Jan. 8

Awaking in the luxurious room at the Melrose Inn at the Daufuskie Island Resort was a far cry from awaking in the tent after our two-dog night on Fenwick Island. I lay there contemplating the contrast.  Sliding out of the huge featherbed I tiptoed over to push the button on the coffee maker which Heather had loaded the night before. I was thinking: “How I miss the automatic one at home that wakes me up with the smell! But, I suppose I can endure this place!”  We had our coffee and packed our few things and went down to the lobby to reserve a ride to the County Landing as they called it.  We had been expected to come in at the Melrose dock.  Of course, our boat is too small to land at its four-foot high dock. They expect people on large yachts.  I am comfortable in our small one.

We went to the dining room for breakfast. My bowl of oatmeal, a glass of orange juice and Heather’s bagel and smoothie came to $20.00, the price of roughing it.  There was no alternative so I swallowed hard and again thought of two-dog night.

While waiting for the ride to the landing in rowing clothes I must have greeted an older man who looked very managerial at least three or four times.  I suspected he was checking us out each time he walked by and was likely impatient with his people for not getting us away from there quicker. After all potential members might arrive and see the likes of us! I was very polite but wasn’t given time to tell him that the toilet in our room was an old five gallon model which was running every few minutes all night because its flapper leaked! I had probably flushed at least fifty gallons of water myself! Here on an island where fresh water was surely pumped from a well that would eventually deplete the aquifer and allow salt water to infiltrate, it would be especially important to be very careful with water use.  All of the wastewater from this development needed to be treated on the island also. This uses land and inevitably pollutes the surrounding waters by providing nutrients. Of course, I could have suggested that they use the treated wastewater to irrigate the golf course that might have made it even greener and healthier. I guess I need to write the gentleman my ideas so that he can read it in the privacy of his mahogany paneled office.

A full size bus took us to the landing.  During the high season a small restaurant near the landing known as Marshside Mamma’s is famous for its informal fare. Our friend Greg who kept us company waiting for our ride to the Inn the day before had told us about Ned, the 350-lb Vietnamese pot-bellied pig, who lived under the restaurant.  Ned was well known as a skilled beer drinker and could down a bottle of beer and set the bottle down without tipping it over. Ned could also recognize different kinds of beer!  I guess I understand how he got to 350 lbs. The rest of the story was that he was there to kill snakes that were unable to penetrate his hide. He was able to kill them, but he was safe from them.  I wonder if the health inspector approves.

We launched into a fast moving current that took us out to the Savannah River in short time.  We had wanted to get to the Savannah River just as the tide changed so that we could have its help from that point on. Being an hour or more early we landed on a nice sandy beach to wait for the change. There I met two nice men who were walking around searching the sand for fossils that had come down from the bank above the beach that had been piled there when they dug the channel.  One of the two showed me his handful of fossil shark’s teeth that he had found.  My curiosity started me looking for them also. When I caught up with Heather she started looking also and, of course, found many more than I did.We left the beach with a handful of black shark’s teeth!

Then the struggle began. We had waited so that we could row up the Wilmington River with the incoming tide.  But we soon discovered that the Wilmington was being fed from the other direction so we would have to row against the current instead.  Five miles to go to the take out at Thunderbolt and a strong headwind and current working against me! Nothing on these charts indicates this kind of information.  I could not stop for a rest or bite to eat until we made it.  So what was five miles felt more like eight and by the time I pulled us into the landing with a strong current flowing across it I had burned up every piece of marzipan Heather had reached to stick in my mouth while rowing and I hope a little of the fuel built into my waistline. Actually I did notice that I could tighten my belt two more holes!

Tuck and Susan had called just before we reached the ramp at Thunderbolt to tell us they were on the way to pick up our car and head down from Hilton Head.  I called them back to give better directions when I was on shore.  We had a two-hour wait together for a change.  Heather said she was hungry and suggested that I walk over to a restaurant nearby to see if I could get some thing to “tide us over” until we went out for supper with our friends.  I wondered what the origin of that expression was. I’d had enough of tides. Especially when they are against you!  I went. I peaked in the door only to smell smoke and see one man sitting at a bar watching TV. It did not appear to be open for food.

I walked around to a marina two blocks away but they had no food. On the way back I looked into Desposito’s again and found there was a waitress there and she loaned me a menu to show Heather.  We decided grilled cheese sandwiches would help us and I went back to get them. I also got a piece of Key Lime pie that turned out to be marvelous! I was still hungry for dinner.

Tuck and Susan arrived. We tied on the boat quickly and followed them to Tubby’s restaurant where we sat at a table in a tree house and ate a good meal.  These two have found a real welcome spot in our hearts and we hope to follow them in the future.  Perhaps they will visit us someday in New Hampshire and continue the conversations I feel we only started.  We said goodbye and went off to find a reasonable hotel in Savannah.  A 13.0 mile day but I’d like to add the distance that the tide traveled in the two hours I fought it!