Jekyll Island, Georgia

Tuesday, April 18, 2017

This morning, we got a (deliberately) late start in order to time our arrival at the Fernandina Beach area to coincide with a mid-rising tide.  This gave us a better chance of avoiding trouble at the reported shoaling there.

After a slow, cautious transit of the area without mishap, we continued on, and crossed the St. Mary's River inlet and into Georgia.

On the way south last fall, we had skipped all of Georgia, and a big chunk of South Carolina, by going "outside" on the Atlantic at Charleston, SC all the way to St. Mary's inlet.   The reason for this was to avoid all of the reputed shallow water in Georgia.  But for this trip north, we decided to try it and see the parts of the ICW we had missed.

The first of these would have been Cumberland Island, but there was a problem.  With no public marinas on the island, the only way there was to either stay at the town of St Mary's and take a ferry over, or anchor out and dinghy in.  For us, anchoring out presented a problem, as we can only go two days on our holding tank without a pumpout, and we were already on our second day.  So, we called around and found that the ferries were all booked up for weeks!  Oh well.  Another item to put on the list for the next time! :)

So, we set out sights on Jekyll Island, and got to Jekyll Harbor Marina early in the afternoon.  After fueling and pumpout, we took a slip for two nights in order to give us a day to explore.

Wednesday, April 19, 2017

Jekyll Island was a true gem.  We will definitely go back there again. 

The marina has free loaner bikes, and the island is covered with the most extensive and well-maintained bike paths I have ever seen.  And it's all level!  Joan's knees were able to handle this, so off we went!

Great bike paths through tree-lined avenues

Yes!

Jekyll Island has a rich history.  It was a gathering place for the wealthy to vacation, and many of the stately manors are still there.  We rode into the historic part of town and played tourist.

The Jekyll Island Club

Afterwards, we biked over to the Georgia Sea Turtle Center, which includes a rescue hospital where injured turtles are treated and usually released back into the wild.

One of the newest arrivals being cleaned and examined.

We biked to the north side of the island, and had lunch at Tortuga Jack's, then wandered home via a different path that took us thru a small but new village center with numerous shops.

Back at the boat, we watched another spetacular sunset.

End of another day in paradise

As usual...