A Little Bit Of Everything

Since today was our last day on Fripp, we decided to make the most of the day and do everything at least once.

Our day started out early, we had gotten a tip earlier in the week about seashell hunting on the tip of a point only accessible at low tide. We checked the tide tables, and low tide on Hunting Island was at 8:45am. It turned out to be somewhat of a wild goose chase. It was a very long walk out to the "point" and we didn't find the promised big shells. We did see some interesting sea life and it was a beautiful morning, so all was not wasted.

Here are some pictures of the sea life we encountered. We saw horseshoe crabs, hermit crabs, sea pork, birds, and many other little critters. We did find some bigger shells as well.

Low tide

Horseshoe crabs, they look very intimidating.

The beautiful blue crab, he is underwater, and hard to get a clear picture.


Our shell finds

We checked out some cabins on the remote side of Hunting Island. It looked like a deserted island, and it had some old hurricane damage.

We also got in trouble from the park ranger, since we were in the camping section of the island, and we only had a 20 minute pass. We were issued a warning ticket, they may never let us come back.

After heading back over to Fripp Island, we went to the marina to fill up the golf cart with gas. On our way back to the condo, we drove by one of the familiar alligator ponds. I had become an expert alligator spotter over the last week, and although we had never seen an alligator in this particular pond, I spied this one in the shade of a big tree.

I think he is bigger than the one guarding the 11th tee.

We went to the gift shop, and the kids got a gecko, a snake and a mermaid.

We also managed another dip in the pool, and the last visit to the beach. Then we finally conquered the BIG one.






We made our final evening golf cart tour driving around the island, looking at deer, hunting alligators, and enjoying the evening breeze. This time Danielle took the wheel.

We also got a close up of bambi.

At the end of the island was the perfect sunset picture spot over the water, I took a dozen pictures of the kids...this was the best one.

I thought I was tired a couple of days ago...

Lighthouse

We started early today to avoid the heat. The first stop on today's agenda was climbing the Lighthouse on Hunting Island. I had done my homework and knew that Emily was not tall enough to climb the lighthouse, but that wouldn't stop me from trying. I put Danielle on Eddie's back in the Mei Tei, pleaded for Emily to climb, got our tickets and we headed up the steps to enter the lighthouse as a group. Caught in the act..."um sir, the baby can't go." OK, divide and conquer. My mom, Emily and I headed up first. Emily did great, I don't even think she got winded, and we had to tell her to slow down and wait for us. The view from the top was incredible, and we could look down and see how small Eddie and Brian were. We could holler down and they could hear us, so that was pretty cool. Brian was waiting for us at the bottom, anxious for his turn. We took Danielle and wandered around the grounds, learning about the early days of the lighthouse keepers. It was definitely worth the 167 steps, I'm glad I didn't have to carry 50lbs of oil up those steps, I would have made a terrible lighthouse keeper.

Emily enjoying being on top of the world.

Brian gets to feel the cool air way up there.

Look how little everyone is compared to the lighthouse.

The front steps, and entrance to the lighthouse.

We walked down to the beach on Hunting Island, to let the kids play in the sand, collect some seashells, and stick their feet in the water.

This was a jellyfish lying on the beach, I was afraid that one of the kids would step on it and get stung.

After lunch we went to the Nature Center, were they had Gotaku fish printing class. We brought our white t-shirts and the kids had lots of fun designing and printing their t-shirts.

Brian makes a camo gecko,

and a stingray

Emily wants a princess dress,

and a sea turtle.

Danielle thinks her starfish is super cute.

The whole group with their printed t-shirts, (Eddie's is on the back).

Later we cooled of with a dip in the pool. It was so convenient to have a pool outside our back porch.

We made a yummy dinner of steak oscar, asparagus, baked potato, and garlic bread.

Earlier in the day, Curt had called us to see how things were going and to see if we needed anything. I had told him about our alligator hunting and that Eddie was still looking for the big one. He gave us the inside scoop that the big one hangs out on the 11th tee of the golf course. And that after 7pm, when the golf course closed, it was fine for us to drive our golf cart on the course. Great to have friends with insider information.

The big gator guarding the 11th hole sandtrap.

Yikes! He's heading right for us, lets get out of here, I have had enough gator hunting.

Let's take pictures of sunsets instead.


or deer.

Boat Tour

After four days on the island, Eddie wanted to be in charge of the agenda. He declared that we were going alligator hunting, he was determined to find the big one.

Emily wanted to stay at the condo and swim, and Brian was just excited about being able to drive the golf cart around the island. My mom opted to stay and watch Emily swim, and the rest of us took off for the hunt after breakfast.

I got some great scenery pictures during the hunt. Brian and Danielle played at the park near a potential alligator pond, and we did find a couple of alligators, but not the big one.

I love this picture of Brian and Danielle, you can just see their special bond.

Danielle learns that swinging is FUN!

A little gator up on the bank catching a little sun.

This is one of the cool birds on the island, I think it is a great egret.

A pretty BIG gator

Ya think?

Brian spotted this little turtle in one of the alligator ponds, he wanted daddy to get it for him, ha!

Our boat the "Prince of Tides" left from the marina in Beaufort. We rode along the intercoastal waterway and spotted a pod of dolphins, several different types of birds, and some beautiful scenery.

After the boat tour, we let the kids run off some extra energy at a cute park near the marina, before we headed over to Port Royal for dinner at the Dockside Restaurant. We had yummy food at this locals restaurant and the kids did great.

This was so cool, as we went under the bridge, this eagle had built a nest on one of the piers, and was feeding his babies.

A brown pelican

Brian liked this boat and wanted me to take a picture.

Dolphins

The center of this bridge lifted up and turned so large boats could pass through.

The kids had fun playing at this park.

This was the view from the Dockside restaurant where we had dinner.

Once we got back to Fripp we took the big kids to a clearing where we could get some cool sunset photos. We parked our golf cart and were approached by a deer who got too close for comfort. He wandered away and we made a break for it.

Wow after I looked back at the pictures, I realized what a full day we had, no wonder I am so tired.