Vacationers wondering if their paradise has disappeared – for now

Cindy Bramble’s love affair with Hilton Head Island started the year after she graduated from high school.

“In 1984, we found Hilton Head, and we’ve been coming back every year,” the Frankfort, Kentucky, second-grade teacher said.

But maybe not this year – thanks to Hurricane Matthew.

Bramble, her parents and two of her children – one in high school, the other in eighth grade – were supposed to be vacationing starting last Saturday for a week at an Ocean One condominium on South Forest Beach Drive.

But the Category 2 hurricane that struck during the early morning hours on Saturday changed those plans.

“I should have been on the beach right now,” Bramble told The Island Packet and The Beaufort Gazette when contacted Wednesday.

Bramble said she’s tried unsuccessfully to find out from her vacation rental company whether it’s safe now at the condominium. She’s not sure exactly what she’ll do for the time being but likely will take her chances with a family road trip to the Carolinas.

“We’ll either find something else, or turn around and go back home and make the best of it,” she said, noting her husband can’t make the trip because of his work.

Bramble is not alone, as plenty of vacationers visit Hilton Head Island in October, when temperatures are cooler and tourist crowds are smaller compared to the summer months.

Hilton Head Island’s town manager, Steve Riley, said Wednesday he couldn’t immediately provide any advice that is “universally appropriate” for vacationers in the wake of the hurricane.

“All I can tell them is call their hotel or rental management agency,” he said. “I know that every situation is different.”

Charlie Clark, vice president of communications for the Hilton Head Island-Bluffton Chamber of Commerce, told The Island Packet and The Beaufort Gazette that her organization has put “extra people on phone lines knowing we would have additional calls” from vacationers.

“We’ve heard of some of our resorts that are planning to be open for business on Monday (Oct. 17); some are open for Thursday (Oct.20); it’s varying degrees,” she said.

Clark recommended that vacationers contact their hotels, resorts or rental management companies directly to find out specifics.

Contacted Wednesday by the newspapers, Ed Kinney, vice president of corporate affairs and communications for Marriott Vacation Club International, said there was no “large structural impact” at any of the club’s eight timeshare properties on the island.

A former longtime Hilton Head Island resident, Kinney said he expected nearly all Marriott Vacation Club properties to be opened by early next week, with the Harbour Town properties operational by the following week.

“We were fortunate from a preparation standpoint that we had a tremendous amount of things we were able to do as part of our crisis contingency plans to minimize issues,” he said, adding there were “resources at the ready” following the hurricane to do “remedial damage-repair” work.

Hilton Head residents were allowed to return to their homes starting Tuesday afternoon. The Savannah-Hilton Head International Airport opened Monday; the Hilton Head Island Airport opened Tuesday afternoon.

Rhonda Cristaldi, who lives near Columbia, Maryland, plans on arriving at the Savannah-Hilton Head airport about noon Thursday for a three-day family vacation trip to see her son, a Hilton Head Elementary School teacher who lives on the island and returned to his home Tuesday evening after evacuating the hurricane.

“We’ve probably been vacationing on Hilton Head for over 30 years,” Cristaldi said when contacted Wednesday. “We loved it from the very first time. We brought our kids with us.”

But Cristaldi said the hurricane forced her to scramble to find a third hotel – the Holiday Inn near Coligny Beach – that would be open this week. She said she originally planned to fly in last Thursday and had to negotiate with Allegiant Airlines to honor her non-refundable airline tickets.

Despite the hurricane, Cristaldi said she and her husband are looking forward to seeing their son and his brother, who lives in Charleston and plans to visit the island as well.

“A lot of it is spending time with family, no matter what it’s like,” she said.

Sharon Bennett, a retired psychiatric nursing professor from Augusta, Georgia, wondered when contacted initially Wednesday morning by The Island Packet and The Beaufort Gazette whether she and her husband, a retired nursing research professor, would be able to use their timeshare condominium – typically staying two weeks out of every six weeks – later this month at Brigantine Quarters in Shipyard Plantation.

She said then the property management firm, Island Management, had not responded to her phone or email messages about the condition of her timeshare, which she and her husband bought about 10 years ago.

“I’m anxious to hear what Brigantine Quarters is doing,” she said.

Later Wednesday afternoon, however, Bennett said Island Management informed her in an email that those guests planning to check in this Saturday would be able to do so next Monday. She said she and her husband plan to visit the island on Oct. 22.

“We love Hilton Head Island; it’s our home away from home,” Bennett said, adding, “We spend a lot of money on Hilton Head Island, that’s for sure.”

This story was originally published October 12, 2016 at 5:21 PM with the headline "Vacationers wondering if their paradise has disappeared – for now."