El Baile de los Delfines or Flipper UBER ALLES

We live to drive and drive to live that we might bring back an interesting photo or account of some unusual, inspiring or one-of-a-kind marvel once in a great while. We have thus become very careful what we wish for at this most recent discovery. Three dollars a gallon seems cheap passage to these gates.

This place lies at the finish of dead end Roseville Road. As we made our way slowly, carefully along, folks stopped, paused and looked at us in the puzzled way they might have watched Captain Willard's progress to Col. Kurtz. Those looks suggested that either we'd never be seen again or we'd never be the same again once we found our target.

Upon arrival, our adjectives ran off the road like Saturday night drivers on Wadmalaw Island. Was this a mercury flashback from a bad piece of swordfish? Had the late Walt Disney taken the wheel and run us slap down to Orlando? Had Flipper and Charlie the Tuna formed a lifestyle partnership behind these gates? When speech returned, the only utterance we could muster was that charming upstate exclamation, "Golly Bum". There you have it in two words.

The gate's welcoming ribbons bears, "El Baile de los Delfines" or Dance of the Dolphins in English, but on the island mostly translates as "Gait Gawd!"

We'd love to claim that we found Xanadu here by sheer dint of detective work and directional acuity. Frankly, we saw it in one of those glossy magazines which looks like it's going to tell you a lot about Charleston, but is actually trying to sell you things. It looked like an Adobe Workshop show off, but this place does exist. It stands not a mile from Cherry Point Seafood, that storied, cherished old landmark over which we fret and which we most recently posted. We had no idea what was already waiting for us just around the bend.

There is, of course, no accounting for taste. Someone might fall in love with this place on reading our post tonight. We're not calling this garish, absurd or freaky nor are we suggesting that it was designed by scuba divers who came to the surface too fast, but we do find "El Baile de los Delfines" just a bit this side of classic sea island style. Now, just put a Charleston Green joggling board at the gate and this would fit nicely on the Battery in downtown Charleston.

So, amigos, the good news is that it's for sale. If you want to shag with the dolphins, getting your name on their dance card will cost you only TEN MILLION DOLLARS or 109,915,000 Pesos. Living here does entitle one's children to attend either Frierson Elementary or Haut Gap Middle School. We'd add a few flying squirrels to the gate if it were ours, otherwise, it's a turn key deal.