Singleton Beach at the eastern end of Singleton Beach Road off William Hilton Parkway is located towards the heal of Hilton Head Island at its northerly end. The beach – in addition to being on the same road as the popular Chaplin Community Park – is adjacent what are in an uncommonly modest exhibition called vacation homes many of which if not all are equipped with swimming pools, elevators and significantly proximate views of the Atlantic Ocean from the second or third floors. Clearly the vicarious influence is a strong point of travel on Hilton Head Island.
My particular superlative regarding this venue is that five years ago I regularly cycled there (sometimes on the beach, other times on the pathway) from South Beach and back. It today amounts to what I consider a decidedly unpersuasive Olympic undertaking, one which I am reluctant to undertake though I have privately added it to my agenda (we’ve only been here a week). It is no accident that, apart from William Hilton Parkway (which like most barrier islands represents the spine of travel), Singleton Beach is bordered on one side by the Atlantic Ocean and on the other by Marshland Road. Indeed so manifest is the marshy ingredient of the area that today I speculated what extraordinary alterations must have constituted the enterprise of its residential development.
Another prominent feature of Singleton Beach is that it is separated from the beach north of it by a large rock pier. Naturally I have only seen it at low tide (when cylcing on the beach is feasible). It is within reach to get around the pier to proceed further north but my exhausted tissues have never buoyed me to do so.
Permit me if you will to add parenthetically to the pedantic “travel guide” nature of this article that I am shamelessly smug about our current inhabitance here. With equally self-satisfied glee I anticipate the upcoming months which at least historically were the height of off-season, a waggish reversal of what one would normally prioritize. Both of us readily confess our preference for social isolation, not that we’re anti-social by any means, but we are quite prepared to forego the allure or necessity of commotion of any description. It perhaps defines the depth of my curmudgeonly attitude that one of my most reviving appointments when going anywhere is the facility to park my automobile. That is for me a metaphor of anything else we do, whether dining by the sea or bicycling on the beach. And just to be clear, while I have not abandoned my erstwhile passion for sunbathing, I am now content to do so fully clothed (that is, shorts and Polo shirt). Besides, no one – including me – wants to see me undressed or – worse – in a Speedo! Relaxing in the dunes, supported by my reclining bicycling tire, getting some colour on my face and extremities, is perfectly adequate.