Today, I’m going to write about a few of the things I discovered while at Hilton Head Island during the last three visits.

Alligators: They are a thrill for visitors to see!  My son, brother-in-law, dad and I always get a thrill out of seeing alligators floating in the small water areas or laying out in the sun.  We haven’t seen any large ones, but perhaps animal control removes the larger ones to make the area save for it’s highly profitable tourism business.

Tag-along bikes!  At Hilton Head there are many bike trails on the island, and “tag along bikes” are great for smaller children that are above the toddler age!  A tag-along bike is a bike that doesn’t steer and is attached the a larger bike by a metal rod that attaches to the seat of the larger bike.  This has enabled us to go for much further bike rides because my daughter couldn’t keep up if she had her own small bike (she’s only 6), and the fact that she didn’t like the carriage that attaches to some bikes.

 Palmetto Bugs: Or cockroaches are huge and everywhere down here!  Once, our friend had one fly into her hair at night!  Like all cockroaches, they hide during the day, but at night they are everywhere that the light isn’t.  Surprisingly, they don’t scurry like smaller cockroaches when the lights do come one (at least outside they don’t).  I walked right up to one outside by the pool, and it just stayed put (some times the do scurry away though).  Only when I prodded it with a stick did it move, and ironically it moved towards me instead of away from me.  That caused me to move out of it’s way. 

Yep, if you have a bug phobia, Hilton Head isn’t the place for you.   But I do have a friend that hates all bugs that moved down to Hilton Head area (Beaufort); she claims that she loved it down there.  She said that you learn to live with them…

Spanish moss: (the whitish gray stuff hanging from trees like a beard) turns green during the winter months and is a flowering plant.  If you see some spanish moss on the ground, leave it!  the Spanish Moss that are on the ground are usually full of biting mites!!!  I read that the Spanish Moss in trees are usually okay, but I wouldn’t want to risk it!!!

Lizards and Salamanders: are everywhere!  Having a fairly warm climate means that the bugs thrive, which in turn means that the the lizard-like animal population is high too.  Most are cute, and the kids love trying to catch them.  Since they eat insects, the locals love them too!  Not related, but I’ve seen a lot of bats at night.  I wish they would whip out the mosquito population, but I guess that’s what you get when you live in the marshes…

The Beach:  It’s truly wonderful!  The beach is nice and clean with just a few family oriented groups in the vicinity of our house.  I’ve seen sail boats, fishing vessels, clam diggers, wave runners, speed boats and the list goes on and on…  Watch out for jelly fish though!!!

Well, I’m out of time.  My family keeps telling me to get off of the computer, so it’s time for a swim.

-MR