Myrtle Beach - February 13 - 19

February 13 - today is our Pastor's last day for preaching at our church.  We will miss Pastor Al and family but have really appreciated all he did during his time with us.  

The weather today was a little rainy so most of our time was spent indoors.  I did get out for a walk and found a few sharks teeth along the shoreline. On and off throughout the day the dolphins were swimming up and down the coast.  It was fun to watch them riding the waves in the surf.  After the second service we were invited to the Simonse's where we enjoyed a nice dinner prepared by Wilf and Lydia.  We had nice burrito bowls which were really good.  Grace and John brought along some awesome desserts as well.  What a treat to spend the evening together.   

February 14 - Happy Valentines day!!  Today is a quiet day with a  little shopping planned and just relaxing at the condo!!

February 15-16 - This morning we bid farewell to the Dehaan's. Golfing is planned for these two days.  We'll be golfing at Willbrook Plantation and Wild Wing.  We had fun on both days.  The weather was nice although it was a little colder than what we expected.  It's nice for golfing though so I'm glad we went.

February 17 - I have been following a photographer on Facebook who has taken some amazing shots of the birds at Huntington and Murrell's Inlet.  Today I asked Ralph if we could go to Murrell's Inlet as I know there are lots of brown pelicans there that I wanted to practice on.  Here are a few of my shots.  I realized afterwards that we should come later in the day (we went first thing in the morning) as it would have meant less shadows on the bird.  Ideally having no sun would have been best or having the sun behind me.  I hope to go back again to give it another try.  It's not that I'm not happy with the pictures but I think I can do better.

February 18 - today was a relaxing day where we did a bit of shopping and caught up on some reading.  We enjoyed an evening with our bible study group. It was nice to see everyone back home.  The weather was really lovely and it was nice to walk around without jackets.  

February 19 - Another nice day to get out so we left early in the morning for Murrell's Inlet.  We were surprised at how cold it was along the water.  Being a Saturday this area can get very busy so we didn't stay too long and then headed to Huntington Beach.  We plan to come back again on a weekday when not so many people are there.  

It was really quiet along the causeway so we parked in the north lot and went for a nice walk in the woods. We were looking for the other owl's but weren't successful.  There are two owl's still residing in the park (a great Horned Owl and another Barred Owl) We enjoyed a coffee to refresh ourselves and then headed to the causeway.  Once again it was very quiet although the tide was still quite high.  We didn't stay long.  Unless you really looked it was easy to miss where the birds were.  This beautiful heron was well hidden deep in the reeds and depending on the angle you wouldn't see him at all.  I included two photos to show how deep he was (same heron only one is cropped closer). This would make a challenging puzzle.

We then walked the south path where we saw a few alligators and the other birds that like to rest in that area.  It's a challenging place to take pictures as there is so much growth which protects the birds from all the predators.

We decided it was time to head back to the condo.  As we were driving over the causeway we saw Lawrence and Teresa and noticed that there were a few more birds.  We decided to turn around and stay for a little longer.  Am I ever glad we did.  Two beautiful mature eagles flew overhead while we were there.  We've been looking for these eagles ever since we got to Myrtle Beach.  I'm so glad that Lawrence and Teresa saw them as well.  They are so beautiful!!

This was the first day that we didn't see any white pelicans in the marsh and we wondered if they have started their migration.  We saw them high in the sky flying.  Pictures don't do it justice at how beautiful they look all flying in formation.  Depending on which way they are going the whites on their wings just glow in the sky.

It was another beautiful week in South Carolina.  We're halfway through our visit here.  The time certainly flies by when you are having fun.  I look forward to more adventures next week.  The weather is going to be warm all week with the temperatures reaching into the mid 20's.  How nice is that!!