, without being overly intrusive. I ordered the fried green tomato sandwich, which was piled high with tasty tomatoes, perfectly cooked.
There was a spicy mayonnaise too, which added a bit of heat, and delicious flavor. Mr. D had the she crab soup, and enjoyed it – he finished every drop!
The prices were good, the service was excellent, and the food was delicious. We’ll definitely go back to The Nosh again.

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Feeding the Birds

Usually the Hilton Head beach is quiet, with a few birds standing along the shore. Today though, there was a swirling flock of birds as we headed up the beach.
When we got closer to the excitement, we could see that there were two people in the midst of the birds, and they were feeding them. The man actually put bread on his hat, and the birds swooped in to take it.

You just never know what you’ll see along the Hilton Head beach!
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