If you missed part one of our Hilton Head trip, you can find it HERE.  On day two, we decided to check out Hunting Island State Park, the self-proclaimed “best shelling beach in Beaufort.”  It was a little over an hour from Hilton Head, so it seemed reasonable.  I was tempted to go to Edisto Beach, which is renowned for its quality shelling, but it was over two hours away, and spending over four hours in the car for a day trip for shells seemed a bit excessive.   So, we had the breakfast buffet at the Westin Resort and headed out to Hunting Island.

A few points of interest – Hunting Island has a historic lighthouse that I was looking forward to seeing.  There are several beach access points with parking and a few have bathrooms and places to shower and rinse your feet.  There is also a drive through a semi-tropical maritime forest, which is uniquely beautiful.  It does cost $8/per adult to enter the park, but we felt like it was worth it.

The beach was beautiful, natural, and not heavily populated when we were there at the end of October.

At first glance, there were not a lot of shells, but I’ve learned that you need to walk around a bit to get a feel for the place.

There were fields of broken shells, which is usually a good sign that whole shells are likely to be found if you look in the right place.

I walked along the high tide shell line and found some little treasures…

I found lady’s ears…

…olive shells, which are my favorite…

…and even a pretty good whelk mostly buried in the sand.  I used my shelling trick where I nudge the corner peeking out of the sand with my toe to see if it’s just a piece or a whole shell that’s buried.  I was so delighted when this one didn’t budge, indicating there was more of the shell stuck in the sand. I rinsed it off in the ocean since it was pretty packed with sand. I don’t even mind the hole.

I realized when I was putting this post together that I failed to photograph the best places to look for shells on Hunting Island Beach!  There are barriers that run perpendicular to the ocean on the beach along the lighthouse (I’m guessing to slow erosion), and the best place to find shells is around those barriers.  Shells were caught in and around them, so Jeff and I spent most of our time combing those areas.

Jeff, who has never found an olive shell on the beach before, was able to find three and he was pretty proud!

The lighthouse was beautiful, but unfortunately, it was partially hidden by scaffolding.  I still loved seeing it and taking pictures of it.  I think I can see enough of it to be able to edit the scaffolding out in a painting.  It is a little interesting with its exoskeleton, so maybe I’ll paint a version true to what I observed.

For dinner, we went to Alfred’s on Hilton Head Island.  It’s a German restaurant that also offers some local-inspired dishes.  I went there for the German food, though, so we ordered one of the Oktoberfest specials the share – a giant Bavarian pretzel with an assortment of mustards.

Jeff got halibut topped with a German potato pancake and crab meat.

I ordered Wienerschnitzel with spaetzle and it was the best schnitzel I’ve had in the US. Their bread even tasted like authentic brötchen, which was my favorite sandwich bread when I was a kid.

The food was delicious, but we also enjoyed the dining experience.  It’s a cozy restaurant and you have a view into the kitchen.  You could hear the team busily working among the chatter of other diners.  Jeff said the head chef was peeking over to each table after they were served, seeing if he could discern if the recipients were enjoying his creations.  More and more, I prefer eating at small, locally-owned restaurants that have a head chef designing the menu, testing out specials, and peeking out of the kitchen because he (or she) really loves his work and cares about what he produces.

So, if you’re in the Hilton Head/Beaufort area, Hunting Island State Park and Alfred’s both get a recommendation from me!