Golf, Gators, and Gulls

Got those taxes filed?

Well, I was watching the PGA golf tourney on TV, and this weekend’s edition takes place in Hilton Head, SC, and since one of our ports of call was there, it provides a perfect time to talk about that excursion.   As the harbor at Harbour Town is too shallow (and small) for our ship, we had to ferry to their pier.  Approaching the landing we immediately saw the impact of the golf tournament around its final hole

which you can see on TV, (and hear me yelling "I was THERE!")

Most people (especially golfers) will recognize the landmark of Harbour Town

its little cluster of shops

Selling the usual “tourist” stuff

waterfront "dining" opportunities

There was also this little statue of a person enjoying lunch

I did a rather extensive web search and couldn’t find much about him (Out to Lunch; by Johnson J. Seward)

On the way out of town, we observed the local farmers bringing stuff to the restaurants who could boast “locally sourced” products

The cruises's excursion of the day was to a little wildlife preserve to see alligators and other denizens of the lowlands. On the way, it was interesting to see the effects of Hurricane Matthew which struck them late last year and certainly affected them more than we experienced up here in Maryland.  Our driver talked about how there were trees down everywhere, and in fact there still were trees laying right next to the road with branches showing where the chain saws carved a path for the roads.

Eventually we got to the little park where we boarded a small boat like this one

Which was electric and very quiet. We began about an hour’s tour through a maze of little ponds and marshes.  Our guide kind of knew where the alligators “hung out” and was able to point them out lounging in the underbrush

The 300mm lens made them more visible than they were to the unaided eye which was more like this:

And you had to be quick to see them (hence the blurry image of a grab shot).  He said that you could estimate the size of the beast by the distance between eyes and snout.  Some we saw he said were six to eight feet long..  Besides the ‘gators, there were more visible inhabitants like the 

Yellow Crowned Night Heron(s)

White Ibis

and Anhinga’s

It was a quiet, peaceful ride and quite enjoyable.

Finally, back to town, and under the watchful eye of the pelican’s we went back to our ship

Which departed for Savannah at 3pm, and to kill time during the trip, they had Chef (Jon) do a “cooking demo” for us, making Banana’s Foster.

Certainly not the most difficult or complicated culinary challenge.  It did afford him the opportunity to flambe the dish which is always popular with the crowd..

As we toured along we dragged our usual phalanx of Laughing Gulls

For an appetizer at dinner that evening they had Pork Belly, which was quite enjoyable ("Pork Fat Rules")

A nice day, plenty of sights, and finally
DFD

Next day contained one of the more enjoyable (IMHO) side trips..