We were in Florida at the start of 2025 and we were given a voucher for a week's stay at a condo in Hilton Head, South Carolina by my friend Richard L. So we decided to go and explore that area of the country using Hilton Head as our base.
We set off from St Petersburg on a Saturday morning heading north towards Crystal River, an area in Florida with several warm springs where there is a winter gathering of manatees. Never having seen these wonderful creatures in real life, this would make an excellent start to our trip. We didn't have much of an idea of where and how we could see the manatees, but by pure luck we happened to stop for a late breakfast at a roadside cafe called Grannies. This just happened to be next door to the Crystal River National Wildlife Refuge Visitor Center. After way too much food - biscuits, grits, pancakes, and more we went over to the visitor center to get educated on Manatees.
We were told that this was an excellent time for viewing manatees - in the winter the manatees seek refuge in the warmer waters of the springs. They feed out in the waters of the Gulf (still the Gulf of Mexico at that time) during the day and then migrate into the clear spring water lagoons for the night. That morning they had counted some 200 manatees in the lagoon at nearby Three Sisters Springs. Unfortunately it was also the weekend for the Manatee Festival in Crystal River so the area was going to be quite crowded.
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| Snorkelers, Kayakers and Manatees |
We parked and walked out to the the boardwalk at Three Sisters Springs and indeed there were manatees there - they looked like large grey brown rocks on the bottom of the clear water. If you were patient, every now and then they would slowly move and come up to the surface to breathe. Not the most dynamic of animals and I was initially a bit disappointed. There were a lot of people and a lot commercial operators renting kayaks and snorkeling gear to folks who were wanting a closer view.
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| Manatees returning to the spring lagoon |
We then walked around to the other side of the ponds and on that side things were much more interesting. There was a narrow channel into the main lagoon where we saw a constant flow of manatees returning from feeding out in the bay. They are quite graceful slow moving monsters - one after the other they swam up the channel into the main pond, some with young by their side. That side of the viewing area really made it all worthwhile.
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| Christmas in January in St Augustine |
St Augustine claims to be the oldest continually occupied settlement in the USA (Pensacola is older but was not continuously occupied). We picked a hotel in the old part of town - actually on the fringes of the oceanfront drive - The Bayfront Inn on Avenida Menendez. We checked in and set off to discover the town. I wasn't expecting it to be such a party town but the main street through the old town, St George St, was full of bars, restaurants, tacky shops and partygoers. Something similar to Bourbon Street in New Orleans. It also appeared to be still Christmas in St Augustine. All the buildings were bedecked in Christmas Lights and Christmas Trees, Christmas music was playing. A rather disappointing introduction to this historic city.
We walked around St George Street, Cathedral Plaza to the old city walls then went to eat at the oh so romantic sounding Chez L'Amour restaurant. We ate mediocre food at the bar. We walked back to the hotel past the rather impressive old fort, the Castillo de San Marcos.
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| A quiet Sunday morning in old town, St Augustine |
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| Cathedral Basilica St Augustine, Interior |
They were setting up for mass in the Cathedral - a modest interior for a Catholic Church. The nearby plaza was the site where Andrew Young was attacked by white supremacists back in 1964 - there is a monument in the plaza to commemorate this. Next to the Cathedral is an old bank building, the Treasury, now used only for weddings and other ceremonies. The old Governors House is older and simpler and now houses a museum.
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| Flagler College, previously the Ponce de Leon Hotel |
The really wonderful buildings were the old hotels that were built in St Augustine in the late 19th century. Perhaps the most impressive is the old Ponce de Leon Hotel, which is now the home to Flagler College. A most impressive building that was built by Henry Flagler (one of the founders of Standard Oil) in the 1880's. What an ambitious project building a hotel like that was for its time.
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| The Lightner Museum, previously the Alcazar Hotel |
Across the square is another grand hotel, also built by Flagler, the Alcazar. A Chicago Publisher, Otto Lightner bought the Alcazar in 1947 and changed it into his private museum for his collection of fine artifacts from America's Gilded Age . One year later, the building was given over to the city of St Augustine and it is now the Lightner Museum showing off his collection.
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| The Casa Monica Hotel, St Augustine |
On the other side of the square is the equally grand Casa Monica Hotel. This still operates as a hotel.
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| The Indoor Swimming Pool at the Lightner Museum |
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| The Russian Steam Room, Lightner Museum |
We visited the Lightner Museum. It is an interesting eclectic collection of antiques from the Gilded Age of America (1870 - 1890). It also houses an impressive collection of Dutch paintings. The building also has some wonderful features from its days as a hotel. It once housed a Russian steam room, Sulphur baths, massage parlors and the largest (for its time) indoor swimming pool in the world. The swimming pool no longer holds water and has been converted into a restaurant and cafe.
After the museum visit it was raining quite heavily. We checked out of our hotel and drove north past Jacksonville and Savannah to Hilton Head.
Hilton Head is quite the resort island. It is full of vacations resorts, hotels and golf courses. Thankfully the development has been carried out quite respectfully and tastefully. The resorts and shopping centers are subtly hidden away behind trees and greenery. There is no conspicuous advertising for the various restaurants and shops. The island is not named after the Hilton of Hilton Hotels fame but rather after Captain William Hilton, an English sea captain, who sailed by in 1663 and named it after himself, as they did in those days.
Our condo resort was called the Village at Palmetto Dunes. Palmettos are either a cockroach like bug or a fronded palm plant. Thankfully our location took its name from the plant.
There was a simple check-in and we were given our code for the door to our unit - a two bedroom, two bath unit with kitchen and lounge overlooking a golf course. There are over 40 golf courses on the island.
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| Sunset Hilton Head Beach |
We settled in and went for a walk on the beach - a beautiful expanse of sand stretching off into the distance in either direction.
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| Sunrise Hilton Head Beach |
The next morning, Monday, I went for a rather chilly run on the beach. I was poorly dressed for the weather by the time I got back I was seriously frozen. I don't think I have ever experienced the extreme pain of reheating my hands quite like that before.
As we were expecting bad weather for the next day. we decided to take this last fine weather day to visit Savannah, some hour or so to the south of Hilton Head. It was Martin Luther King Day so many museums were closed. The Savannah College of Art and Design or SCAD has an art gallery along with many other facilities around the city. SCAD is everywhere in Savannah but alas closed on MLK Day.
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| The Georgia Queen |
We parked near the Savannah River and the old part of town and walked along the edge of the river. There is an old River Boat moored alongside - the Georgia Queen. The waterfront in Savannah has a pedestrian area and cobbled street just above river level and then a sharp rise up to the bluff upon which the rest of the city sits. There are a series of wharves on the river level stretching up to the upper level with cast iron bridge walkways across from the upper level streets to the top of the lower level buildings, There are precarious stone steps up the side of the bluff to allow for pedestrian traffic between the levels.
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| Cotton Exchange, Savannah |
The old Cotton Exchange and Freemasons Hall is particularly interesting building dating from the 1880's when a couple of million bales of cotton passed through the port of Savannah.
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| Savannah Rose |
We got talking to an old lady who was making roses out of palmetto fronds. She went by the name of Savannah Rose Gail and was proud of the fact that she had been making these roses for a long time and had been on TV and had quite a presence on You Tube. We were charmed by her and we chatted for a while as she made us a rose bouquet. It looked like it had been a tough life for Gail but she was quite positive and quite charming - $15 well spent.
Further along the river bank we encountered a painter selling his wares. He was a Haitian painter by the name of Jean Claude Martin. Some of his art was a bit cheesy but there were some real gems in his work. We mulled over whether or not to buy one and decided to go for breakfast to think about.
We found a nearby restaurant, B. Matthews, for a late brunch. We both had that southern favorite, fried green tomatoes with eggs and crab cakes. It was perfect.
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| The Art Purchase |
We discussed over brunch whether to buy a painting from Jean Claude and decided yes, for a price - not more than $300. We went to an ATM got some cash and went to see Jean Claude where I drove him down from $400 to $260. What a deal..... maybe.
With our artwork and Savannah Rose we went back to the car and drove out to the visitor center where we bought tickets for the bus tour of Savannah. This was a couple of hours driving around and being entertained by our driver/guide, Tammy. She was quite the humorist and had everyone in stitches with her commentary.
We were driven around the town through all the lovely squares and streets. There are so many fine homes and churches and the tree lined streets and squares with all the Spanish Moss hanging from the trees. As Tammy, our guide, told us Spanish Moss is neither Spanish nor Moss but it is quite pretty. It is actually a bromeliad. Notable sights were the square where Forrest Gump sat on the park bench waiting for his bus, the house where Juliette Gordon Low, the founder of the US Girl Scouts, was born, and Flannery O'Connors childhood home.
After the bus tour we drove down to the river once more and had a coffee and cake in the Savannah Plant Riverside area. This is an old generating plant that has now been repurposed as a hotel, bar and cafe. It houses an impressive array of fossils (polished ammonites, belemnites, mammoth tusks) and minerals (mainly agates). After coffee we set off back to Hilton Head and settled in for a very cold evening.
The next morning, Tuesday, it was grey and cloudy and the beach walk was not as interesting. Diana was starting to come down with a cold so she stayed in most of the day. I made a trip out to buy more groceries. We were warned of bad weather and snow coming later in the day.
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| Snow on beach in Hilton Head |
Overnight we had a significant amount of snow. In the morning everywhere in Hilton Head was covered in snow. We didn't risk driving anywhere but we did walk to the beach. The beach was covered with about 4in of snow. We remained indoors for the rest of the day watching movies, reading and napping.
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| Snow in Hilton Head |
We did not have any more snow but the weather stayed cold and there was very little melting of the snow. The following day, Thursday, we also didn't stray too far. A walk to the beach. A drive out to see if any restaurants were open (they weren't) and more movies and reading.
After two days of confinement, we decided to leave our condo a day early and carefully drive north to Charleston. We set off Friday morning and made our slow drive north on roads that were for the most part snow free but wherever the road was shaded by trees there were patches of snow and ice. South Carolina just doesn't have any equipment for removing snow so they don't know what to do with it and when it doesn't get far above freezing it just sticks around.
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| The Charleston Hotel - 20 South Battery |
We arrived in Charleston early afternoon and checked into a nice hotel, 20 South Battery - an old mansion on the south battery that has been converted to a hotel. The hotel was one of the first old homes to be preserved and renovated in Charleston and it had some wonderful features - a ballroom, a tiled floor, a library, a beautiful staircase.
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| Tiled Hallway, 20 South Btattery |
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| Ballroom, now a Dining Room, 20 South Battery |
We setoff to explore the town and walked north on a street. (Meeting Street) lined with so many wonderful fine homes and mansions. It is a beautiful city - there are so many old mansions and churches. Surely one of the finer American cities. However it is all tempered by the fact that this was all built with money from the slave trade.
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| Rainbow Row, Charleston |
From Meeting Street we walked down the old covered Market and then into the French Quarter to Bay Street where there are many fine restaurants. We made reservations at Magnolia for later that evening. Then it was out along Rainbow Row, a group of nice old building painted different colors (not as impressive as the Painted Ladies in San Francisco).
Back at the hotel we enjoyed wine and snacks with our other guests - Richard and Mary from Atlanta in town for the now canceled Half Marathon that weekend.
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| The Nathaniel Russel House |
The next day we were out and about early walking in the same area of old town once more. We toured the Nathaniel Russel House and got a glimpse at how well a wealthy slave owner lived in the past. Nathaniel was a major importer of slaves. Charleston was built on the backs of slaves. It was one of the main points of entry of the slave cargoes on the East Coast and auctions were a common occurrence.
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| Watercolor Portraits on Ivory, Gibbes Museum |
We visited the Gibbes Museum of Art. A relatively small museum with a nice art collection. It has the largest collection of water color portraits on ivory in the world. I didn't even know portraits on ivory were a thing, but in their day they were.
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| Market Hall, Charleston |
We walked back through the covered market, a long market that was initiated in 1780 and stretches 4 city blocks towards the bay. We visited the old Slave Market, now a museum, but alas it was closed. The snow and ice that still remained was still impacting a lot of facilities.
We left Charleston mid afternoon to start our drive back south. The destination for the night was Savannah where we stayed in the heart of the old town near the river (an excellently located Holiday Inn Express). Dinner of Shrimp and Grits and Fried Green Tomatoes at Vic's on the River.
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| Fine Savannah Mansion |
The next morning, Sunday morning, we did a short walk around the old town admiring the parks and squares and fine homes. The homes were not quite as impressive as Charleston, but there were some very nice ones. The Spanish Moss laden trees in the parks and squares were also quite beautiful. Chippewa Square is where Forrest Gump sat on a bench waiting for a bus.
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| Chippewa Square, Savannah |
We left around lunchtime and drove south to Gainesville where we were staying with Diana's friends, Biljana and Eric. Their house was just outside Gainesville on the edge of a wilderness area called Paynes Prairie. They had a wonderful outlook over the prairie with hardly a house to be seen. Before dinner that evening we went for a walk in the Prairie. A marshy plain which periodically floods in the wet season with abundant wildlife - wild horses, alligators, and a multitude of bird life. There is even a herd of buffalo there.
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| Wild Horse on Paynes Prairie, Gainesville |
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| Sunrise over Paynes Prairie |
After breakfast we went for a nice walk in an adjacent park, the Sweetwater Wetlands Park. Nice trails through a mainly wooded area. Beautiful clear water streams. It was still cool so there weren't many alligators around just a couple lying motionless on the banks of the sink hole pools.
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| Alligator in Sweetwater Wetlands Park, Gainesville |
We bade farewell to our hosts in Gainesville and drove the couple of hours back to St Petersburg. An interesting trip. A first time visit to that area for both of us.
