CODA BAHAMAS BOUND 2024-2025 (37)

CODA : Visiting Brookgreen Gardens and Huntington Beach State Park

2 November 2024

Wacca Wache Marina, Waccamaw River, Wachesaw Landing, South Carolina  

Pegasus with giant water lilypads at Brookgreen.

Huntington Beach walk.

Marc-  It was a fantastic day showing Sara around the local sights.  We started off visiting Brookgreen Gardens the worlds largest sculpture garden at over 9,000 acres.  We then returned to the boat for lunch with our friend Peggy Brewster.  I put out Sue's new quilt on our queen bunk for show.  We returned to Brookgreen for a special historical narrated cruise from Brookgreen to the Waccamaw River on Brookgreen Creek.   Finally we went over to Huntington Beach State Park on a barrier island across the street.

My favorite sculpture: Boy and his horse by Anna Hutchinson, 1938.

Sara's favorite bronze:  Girl with squirrel.

Explosion of colors at Brookgreen.

 

More.

Note that the Christmas lights are hung.

Christmas Lights being tested in the Kids garden.

Turtle caravan,

Pelicans shadow-work in flight.

Susan and bunny.

Two river otters at Brookgreen Creek.

This one was inquisitive.

Gators along Brookgreen Creek.

Anhinga drying out his wings.

Curious green-eyed fellow.

Owl winking at me.

Two tired tourists.

Sara Lou- Dad says to add, "We walked seven and a half miles!"

And to power us along, we got ice cream! I got chocolate chip coffee and he got something green and minty.

It was a wild and mind-expanding day. I've never really been to the South before. I've been to Florida and North Carolina, but South Carolina really feels Southern.

First off, there's the Spanish moss. It hangs from the live oaks (and maybe other trees?) all over the place. It's really lovely in a romantic/spooky way!

On a darker note, we visited a rice plantation where enslaved people worked. We had a tour guide who made the past feel unsettlingly real.

On that same tour (it was on a boat), I saw my first alligators! They were just out there on the banks sunbathing. They have this creepy way of not moving a muscle. One fellow tourist kept insisting, "They're plastic! They've got to be plastic!" 

But they also looked content as cats, so I was glad for them. And in their scary reptilian way, they're beautiful. 

Dad says to wrap this up and go to bed, so off I go. 

Sweet dreams, fellow sailors!