Hunting Island 2016

10 years ago we went on a whim camping trip to a place we had never been.  When you are first starting your marriage, buying a house, getting your graduate degree, paying a car payment, the funds for a beach vacation are slim.  We chose Hunting Island because it was a beach, it was somewhat close, and it was cheap.  That is where our love affair for this island started.  We have gone back 9 out of 10 years, Olivia was only a few months old in 2011 so we opted not to go that year.  It is a place that when you leave, you can't wait to go back.  It is a place that has dramatically changed in the 10 years we have gone- beach cabins washed away, a road that leads to nowhere, and a house that is stuck in the ocean.  The animals are plentiful, the mosquitoes crazy vicious, and the beauty of the island magnetic.

Every year we when we go, we try to do something new.  This year we took our bikes to the Spanish Moss Trail and went to the Beaufort Water Festival parade and air show.  Olivia was also finally tall enough to climb the lighthouse! It was hot, one rainstorm, but worth every memory.  My best moment was going to a turtle nest inventory.  There were no live hatchlings left in the nest, but it was so interesting to see them counting shells, and sad to pull out the ones that didn't make it to the ocean.  The best part was they brought a hatchling from another nest that was inventoried that people would not be able to access, and released him to the ocean.  Amazing experience to see that turtle get to the ocean. 

Dolphin