Our Babymoon – A Long Weekend on Hilton Head Island
If you’re new to the term “babymoon,” it’s sort of like a backwards honeymoon. Instead of taking a first vacation together as a married couple, you’re essentially taking one last vacation before having a baby, and trust me – I highly recommend taking a trip like this if you’re expecting! This trip was a semi-surprise to me. My Christmas/birthday present from my husband was a budget and freedom to plan a long weekend trip for us to take before our baby enters the world. Now, most women would love for their husbands to plan a trip for them, but mine knows how much I enjoy the planning process and thus it was the perfect gift.
Living in East Tennessee, we wanted something within driving distance and I knew I wanted to be somewhere slightly warmer. I was initially checking hotel prices in Savannah, GA, but just across the border I saw Hilton Head Island, which I had never even heard of. After research things to do and places to stay on the island, I realized this was going to be the perfect vacation spot for an early February getaway. I went into this trip excited to eat and relax, and I left knowing we will return in the future as a family vacation.
Hotels and resorts
Hilton Head Island has plenty of lodging options that fit a variety of budgets. For our trip, we stayed at the Holiday Inn Express on the island, because I am all about getting rewarded for my stays. Plus, it doesn’t hurt that it was a great price for our three night stay. This hotel was recently renovated and perfectly located on the island. It sits just a short walk away from the beach and Coligny Plaza, which is where many shops and restaurants are located. This hotel was perfect for us since we like to walk and didn’t need anything too high end for our stay.
If you are looking for something a bit more luxury, you won’t be disappointed. We got a day pass for Sea Pines Resort, which takes up a good chunk of the island and has so much to offer. Although the name would imply this is just one large resort, there are actually many hotel options within the gated community. You can find nicer hotel chains such as Marriott and Hilton in addition to private rentals like Airbnb’s. Additionally, the resort offers both villas and houses for groups of all sizes. This section of the island is definitely a more expensive option, but the confines of Sea Pines Resort has a lot to offer.
things to do
With only two full days to spare, we tried to pack as much in as we could. On our first full day, we started off the day by just walking around to visit both Coligny Beach Park and Coligny Plaza. The beach is beautiful, clean, and since it’s only February, it was super empty. The downside to it being February, of course, was that it wasn’t the best weather to actually go into the water. Nonetheless, we took a short stroll while we waited for shops to open up and took in the views.
Coligny Plaza has the usual tourist shops with merchandise that screams “Hilton Head Island,” as well as some local shops and restaurants. We quickly realized that the island is not in shortage of ice cream, which is not unusual since this is such a popular summer vacation destination. Additionally, a few of the local shops caught our eyes, but unfortunately we were never able to go in and make any purchases since they were never open while we checked them out, even though their hours indicated they were open. We were unsure whether this was due to being on the island during the offseason, or if something else prevent our shopping altogether.
In the late morning, we made our way over to Sea Pines Resort, which is located on the south side of the island. We did have to pay $9 for a day pass, but it is free to enter if you are staying at the resort. While on this part of the island, we had lunch, did some more walking, and took a dolphin cruise, which was my favorite part of the vacation. The tour we booked was through VagaBond Cruise and was about $85 for the two of us. The boat ride lasted about an hour and a half and was full of dolphin sightings from the start. The captain was knowledgeable about dolphins and gave us plenty of facts about the area and the animals as we sailed. The best part for me was that we even got to see some baby dolphins swimming alongside their mothers. As a mom-to-be, I will admit they were so cute they made me tear up just a bit!
After our awesome cruise, we walked around a bit and then hopped in the car to see what else the area had to offer. If you’re a golfer, you should definitely check out Hilton Head Island as it has enough courses to be ranked the number 10 golf destination by Golf Digest readers. And since pickleball has made such a boom, the island is home to many pickleball clubs, including the South Beach Racquet Club, which looked like a great place to play. Of course, both sport options do come at a price, but if you’re an avid player of either, it could be well worth the cost.
The second day of our trip started with a little good-hearted competition in the form of mini golf. We headed over to Legendary Golf around the time the opened and were please to find we were the only ones there. Of course, this has much to do with the off season of the island, but we were also bright and early and hoping we could take our time. This mini golf option has two 18-hole courses, with of them being considered much harder, and from our experience I will say it was more of a challenge! Playing both courses ran us $20 per person, which is quite the deal in my opinion.
That afternoon, we made our way over to the Coastal Discovery Museum. This is a free museum that highlights the history and culture of the island. Although it is a small museum, they have a nature path that surrounds the area for a nice 1.5 mile walk. The walk included sights such as marsh front boardwalks, outdoor sculptures, and a camellia garden. Since it was a cold winter, many of the plants were still in the early stages of growth, but we were able to see some blossoming flowers.
Next we made our way north to spend some time on Fish Haul Beach. This beach is known to have lots of shark teeth, but unfortunately we turned up empty-handed on our hunt. Despite not finding any souvenirs, we were able to spend a good amount of time on another pretty empty beach in the sun. If you do find yourself at this beach, I would highly recommend wearing water shoe as the beach is covered in shells which makes it very unpleasant for bare feet.
Food, food and more food!
Okay, I won’t lie to you, a lot of our vacation budget was spent on food, and this is all because of me. Not only am I in my second trimester with a big appetite, but I am also a big fan of trying new foods and restaurants. Luckily, Hilton Head Island is in no shortage of great places to eat. Unfortunately, it was hard to find food options online when I was scoping things out before our trip. However, once we actually got to the island, we were able to grab a magazine-type brochure with several restaurants and their menus, which helped us narrow down where we wanted to eat throughout the weekend.
We got to the island at about 6pm and we were ready to eat. Our first stop after checking into the hotel was One Hot Mama, which is located on the south side of the island, just 5 minutes from Coligny Plaza. This location is relatively new, with this first location being located on the mainland in Bluffton. We started off with some first shrimp dressed in their Maui Wowii sauce, which was a great combination of sweet with a little spice. As I normally do at BBQ restaurants, I ordered the chicken sandwich. It was a huge chicken breast that was cooked perfectly. Nate tried the Baby Back Burger, which was a mouth full seeing as it had 1/3 rack of their delicious baby back ribs on top. Overall, we were very please with the level of service and quality of food we received.
For lunch on Friday, we headed over to the Sea Pines Resort and tried out Salty Dog Cafe. It had a great location of the marina and plenty o seafood options to match. Nate was keen on trying out alligator, so for our appetizer we had Gator Bites. They were definitely interesting, but more of something we would try once just to say we did. For our main entrees, Nate had the burger and I had South Beach Roll. Nate said the burger was nothing to write home about, but honestly, what can you expect from a seafood restaurant? As for me, I really enjoyed my combination of shrimp and lobster on a buttery brioche bun. Plus, the side of potato salad was almost more like mashed potatoes, which I thought was delicious.
Despite it being February, we were on an island so we had to stop for ice cream. After our dolphin cruise, we headed back to Coligny Plaza to grab something refreshing. Our intention was to go to The Ice Cream Cone because it was decked out in funny cow decor, but unfortunately, it was closed when we got there despite it being the middle of the afternoon with the hours indicating it should be open. Nonetheless, we were still able to get our sweet fix from the Frozen Moo. We got strawberry cheese cake and some sort of cookies and cream cheesecake as our two flavors. Even though we split two scoop, they were big scoops and really filled us up. We would definitely recommend going to the Frozen Moo if you want some ice cream on your trip because they have over 90 flavors!
As we love to do every once in a while, we had ourselves a nice dinner where we got a little more dressed up than our usual athletic clothes. For this meal, we headed to WiseGuys because I had reach such great things about their food. Let me just say, the reviews were not wrong. Nate got the Prime Rib, as he often does when we go out for a nice dinner, and he would deem it the best he has ever had. Although I was only able to snag one bite, I can attest to the fact that it was excellent. I, on the other hand, went out of my comfort zone and got the Seared Scallop and Mushroom Risotto. While I am always happy to order scallops, I generally don’t ever eat risotto since you don’t see it on menus often. I was more than happy with my choice as this signature dish was also delicious.
In addition to our amazing entrees, we did splurge on dessert. Nate ordered the cheesecake, which comes with a seasonal fruit topping, and when were there that was raspberry. For me, I ordered my ultimate favorite: Crème Brulee. This, however, was no ordinary Crème Brulee, but actually a flight with four different flavors. Of course I love the classic, but in this flight, may favorite was by far the Kahlua Mocha. This was yet another stop where we received excellent service.
After two great round of mini golf on Saturday morning, we headed just down the road to Nectar. This cute farm themed restaurant had both brunch and lunch available when we got there around noon. Even though I generally don’t order salads, I couldn’t help by try the Chicken Honey Pecan Salad because I was craving something light and refreshing. It was a large salad, but the ingredients all tasted fresh and it was perfectly filling. Nate had the Kitchen Sink Bowl from the brunch menu. He said it was delicious and the perfect mix of breakfast foods. At lunch we even had a couple of drinks. I had been dying to try a mocktail, so I got their Blueberry Mule, which I really enjoyed. Nate got the Gerogia Collins, which was a peach based drink that he said was refreshing and not too strong.
After lunch, we were still ready for something sweet, so we headed North to the Milkshake Factory. This sweets shop isn’t only located on Hilton Head Island, but it is actually a franchise that you can find in some spots throughout the US, but primarily the East Coast. Despite this fact, we still gave it a try because it sounded like it was right up Nate’s alley. The staff were super friendly and they made awesome milkshakes. Nate got Chocolate Dipped Strawberry and I got Cookie Jar, both were flavors that were extremely on par for us. Regardless, we still throughly enjoyed our choices.
Our last stop before vacation was over was Charbar, which brought us full circle because it’s located right by One Hot Mama’s. Since Nate and I both love a good burger, when we go to burger joints we generally get two different burgers and split them. This outing was no different. For our first burger we ordered the Charbar Burger, which is their basic option with the standard toppings like lettuce, tomatoes, onions and cheese. Although this was a basic burger, the wagyu patty was cooked to perfection so it was juicy and delicious.
The second burger we ordered was the Wine Jam Wagyu Burger. This burger was in World Burger Championship Top 20, so we had to try it. A lot of people may see the price of this burger, which was north of $25, and feel discouraged. However, if you are a burger fanatic like we are, I would highly recommend splurging and trying out this burger because I found it to be phenomenal. The bone marrow butter was so different from anything I’ve ever had and it was absolutely delicious. Additionally, the combination of crispy prosciutto, port wine jam and boursin cheese was truly excellent. On this trip we were served by Darren, who was our favorite server of the weekend!
Weekend Recap
Overall, our stay on Hilton Head Island was everything we wanted it to be. It was the perfect mix of indulgence, fun and relaxation. I would be remiss if I didn’t give Nate a huge shoutout fore letting me have full reign on planning a trip together while we could still be solo travelers together. I am so glad we were able to take one last trip as a married couple without kids, but throughout the whole trip I kept thinking about how excited I am to return one day with our son.
