Cumberland Island

Georgia is mostly landlocked. Except for a small stretch of Atlantic shoreline, that is.

The Georgia coast stretches from Savannah (just south of Hilton Head, NC) to St. Mary's (just north of Florida). Off the coast of St. Mary's lies Cumberland Island, a national park that is one of the jewels of the southeast.

I first hatched the idea of visiting the area after reading two of my favorite books: Midnight in the Garden of Good and Evil, and The Poisonwood Bible. The first is a murder mystery cum ghost story set in Savannah, GA, better renowned for its annual St Patty's Day fete. The second, The Poisonwood Bible, opens with a journal entry by its main character, while living on an island off the coast of Georgia. I coulda sworn it was Cumberland, but I have been since corrected by my friend Matt. Turns out that Sanderling Island is fictitious: the author was more likely representing Tybee or St. Simons Island... details. Anyways...

Interesting historical reference: John Kennedy Jr and Carolyn Bessette were married on Cumberland Island. I didn't see the church; I think it was on the far north end of the island.

We left WarmLanta on Saturday, after much consternation about the number of coolers to pack and where we were to crash that eve, since the ferry for Cumberland was due to leave at 9am on sunday. Five people in the party: me, Aryn and Matt H (two of my favorite-ist friends around here), and Shawn and JK, friends of Aryn.

The drive to Cumberland includes Savannah en route. Savannah has been on my "list" of places to visit before i leave GA, so I lobbied that we stop for dindin. Parking in Savannah? Ew, WTF? Moon River Brewery? Ah, yeah.


In one sip, Moon River comfortably took its place on my top-x list of local brews (rounding out the top of the list are Stone IPA from San Diego, Fat Tire from CO, Sprecher Amber from WI, Harpoon IPA from Boston, and Sunday River IPA from Maine, and Sweetwater here in HotLanta). Other than that, Savannah was so-so; perhaps i need to see it in daylight to appreciate its charm?

We drove on to St Mary's late Sat eve, and I mean late. We found a quiet and dark parking spot very near to the docks, and all pulled out our respective gear and crashed. I slept on the asphalt next to my Xterra. I've slept in worse places ;)

Dawn was stellar. Then the ferry ride was fun. And when we got to the island, we had four-wheeled carts available to schlep our stuff from the ferry to Sea Camp, about 0.5mi away. Damn! talk about spoiled. Note for Amy and Pat, Tom and Brenda, and those of my friends who will have munchkins within the next few years: Cumberland is *utterly* accessible camping, with running water and toilets, and a perfect deserted beach that just BEGS for the world's biggest sandcastle.

Our spot was beautiful; we were down a berm from the dunes, nestled in gnarled oak trees dripping with spanish moss (known to some as Old Man's Beard... must be a Southern thing), rising from a forest floor covered in palmettos.




























The campsite was a stone's throw from the boardwalk, which stretched for maybe 200' over the dunes to the white sand beach. Did i mention that the beach was DESERTED???? It took my breath away. The beach stretches for 17 miles, a wide expanse of sand stretching to meet the blue ocean. Empty. It reminded me of Crane's Beach, except more of it, and with warm water ;)




We played in the waves. We cooked over a roaring campfire. We slept. We hiked out to the crumbling ruins of Dungeness, a castle built on the island sometime in the 1880s. We saw wild horsies (there are about 150 roaming the island). We flew a kite. We watched the sun set from the dock on the bay side of the island. At one point, catching sunset from the Atlantic side of the island while floating in the waves and watching the pink sky reflect on the waves lapping on the beach , I felt like I was a part of the sunset.


























and no, D, there was no photoshopping of these pictures! :) Just mother nature at her best.

Several times on the trip, one or another of us remarked about how it felt like we were kids playing in the neighborhood on a Saturday. That's a pretty good Saturday, if you ask me!!

Cumberland Island is a little gem that every outdoors-loving person should see. I regret that I didn't paddle my kayak out to it, and that will happen on a future trip, for sure. Because I foresee that this is far from my last trip to this little paradise :)