Pirate's Island Adventure Golf, Hilton Head Island, South Carolina

We played a few rounds of minigolf on our vacation. We picked, among a good variety of locations, the Pirate's Island Adventure Golf course. It was nearby our accommodations and had the fun pirate theme. The "island" has two eighteen-hole courses, The Blackbeard Original Adventure and Captain Kidd's Challenge. I took the kids in the early afternoon (mom had a work conference call) and we decided on the Blackbeard course. The guy at the counter said we could come back later and play the other course for a substantial discount, but only that day. We took it under advisement and headed out.

Two serious athletes

The course had plenty of pirate themed decorations and the bluest water we'd ever seen. My daughter made some comments, then I noticed that the water tower below had some skeletons in it. Maybe that was making the water blue?

Pirate theme ahoy!

She also spotted a lizard on one of the rope railways. Maybe he is a baby alligator?

A bit camera-shy

Long-legged micro-gator?

The course has some informational signs along the way, though some seem more geared toward entertainment than historical information. The sign below struck us as semi-accurate.

We weren't sure "fell in love" counts as respectful behavior

A pirate hangout

The course has speakers hidden away. Unfortunately, the song set was stuck on the same song for a while, some shanty about "Cal-i-forn-i-a" and drinking. By the fifteenth hole, it changed.

At the end, we turned in our clubs and the lady asked if we had any holes in one. I had one on the first hole (though none afterward) and my kids had perfect shots on holes 7 and 16. None of the three were the special "win a free game" holes but we did get a free-game coin for the winner of our round.

We came back with mom later, using the coin for her game and the discount for the rest of us. We played the other course, Captain Kidd's Challenge, which was indeed more challenging (no holes-in-one here). We started the course by voting on something I can't remember. 

Maybe we were taking a pirate's oath?

The course was more challenging but more fun with mom along.

Maybe that guy is Capt. Kidd?

We spotted more life-sized though less lively alligators on this course.

Blending in to murky waters--where's blue water when you need it?

One of the recurring obstacles on Kidd's course was piles of small black balls stacked in a pyramid. One of the children insisted that it was a pile of scat. I am pretty sure they were stacks of cannon balls, not excrement. I used a black golf ball, so I felt some solidarity with the maligned obstacles.

What's that on the course?!?

Our scorecards

Harbour Town, Hilton Head Island, South Carolina

Harbour Town at the southern end of Hilton Head Island is dominated by the lighthouse (sort of). A relatively recent addition (it was completed in 1970), it has become iconic for the area. It is only ninety feet tall but still give a good view from the top (more on that further down).

Maybe it is best viewed from the water

The lighthouse is surrounded by shops and restaurants, though we did manage to find Out to Lunch, a statue of a young man reading a book and eating a sandwich. The book looked like a novel by Pat Conroy.

I might have called this, "Making Me Hungry"

The harbor is not very big but has plenty of leisure vessels.

Ground-eye view of the harbor

We paid to climb the lighthouse, which has some local historical items displayed on the way up. The first items were from the pre-colonial era, the usual primitive pottery so well made that it survives today.

Pottery from long ago

Lighthouses are managed by the US Coast Guard and the small museum has plenty of Coast Guard displays and information.

Uniform and a model ship

View from above of a larger model ship

The American Civil War left its mark on the area. Blockading Union Navy ships were able to take over some of the land and occupy forts in the area. They left a bit of junk too.

Civil War-era bottles

Occupying Northern troops

Various implements

Buttons and pipes

A diorama shows America's first golf club. The South Carolina Golf Club was located in Charleston and established in 1786. Golf is a big part of the entertainment on Hilton Head Island.

Old golfers

Another bit of Coast Guard display

The best part of the visit was the end of the climb where we had views from the 93-foot viewing deck. 

A pier

Looking down

Looking out

Daufuskie Island in the distance

The harbor

A pirate ship!

For lunch, we drove to the nearby Salty Dog Cafe which is quite popular with the islanders. The "cover dog" for the restaurant has gone through many iterations.

Will the real Salty Dog please sit up and beg?

We had the classic pretzel appetizer which was delightful and a variety of seafood items. Only the pretzel got a photo.

Salty appetizer at the Salty Dog

The restaurant complex (they have indoor seating, an outdoor bar, an ice cream shop, a t-shirt shop, and a second restaurant) has a web cam for visitors to get their picture taken!

That is me on the web cam!

The web cam is part of a geocache, so I got some exploring credit for it!

Book Review: Blackbeard the Pirate by Robert E. Lee

Blackbeard the Pirate: A Reappraisal of His Life and Times by Robert E. Lee

This thoroughly researched biography of Edward Teach gives a bit of his origin, a lot of his piratical career as Blackbeard, and some other historical information as well. The book has fifty pages of end notes, along with an extensive bibliography and index. The text is highly reliable, especially as it considers the value of some contemporary accounts of Blackbeard's life and death. Those are narrated by people who have a lot less objectivity than they claim.

Teach began life in Bristol, England, probably around 1680. Pirates often took assumed names and did not give many (if any) family details to protect their relatives from reprisals. Teach doesn't appear as a pirate in the American colonies until the early 1700s, first being a sailor for another pirate, Captain Hornigold, before striking out on his own. Teach grew a great beard and kitted himself with a big coat and bandoliers stuffed with pistols to create an intimidating appearance. His brutal behavior added to his appearance, giving him an infamous reputation. That reputation made it easier to be a pirate, since victims would often not put up a fight against a desperate and despicable character. Blackbeard had a lot of exciting adventures, blockading Charleston, capturing ships at sea, wedding many women, and dying dramatically at a battle on Ocracoke Island in November 1718. The stories of his life are well told in this book.

The book also includes historical background about the England, who used piracy to advance their ongoing wars with Spain and France, and about the colonies, whose governments were more or less competent at dealing with piracy. Pirates were definitely a problem for the King's subjects living far away from the homeland. The Virginia colony government was much more aggressive and ambitious in dealing with pirates (and Blackbeard in particular) since they had many more resources than the Carolina colonies. The political detail gets too detailed at points, describing extended family histories of characters only tangentially related to Blackbeard and piracy. I found my eyes glazing over in many chapters. I drew the conclusion that the information was added to make the text book-length (the text is only 174 pages). 

The book is a mixed bag. The Blackbeard information is interesting and exciting. A lot of the political background is less colorful and engaging. An editor could probably take out 50 to 70 pages and make it a much better narrative.

Mildly recommended.

Sample quote, from a contemporary newspaper account of Blackbeard's death, which is probably less reliable but very colorful:

...one of Maynard's [he was the leader of the assault on Blackbeard] men being a Highlander, ingaged Teach with his broad Sword, who gave Teach a cut on the Neck, Teach saying well done Lad, the Highlander reply'd, if it be not well done, I'll do it better, with that he gave him a second stroke, which cut off his Head, laying it flat on his Shoulder. [spelling and punctuation in the original Boston News-Letter number 776, a weekly whose account was published at the end of February, 1719]

Howard County Pirate Trail December 2020

I found out about HoCo Pirate Treasure Hunts through Facebook in December. Each month, the organizers set up a treasure hunt with a map, secret messages, and a treasure chest full of goodies. We printed our map and went to the starting point in the Jeffers Hill neighborhood. We parked in the elementary school parking lot and headed off in search of pirate treasures.

Starting on the trail

Checking the map

The trails are part of the extensive network of Columbia-sponsored pathways. The map does a great job showing where to go and find the clues for the code to open the treasure chest. We had some sort of printer problem, which is why there is a big, black box on our map.

X marks the start

The first clue was a bit of a walk, near a small lake that had geese around it. The path went nowhere near the geese but that did not stop my son from trying to interact with them. My wife and I tried to convince him not to mess with them because we've experienced the lack of friendliness that geese have. 

Maybe it's just a pond

A disaster waiting to happen?

On the far side of the lake, we spotted the first clue. A tree was marked with pirate ribbon. Another tree further back had a QR code that reveals the riddles that reveal the treasure chest's code letter by letter.

The sign of the pirate

Looking for the red ribbon and QR code

As we wandered, we also found some other interesting items. This painted rock was not part of the pirate adventure. It was just a fun discovery that someone left along the trail.

A cool rock

The trail led us to a small creek that had an even smaller hidey hole. The opening looks like the home of something fun and dangerous.

What's that over there?

If only I was small enough to go in

Further down, we discovered a tree riddled with signs of affection. The clue was nearby.

The love tree?

The whole trail was about a mile and a half and led back to the elementary school. The treasure chest was hidden under one of the temporary classrooms out back of the school. We collected all the clues, decrypted the password, and opened up the chest.

The locked chest

Inside the chest

The trail was fun. We will definitely do more of the these when they start up again in the spring.

The kids took advantage of the school playground and did a riff on the popular Christmas tune.

We Three Swings of Orient Are

In sync

Cute Kid Pix November 2016

Here's more pictures that didn't make their own blog post.

My toddler got a hold of the phone and managed to get some nice shots of himself.

Looking cute

Adding me in

For my birthday this month, we went to Rams Head Tavern at one of our favorite local spots, the Historic Savage Mill. We had brunch there since they have a Jazz trio playing live for Sunday brunch. I had the beer sampler, which seemed a little decadent at 11:30 in the morning. It was my birthday.

Sampler mat

For those interested, here are the beers included:

• Gypsy Lager--A fairly standard lager, not my favorite style of beer, so this was not high on my list.
• Rams Head IPA--Again, IPAs aren't my favorite style of beer (too bitter), so this was not my favorite drink here.
• Oak Barrel Stout--I really liked the robust flavor of this stout.
• Copperhead Ale--A yummy amber ale, I found this very tasty.
• Wisteria Wheat--When I want a light-flavor beer, I choose wheat beers. This is a fun and crisp drink.
• Seasonal Brew, Baltic Porter--Another dark and lovely beer, it made me smile. 

My favorites were the Oak Barrel Stout and the Baltic Porter.

In other news, scouts are still going strong. We had a pack meeting where the boys made care packages for those serving in the military. It was a fun meeting for the kids. We also found out that we had massive popcorn sales far exceeding expectations. Good times!

My son at the pack meeting

My daughter made a turkey at school from an apple and various bits of candy. She was quite proud and had fun eating the candy part of her turkey.

Turkey from school!

Also at school, Scholastic had a big book sale with a pirate theme called "Bookaneer." We posed with a pirate.

Pirate bird

My family with the pirate

The toddler was obsessed with the  teacher who dressed up as Geronimo Stilton, a popular character in kid's book who is a mouse. He was giving high fives and every time we moved off to look at books, he wanted to go back to the big mouse. I had to pick the toddler up every time for the high five, so no pictures of that!

My daughter repeated the school turkey project for our Thanksgiving centerpiece.

Hard to carve turkey

My older son managed to make a tower out of our full set of Wedgits. Sadly, the tower didn't last long once the toddler walked through the room. I was able to preserve it.

Ultimate tower of mega-power