Friday morning brought the best waves of our entire trip, driven by a looming storm coming up the coast. There were consistent four to five foot waves building up about 100 yards out from shore and holding their strength almost all the way in. This was so much bigger than the usual set of waves that there was actually a real surfer out in them, the only one I ever saw who actually surfed. (I know our most astute reader while be asking, why, since learning to surf is a bucket list item, why I didn’t give it a try, but in my defense, they didn’t rent real surfboards on the beach.) But really, thanks to new found speed of the skim board, riding these decent size waves was almost like surfing. Unfortunately for JPD, he was too short to take full advantage of these gift waves, as you still had to be tall enough to launch into them properly way out. Still, he had some nice rides, just for a shorter distance.
At the end of this rather strenuous session, I was wiped out, so much so that I felt like I was coming down with something. We all took a bit of a nap, but this only helped a little bit for me. After waking up, I tried to find a reasonably priced kayaking trip to Pickney Island.that I had promised to take JPD on in place of going parasailing, which was just too expensive. (To even up the deal for AM and the girls, I promised them they could hit the big expensive seafood buffet offered by the hotel.) However, it turned out that the kayaking trips to
When I got outside to the beach, and I was shocked at how far away the waterline was. Where in the morning the water had been running up within 5 yards of the more permanent beach structures, now it was probably 150 yards away. The whole underlying structure of beach that gave rise to the complicated waves sets of the previous days lay revealed. Some of this I had begun to surmise. The main key feature was a long shallow trench, one to two feet deep and ten to twenty feet wide that ran somewhat parallel to beach shore about 70 to 80 yards out. This feature clearly underlied my observation that at about 150 yards out, waves would build up and crest, but then die out and then a second set would build up around 60 yards out. Only with the strongest winds, were the bigger waves from 150 yards out able to maintain power sufficiently while crossing the trench to provide good rides across the entire distance and then there was always still a second cresting that provided a nice boost half through the ride.
The storm drove the lifeguards to wave everyone off the beach. I choose to sit by the pool underneath a rubber leaf tree and watch the storm come through while reading a book in the rain. I admit that I was glad for the storm, that I was feeling under the weather, and that we couldn’t go kayaking, because it finally gave me an excuse to simply relax. I guess when it cost as much to stay at a hotel at the beach as it does, I feel like simply sitting around and doing nothing is wrong, and yet that is one of the points of being at the beach and of a vacation. So I feel like the storm was a bit of a gift to me. I resolved to take advantage of it.
After AM and the girls had their big dinner, JPD went back out in the waves, and AM went window shopping at the tourist trap near our hotel. She called to say I should bring the girls because they were having some singing and entertainment for kids. Of course, JA didn’t want to go (I think she spent most of the vacation in the hotel room when she could.) But ME was game. It was a short pleasant walk on the nice ped/bikeway that run all over Hilton Head. ME enjoyed herself while we walked around.
Then I went out and watched JPD boogie boarding. Just sat and didn’t do anything, while the sun set. It was calm and peaceful and majestic, and I was glad I simply let it be. I saved it as one of my Double Arch memories, a name I have been using since the first time I watched a sunset at Double Arch in
