Fripp Island Report Card

The Cahills survived another week at Fripp Island. This was our 3rd week long vacation there. We had a great time, and it was a lot of fun to see the kids (our 2 and our nephew Jacob, who's Zachary's age) take to the beach. I was especially proud of Liam and how he did a complete 180 from the time we got there Saturday until our last afternoon on the beach Friday. Pretty fearless for a 16 month old (although he required being picked up once the water touched his bathing suit when he toddled into the water). And now my report card from the trip:

LOCATION: A
Fripp Island is only a 7 hour drive (5 1/2 if you don't have small kids) from our house, and is pretty easy to navigate towards. Only draw back is the boring stretch on I-16 from Macon to Pooler. May explore taking I-20 to Augusta and cutting south next year. The condo we rented was ocean/beachfront, resulting in a swift 30 second walk to back door to sand.

ACCOMODATIONS: B+
On the advice of our friends The Thomases, we booked this year's trip through VRBO. The condo we got was on the ground floor and had 3 bedrooms, everyone had a bed (if you count Liam on the air bed). Our room was next to the open air bar/lounge, so we did get some late-night music thumping in the room (this was omitted from the condo info on VRBO). But we had an air conditioner that helped provide needed (although loud) white noise. A couple of minor drawbacks, the rugs trapped dirt/sand, so our feet were black on the soles all week if we went barefoot, and there was an inordinate amout of flies that got in. But as they say in real estate, location, location, location. And this place had it. Even had a gas grill to allow for some grilling options for meals. Plenty of room to lounge, eat, and supplies.

BEACH/OCEAN: A
Fripp is a private-access island, meaning there were no crowds on the beach. One of my favorite aspects is the difference in sand availability between low and high tide. It truly is amazing to see how much more land is visible at low tide. The sand dips down in a few places to allow lagoons to form which is a nice plus with little ones. Ocean water must have been over 80 degrees.

FRIPP ISLAND (NON-BEACH): B-
Fripp is also a wildlife protected island, meaning you can see deer walking/meandering just about everywhere. Lots of golf carts too, which is nice except when you're behind one trying to drive on the main road and you can't pass them and they don't get out of the way. They have 2 golf courses, one that runs along the ocean and another in the marsh land. Fripp is where Hollywood filmed much of the live action "Jungle Book" movie and the Vietnam War scenes in "Forrest Gump".

Fripp can be frustrating in that if you want to play on either of the 2 golf courses, rent any bikes/carts/umbrellas/etc., go to the pools, or eat on the island in their eateries, EVERY person staying must have an Amenity Card. They're free for kids under 12, but $50 per person otherwise. We didn't get them this year, and it did kind of make it frustrating in that we had to have food in our condo, or go off the island to eat. My dad and I had to play golf off the island too, which was at least a 45 minute trip to and from. I think we'll get them for next year and treat it as part of the rental cost of the condo. But I was a bit mad that we couldn't even get ice cream for the kids without them. All in all though, Fripp has lots to offer that I'm sure we'll appreciate more as Zachary & Liam get older.

OTHER PRO'S:
- Weather was superp the whole trip. It was cloudy/misty one morning, and it rained 2 nights after it got dark. Otherwise, sunny and high 80s, low 90s the entire trip.
- We saw a ton of UGA fans out on the beach and around the island. Easily outnumbered the main 2 SC colleges combined.
- Other than some minor scrapes and bug bites, no major injuries or sickness.
- Island had free wi-fi!

OTHER CON'S:
- Closest supermarket was a Publix 17 miles inland. No impulse chocolate/sweets trips :(
- AT&T does not have cell phone coverage on the island, while other telecom companies did. Guess who we use for our cell phone service?
- Island's free wi-fi went down after 3 days (they said it was a state-wide issue, but Rebecca thinks it was due to the SC Governor scandal breaking and they didn't want misinformation to get out).

OVERALL: A-
Gonna be hard for me to grade anything an A or A+ after our honeymoon trip to Bora Bora, Tahiti in 2003, but this trip accomplished what it set out to do: (1) let the kids have fun somewhere new and exciting, (2) let Rebecca and I chill out for a week without the stress of work and other things, (3) allowed our families to come together and enjoy one anothers' company.

We definitely have found a vacation home away from home on Fripp and already are thinking of ways to make next year's trip even more fun.