Adventure: Intracoastal Waterway

Southern Living, Nov 2000 by Young, Dianne

Set sail for great golf, and enjoy a cruise that takes you down the South's Intracoastal Waterway.

I'll be honest. Every time I set foot on a golf course there's high adventure, but last spring I discovered a way to take my addiction with the game to another level. I signed on for a "Colonial South Golf Cruise" that would sail me to five Atlantic Coast courses.

InterGolf, a golf travel company in Georgia, blended the special eight-day, seven-night excursion into Clipper Cruise Line's tour of "Exploring the Antebellum South Along the Intracoastal Waterway."

The journey, starting in Charleston, South Carolina, and ending in Jacksonville, Florida, took place on the sleek, white Nantucket Clipper. This 207-foot yacht hosted just 100 passengers, giving the cruise a wonderfully intimate and friendly feel. Passengers came from all over the United States and even included a couple from Canada.

Nongolfers chose from organized daily tours or simply explored alone. It was a system designed to accommodate every interest. They visited Charleston's Middleton Place plantation; took a walking tour that highlighted the ghosts of the picturesque town of Beaufort, South Carolina; and hiked through the natural glory of Cumberland Island, Georgia. By week's end, everyone had ample chance to savor the beauty of the Lowcountry in their own favorite ways. Golfers, meanwhile, got to try their hand-and their handicap-on some demanding tracts.

Osprey Point, for example, a Tom Fazio-- designed course at Kiawah Island, South Carolina, curled through magnificent marshland, home to an abundance of wildlife. I even spied an osprey on the wing, clutching a gleaming silver fish in its talons. The last day's stop-Osprey Cove Golf Club near St. Marys, Georgia@ played host to the PGA Tour Qualifying School. This course provided a true test for the week's closing round.

The golf was an adventure, the service was superb, and the food was delightful. The highlight of the trip, though, was traveling the Intracoastal Waterway. Early one morning, I watched the coming of dawn from the Promenade Deck. Standing alone, it felt as if I owned my own yacht, commanding it to motor smoothly through the lazy curves and tight passages of the sprawling salt marsh. Seagulls soared overhead, while herons stalked the edges of the cordgrass, still tinted brown in the early spring.

To this day I cherish that image as much as any par, birdie, or eagle. Dianne Young

READY TO TEE IT UP?

The next golf cruise on the Nantucket Clipper runs November 4-11, starting in Jacksonville. Per golfer prices range from $2,850 to $4,100 depending upon cabin category.

To learn more or make reservations, contact InterGolf at 1-800-4680051, or visit www.inter golfvacations.com.

For more information about this and other cruises aboard Clipper Cruise Line, call 1-800325-0010, or visit www.clippercruise.com.