The following day three more boats from the Cruising Club arrived, with Bob and Beth Kelley aboard "Time for Play," Glenn and Brenda Young aboard "Young at Heart," and Rick and La Von McNaughton aboard "The Porch," all having cruised the entire route between Charleston and Jekyll Island "inside" along the Intracoastal Waterway (ICW). Once again, happy hour was aboard the "Docker's Inn."
The following morning, we all left the marina and headed for Cumberland Island. Ken and I were a bit concerned about having to cross St. Andrews Sound with winds of about 12-14 mph causing some choppy water, but the "Docker" did just fine, and after a beautiful cruise down the ICW, we arrived and anchored out.
As soon as everyone was settled with their anchors secure, we all piled into our dinghys and headed for the Sea Camp dock to tie up while we explored the island. This is also where the Cumberland Island ferry brings people from St. Marys.
When everyone had arrived we walked up to the information center to get our bearings before beginning our explorations of the island.
Cumberland Island is a national treasure maintained by the National Parks Service, with pristine beaches, maritime forests, and protected wildlife. We decided to take the trail through the forest, across the dunes to the beach.
Here we found some groups of school children learning how to catch fish with nets.
Along another trail we encountered some of the wildlife we had heard about, including the cutest armadillos snuffling under the leaves at the edge of the path for food.
And the wild horses we had been hoping to see did not disappoint us either.
This trail led us to the ruins of one of the Carnegie mansions for which this island is also famous.
This was the view from the mansion, but we enjoyed it for free!
On Friday the rest of the Cruising Club group continued on to Fernandina Beach, Florida, but we stayed on in Georgia because our boat insurance does not allow us into Florida until noon on November 15th, supposedly the end of the hurricane season. So we stayed on at Cumberland Island a second day and then cruised on to St. Marys, Georgia, just a whisper away from Florida.
Since docking space at Lang's Marina in St. Marys is on a first-come-first-served basis, we were lucky to get there early enough to secure the last spot at the dock.
What a precious little gem St. Marys is. Most people pass it by when traveling down I-95 between Georgia and Florida, unless they have decided to come here to take the ferry to Cumberland Island. The waterfront dominates and is absolutely charming.
It's a great walking town, with plenty of restaurants to satisfy the most descriminating tastes. We wasted no time in trying out one across the street from the marina for lunch after our arrival.
Both the eggplant parmesan and chicken marsala were excellent! Just a short stroll along the main drag, Osbourne Street, reveals a rich history, with many of the 1800's era homes now preserved as bed and breakfast inns.
Along the waterfront, Lang's dominates, with Lang's Marina East (where we are docked), Lang's Marina West, Lang's Seafood (below), and Lang's Seafood Restaurant.
This is also a friendly town, with special services for boaters, including a daily VHF radio communication each morning at 8:00 a.m., the St. Marys Basin Radio Net on VHF channel 68. This service provides visiting mariners the opportunity to ask questions and share information with locals who might be able to help.
So, tomorrow we will bid a fond farewell to Georgia as we head to Fernandina Beach, Florida, just a stone's throw away.
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