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Published: June 13th 2010
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A few hours from St Augustine we crossed the state border into Georgia. Our destination was Jekyll Island. Why? Well, just because we liked the name! Looking at the price of hotels on the island, we decided to stay in a motel on the outskirts of Brunswick.
Now, Brunswick is nothing much to write home about. It hardly even got a mention in our guide book! Still, we had a good wander around the historic town centre where we saw lots of nice architecture. The library was very informative and taught us a lot about the history of the place. During World War II 99 "liberty ships" were built there. These ships eased the blockade on starving Europe and played a major part in the Allied victory. Sadly the town felt a little run down but it was worth an hour or so of wandering around.
Jekyll Island is part of an island group called
The Golden Isles. It was named after a British barrister in the 1700s. There are a lot of exclusive hotel buildings and we even found reference to a Mr Hyde who owned a flat in one of the buildings. The island's history stems from
the slave trade and plantations and it's a great place to get a feel for some of the darker side of America's history. Information plaques are everywhere so you don't need a guide or a book.
One of the main tourist attractions is the Georgia Sea Turtle Centre. There we learned a lot about the turtles. We got to see one huge turtle being treated in the hospital. We also got to see the rehabilitation of injured turtles taking place. Some of them have suffered horrifically in car accidents, boating accidents, or in fishing nets. It's quite sad really but it's good to see many of them recover to a point where they can be released back into the ocean.
Before going to Jekyll Island we had arranged to go kayaking. It wasn't badly priced at $75 for a tandem kayak for 3 hours on a guided trip. It's a few years since we did anything like this and it took a short while for us to find our confidence on the water. The trip was good but we didn't travel too far because some in the party had never done anything like it before and were finding
going in a straight general direction a little more challenging than expected! We were shown around the oyster beds, along narrow channels which got narrower as the tide went out and, much to Trish's delight, a bird expert was with us to point out the many species we saw.
There's so much to do on the Island. The beaches are lovely too but when it's 100 degrees Farenheit it's just too hot! It's a shame because we walked a trail through the marshes and found ourselves on the picturesque Driftwood Beach. Huge trees litter the sand and make it a strange sight. Out at sea you can see the seagulls flocking behind the shrimp boats. Many people fish but sometimes they get more than they expected as you can see in the picture of a man holding a ray he's just brought ashore.
So, that was Jeckyll Island and I think everyone should go there. It was fabulous and we were genuinely sorry to leave. Even the $5 daily pass to take your car onto the island seemed like a bargain!
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Pam in TN
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Question about Salt Marsh Paddling in Jekyll
My husband and I are going to Jekyll later this month and plan to carry our kayaks with us. I ran across your blog post while searching for information on places to paddle and the experiences of others who have done it. The salt marshes sound like a lot of fun. Is it possible to paddle this area without renting a kayak and doing the whole "guided tour" thing?