It has been a long time since I last came to Jekyll Island, Georgia. And those previous times were in the middle of winter and therefore it was too cold to spend too much time outdoors. This time it is a bit warmer. The days are in the mid-60's and the lows are down in the 40's.
We arrived on Friday and after setting up camp just relaxed a bit. That's usually what happens on a driving day. Then around 4pm, I wanted to go bike riding around the island. I was the only one who wanted to go bike riding. This wasn't a problem because now it meant I could get farther and see more things by not having to go slow.
The campground is at the northern part of Jekyll Island. From the campground, I rode across the street and down to the very northern tip of the island. Then I headed south along the east side beach. The thing I like most about Jekyll Island are the different beaches. There's driftwood beach from the fallen trees, beach with rocks, and then just wide open hard sand during low tides. It makes for great bike riding. After riding about two miles down the beach, the tide started coming in too close. At one point where the rocks were, I had to take the boardwalk back over street side because there just wasn't anymore riding space.
About another mile down along the street, I took a right past the golf course to the west side and historical district of Jekyll Island. As the sun was setting over the marsh lands, I managed to snap off a few sunset photos and of the old "cottages". After the sun went down, it quickly became dark and I had to head back to the RV. I could barely see anything along bike trail through the woods so I stayed on the road. Even then it was sometimes difficult to see. Although I could see all the dear out feeding in the woods. They didn't seem too spooked by my coming. Some of them jumped away, but most just stood there watching me pass by. I'm sure they were thinking to themselves "Why is this crazy human out here in the dark?" Some stayed there within 4-5 feet from me as I went by.
Saturday morning I went out early to get some sunrise photos. This time I drove to the north point pier and walked down the beach. I had my tripod and an extra wide angle lens which would have made it difficult to bike. At two spots near the north end, there's an inlet where the sea water flows into the island marsh during high tide. One is fairly wide and they have a bride to cross it. The other one can be stepped over during low tide without getting wet. On the walk down the beach I just stepped over, no problem. And I was thinking the tide was still going out. So I continued walking about another mile down the beach. However as I started heading back, I realized the tide was actually going in. By the time I reached the "narrow" inlet it was about five feet wide. Since I was carrying my camera equipment, I wasn't about to risk jumping across and accidentally dropping them. I had three options: to either walk back south about two miles to a beach access path to the road and then walk back to the Blazer (four miles total). Another option was to walk into the marsh lands and find the bike path to cross back over. Or take shoes and socks off and walk through the cold water. Well walking back would take too long so I ruled that out. I walked up the dune and could not see any bike trail bridge crossing the marsh in that area, so that was out. The only thing left was to walk through the cold water. And after taking off my shoes and socks, that water was FREEZING COLD! It felt like I was sticking my feet into a bucket of ice! And with the water flow rushing in and eroding the sand, it was knee deep.
Later that afternoon, we all went out for a bike ride down the beach. This time we even took Jake with us. We rode our bikes six miles down along the ocean side until Adam and Lucas didn't want to go anymore. However, that meant that I needed to ride all the way back to get the Blazer then return to pick up everyone. Cricket and the boys would have to wait about an hour on the beach for me to get back. As I crossed over the dunes via a boardwalk there was an older gentleman there in the picnic area that I had also seen on the beach. I also noticed a small pickup truck in the parking lot and put the two together. I asked if him if it wouldn't be too much trouble to give us a ride back to the campground. He said he'd be happy to. That was a big help. We piled all the bikes in the back, followed by Cricket and the boys, and then Jake. I rode up front with him. He told me him and his wife have been living on Jekyll Island for 10 years after moving down from Ohio. After arriving back at the RV, I offered to pay him for his troubles and even asked him and his wife out to dinner. But he refused everything. So we all thanked him again and off he went.
On Sunday we went to Jekyll Island Baptist Church. It was a small, but very friendly church of about 40-50 worshippers. Many of those are tourists. There was a refreshment social gathering in the fellowship hall immediately following the service which we attended. There we met some of the locals and vacationers, including a couple right from our campground.
After church we went back to the RV to change clothes and have lunch. Then for the afternoon, we rode our bikes four miles down the west side of the island through the historic district to the mini-golf course. After our 18-hole round, I had a score of 60 followed by Cricket with 63, and the the boys tied at 65. Then we rode our bikes back on the beach side. It was a great sunny day with the temperature only at about 70 degrees.
Today we will be heading back down into home state of Florida with our first stop in St. Augustine. I hope you have been enjoying our adventures and the photographs so far. If you have, please tell us in the forums. I always look forward to hearing from you.
Here are some more photos from Jekyll Island. See you back here in a few days.
Mark
