Hilton Head Residency Part 7: Savannah-Area Attractions and Dolphins
After going south toward Savannah on the 18th, in the last full week of January M and Birdie scouted some territory down toward Savannah while I was working.
First, on Monday, January 23 they went to The Georgia State Railroad Museum. I'm reliably told that Birdie didn't care too terribly much about the trains, but she really loved wearing the many, many hats that were available in the dress up room. She also enjoyed the train themed playground. Note: this was not her first train themed playground, that happened near the Kinzu Sky Walk in PA in June 2022.
Then, on Tuesday, January 24, M and Birdie visited Tybee Island. They went to the beach and visited the lighthouse.
I took Friday the 27th off, and we finally did the dolphin viewing tour that we'd wanted to do when my parents visited. We booked a morning ride on Dolphin Discovery Boat Tours. The weather sort of cooperated. It was bright and sunny and cold, particularly in the small open 20 foot boat. Understandably, nobody else had booked our tour, so the three of us and our pilot bundled up and hit the water for Birdie's second ever boat ride.
Despite it being rather chilly on the water, we had a great time. Our pilot and M bonded over their mutual love of birding, and he was happy to talk at length about pretty much everything we saw. We saw a large flock of pelicans resting on a beach, and many other shorebirds. Most importantly, we did actually see dolphins for the third time on our trip. There weren't many of them, and they didn't surface long, but Birdie absolutely looked right at one as it was coming up and saw it. It wasn't quite as cool (but much colder!) as seeing dolphins from a panga in the Galapagos, but it was a lot of fun, and a definite highlight of our trip.
The pilot of our boat described Tybee Island as "Hilton Head's redneck cousin." On Saturday the 28th all three of us went down. We started at Tybee Island Marine Science Center, which is a small aquarium / nature center on the beach. It was hosting a Girl Scout troop while we were there. They spend a lot of time on sea turtles, and have a special permit that allows them to raise one baby sea turtle per year from those that aren't able to dig their way out of the nest. We met two current turtles - Ike was more than a year old and was close to being released, and Westie was a tiny little guy (or girl, baby sea turtle genders are a mystery even to trained marine biologists) who wasn't very old at all. Birdie was excited by both turtles. She also really enjoyed the touch pond, where she held a seastar briefly before plopping it. The Science Center also had a very nice playground, where Birdie took herself down the tallest slide she'd been on to that point.
From the Science Center we moved over to the adjacent beach. I supervised Birdie digging and playing in the sand and plopping in the ocean while M took a long walk searching for seashells.
Our last tourist stop of the day was historic Fort Pulaski, which was built to protect Savannah harbor after the War of 1812. Early stages of the construction were overseen by 2nd Lieutenant Robert E. Lee, but the fort itself stands as a monument to how quickly a state of the art fortress can become obsolete. The fort was built to withstand the most modern guns of of its time, but in the Civil War the Union Army landed a battery of the new fangled rifled artillery on Tybee Island. Within two days, the supposedly impregnable 11-foot-thick walls had been breached. The Confederacy surrendered the fort early in 1862. Because the fort is at the mouth of the Savannah River, any ship trying to enter Savannah Harbor had to go directly past the Union guns. The blockade of Savannah continued for the rest of the war.
As a tourist, Fort Pulaski is excellent. From a fortifications perspective, it's as close to as castle as you're likely to find in North America. Since it was assumed to be impregnable to cannon, it was heavily fortified against infantry attack. You have to cross moat and then take a turn through some artificial hills before going across a literal drawbridge to enter the fort. Once inside you can visit many rooms of the fort, all of which are well explained by signs. You can then go up on the walls to overlook the area. It's not as important as Fort Sumter to American history, but from a visiting perspective I thought it a lot better. Civil War buffs who visit Savannah need to visit it. We didn't do the visitor's center or any of the hiking trails outside the fort.
After visiting the fort, we went into Savannah proper. We snagged some lunch at The Sentient Bean, which was the local "hippie" breakfast place (ala Winslow's in St. Louis or The Root here in Lakewood). We then took a walk through the adjoining Forsyth Park. The park was full of people, including many students from the nearby SCAD.
As our last stop before heading back to Hilton Head, we tried to get ice cream at a location of Leopold's, but even late on a somewhat chilly Saturday afternoon the line was not just out the door but down the block, so we opted against it and hit the road. Our total elapsed time in Savannah proper was not long, but I wouldn't mind going back.
First, on Monday, January 23 they went to The Georgia State Railroad Museum. I'm reliably told that Birdie didn't care too terribly much about the trains, but she really loved wearing the many, many hats that were available in the dress up room. She also enjoyed the train themed playground. Note: this was not her first train themed playground, that happened near the Kinzu Sky Walk in PA in June 2022.
Then, on Tuesday, January 24, M and Birdie visited Tybee Island. They went to the beach and visited the lighthouse.
I took Friday the 27th off, and we finally did the dolphin viewing tour that we'd wanted to do when my parents visited. We booked a morning ride on Dolphin Discovery Boat Tours. The weather sort of cooperated. It was bright and sunny and cold, particularly in the small open 20 foot boat. Understandably, nobody else had booked our tour, so the three of us and our pilot bundled up and hit the water for Birdie's second ever boat ride.
Despite it being rather chilly on the water, we had a great time. Our pilot and M bonded over their mutual love of birding, and he was happy to talk at length about pretty much everything we saw. We saw a large flock of pelicans resting on a beach, and many other shorebirds. Most importantly, we did actually see dolphins for the third time on our trip. There weren't many of them, and they didn't surface long, but Birdie absolutely looked right at one as it was coming up and saw it. It wasn't quite as cool (but much colder!) as seeing dolphins from a panga in the Galapagos, but it was a lot of fun, and a definite highlight of our trip.
The pilot of our boat described Tybee Island as "Hilton Head's redneck cousin." On Saturday the 28th all three of us went down. We started at Tybee Island Marine Science Center, which is a small aquarium / nature center on the beach. It was hosting a Girl Scout troop while we were there. They spend a lot of time on sea turtles, and have a special permit that allows them to raise one baby sea turtle per year from those that aren't able to dig their way out of the nest. We met two current turtles - Ike was more than a year old and was close to being released, and Westie was a tiny little guy (or girl, baby sea turtle genders are a mystery even to trained marine biologists) who wasn't very old at all. Birdie was excited by both turtles. She also really enjoyed the touch pond, where she held a seastar briefly before plopping it. The Science Center also had a very nice playground, where Birdie took herself down the tallest slide she'd been on to that point.
From the Science Center we moved over to the adjacent beach. I supervised Birdie digging and playing in the sand and plopping in the ocean while M took a long walk searching for seashells.
Our last tourist stop of the day was historic Fort Pulaski, which was built to protect Savannah harbor after the War of 1812. Early stages of the construction were overseen by 2nd Lieutenant Robert E. Lee, but the fort itself stands as a monument to how quickly a state of the art fortress can become obsolete. The fort was built to withstand the most modern guns of of its time, but in the Civil War the Union Army landed a battery of the new fangled rifled artillery on Tybee Island. Within two days, the supposedly impregnable 11-foot-thick walls had been breached. The Confederacy surrendered the fort early in 1862. Because the fort is at the mouth of the Savannah River, any ship trying to enter Savannah Harbor had to go directly past the Union guns. The blockade of Savannah continued for the rest of the war.
As a tourist, Fort Pulaski is excellent. From a fortifications perspective, it's as close to as castle as you're likely to find in North America. Since it was assumed to be impregnable to cannon, it was heavily fortified against infantry attack. You have to cross moat and then take a turn through some artificial hills before going across a literal drawbridge to enter the fort. Once inside you can visit many rooms of the fort, all of which are well explained by signs. You can then go up on the walls to overlook the area. It's not as important as Fort Sumter to American history, but from a visiting perspective I thought it a lot better. Civil War buffs who visit Savannah need to visit it. We didn't do the visitor's center or any of the hiking trails outside the fort.
After visiting the fort, we went into Savannah proper. We snagged some lunch at The Sentient Bean, which was the local "hippie" breakfast place (ala Winslow's in St. Louis or The Root here in Lakewood). We then took a walk through the adjoining Forsyth Park. The park was full of people, including many students from the nearby SCAD.
As our last stop before heading back to Hilton Head, we tried to get ice cream at a location of Leopold's, but even late on a somewhat chilly Saturday afternoon the line was not just out the door but down the block, so we opted against it and hit the road. Our total elapsed time in Savannah proper was not long, but I wouldn't mind going back.