June 9, 2009: Jekyll Island, Georgia

We are spending a couple of days anchored just by the Jekyll Island Bridge near the public ramp. It has given us a chance to ride our bike around this beautiful low coast natural habitat and enjoy the grand old oak trees bearded with grey Spanish moss. The state of Georgia purchased this entire island in 1947 to preserve it against development, especially on the beach side. Nestled among the old woods there is a National Historic Site called Millionaire’s Village built in 1807 as a private club by the exclusive community including Rockefeller, Vanderbilt, Pulitzer, and Morgan. A number of the original buildings are still standing including the turreted Club House which is now a grand hotel with croquet played on the lawn. We also road along by the Crane Cottage, a white mansion with ornate garden and reflecting pool, and the Faith Chapel, both original buildings.


But the fun of the day was visiting the George Sea Turtle Center. They had an exhibit on the life and well being of sea turtles with fun questions and discovery for kids and me. There was a count of the turtle nests discovered on Georgia beaches this summer - 134 so far, but there were over 1500 in 2008. There was also a cast of a giant sea turtle, the Archalon, whose fossil was found in South Dakota (We saw this before in a museum in Connecticut, but still amazing). They had a glass window in front of a clinic area. We were able to watch the local turtle infirmary team in action as they bandaged up a little diamond back turtle. Then we were invited out to visit the turtle hospital, a building next door with roof and screened in half walls. Inside we found about 8 huge tanks, each the recovery area for either a loggerhead or green sea turtle receiving care. These were all large turtles, but the largest of them had a four foot shell. He had an MRI and they thought it had a stroke. He needed to learn out to act like a turtle again (he just floated on the top of the water so we didn’t swim correctly). Others had injured shells (carapace), flippers or debilitated turtle syndrome. We watched as the helper put pills into a small fish and slipped it into the water for the turtle which was debilitated.

The afternoon included a trip to the beach which was very wide at low tide and packed hard like the Daytona and a seafood dinner at a local restaurant. We can tell we are nearing home because this dinner came with hushpuppies. Not a big basketful, but a couple on the plate – hot and crispy. The sun was glowing on the water as we returned to the boat.