Friday, September 13, 2013, Hilton Head Island, SC

I woke up at about seven.  Several things were on my mind and I couldn't go back to sleep. Yesterday I called a company about washing the motor home.  The owner called me back before 8 and we agreed to his coming over later this morning to give me a price.  We stared our coffee and internet routine and Gerri got a call back from a local tour company.  We decided to go on a tour to Daufuskie Island.  We had to be at the dock at 10:30 for an 11 o'clock departure.  The wash guy, Cyril Baldeagle came by at 9:45 and we agreed on a price to wash the coach.  

Gerri at the Ferry

The open Atlantic east of  Daufuskie Island.

The other thing on my mind was that the RV Park where we planned to stay in Margate, FL before our cruise and leave the motor home during the cruise, was trying to renege on our original deal.  I spoke to them and now they want the regular site rental, not the reduced price for when we are cruising and the coach is unoccupied.  I faxed them the original reservation confirmation and will call them tomorrow and see what their position is on sticking with the original agreement.

Got Moss?

We left the RV Park at 10 and drove the short distance to the tour company at Broad Creek Marina.  The tour left promptly at 11 for the 50 minute ride to Daufuskie Island.  Of course the personnel on the boat narrated the passage down the water way past the homes and other marinas.  If you ever wonder where the rich folks go and live this is one of the places.  The narrator pointed out one home that sold for 12.5 million dollars.  It is now a bank repo.  Even the rich have their problems.  Also pointed out was a home that formally was owned by Dave Thomas, Wendy's Restaurants   That mansion is at the end of a peninsula with water on three sides. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ko72ivu3x-g&sns=fb

An Island highway

On our arrival at Freeport Harbor we had a buffet lunch at the restaurant there.  After lunch we picked up a golf cart for a self guided tour of the island.  These things were included in the price of the tour.

The restaurant on Daufuskie Island

Of course with the golf cart came a very confusing not to scale map of the island.  A lot of the time we had no idea where we were.  We saw old school house and churches, graveyards, some mansions and some shacks.  After a couple of hours our backs and bottoms were pretty tired of the golf cart so we headed back to the harbor to rest in the shade before catching our boat back to Hilton Head.  The rest wasn't undisturbed.  The love bugs were thick and bothersome.  I did manage to find one geocache on the island.  I looked for a second but I think it has gone missing.

Room to rent, more than 50 cents

Welcome to the Island

This was actually a dark tree tunnel

A Baptist Church

About 250 people live full time on the island, Mostly service workers.  There are a lot of vacation homes and rental cabins plus 3 golf courses and at least one large hotel that we saw.  There are cars on the island and like building materials and almost everything else they have to be brought to the island by ferry or barge.  Construction workers and most maintenance workers also have to get to the island and back by ferry.  One example of cost given by the narrator was that a home that would cost $300,000 on the mainland would cost $500,000 to build on the island.

The Island has a long history.  There is a site named Bloody Point where several battles were fought in a 1715 war between settlers and the Yamassee Indians. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bloody_Point,_South_Carolina

Our Island Bentley

The boat ride back was more crowded than the trip over and it was very hot.  We also saw a couple of pods of dolphin during the trip to and from the island.

Goodbye Daufuskie Island

After a long hot day we returned to the coach and cooled off.  Before dark I cleaned up the outside of the Jeep with the Klean Bee Cloth..  The wash service will do the motor home in the morning.  After cooling off and cleaning up we decided not to have a big dinner, we both were still satisfied from lunch.  Instead of dinner we had some pimento cheese and cracker, I had some more of the left over pasta.  After TV and computer time we called it a night at about 10:30.