Hilton Head Island is one of South Carolina’s most luxurious beach resorts destinations. Dotted with world-class golf courses, renowned restaurants, superb shopping and white-sand beaches as far as the eye can see, visitors find themselves with a surplus of activities and adventures. The island was named after Capt. William Hilton who first identified the island as an entrance to Port Royal Sound in 1663 and named it “Hilton’s Headland”.

With the forecasted track of hurricane Nicole directly heading for Florida, we booked a marina in Hilton Head Island for 5 nights to wait out the storm. We were lucky to have our reservation confirmed since many places were fully booked.

Claudia made reservations at a local jazz club the first night we arrived. Since Uber was iffy and the island is full of easily accessible bike paths, we took out the folding bicycles and pedal our way to our fancy date night at the “Jazz Corner”, the most-buzzed-about music venue in Hilton Head, named one of the top “100 Great Jazz Rooms” in the world by DOWNBEAT Magazine. We arrived at the club in our casual outfits and wind blown bike-helmet-hairdo while everyone else dressed up in their fancy clothes. We nevertheless truly enjoyed the fabulous Martin Lesch quintet playing tunes by Ellington, Basie, Coltrane & Parker. Not a bad gig for our first live music event since the pandemic.

Next morning we took a coastal bike ride to the other end of the island and took in some jaw-dropping ocean views and towering surfs. As we walked the white sandy beach,  enjoyed the fresh sea breeze and warm sunlight on our skins, we can feel the storm is on its way.

Next few days are down days, waiting out the storm with many other boats & skippers at the marina. Most of us are cautious but confident that the storm will not be significant near us, but tomorrow afternoon, Claudia and I, will be crossing our fingers, getting out the rosary beads and buttoning down the hatch to get ready for the first half of tropical storm Nicole’s arrive.