Georgia Coast Trip

November 2002

Sunset on Little Saint Simons

November, 2002

Dale and I undertake one of the longest sea kayak trips we have ever planed - to paddle the entire Georgia Coast from Tybee Island, Georgia to Amelia Island, Florida. A straight line distance of approximately 120 miles, many more as the kayak wanders. A trip that would take us eight days. We paddled all ocean site and camped on the beaches of most island - mostly illegally, as camping is not allowed on most of these.

We launched from the Tybee Island beach around mid-day and made an easy paddle to Little Tybee. We camped on a narrow sand beach and donated blood to the hoard of bugs we found waiting. The second day we paddled pass Wassaw Island to Ossabaw Island, finding a good campsite next to a small creek. Very few bugs here, but it's a bit windy and the fine sand gets into everything, including our food.

The third day we paddle to Saint Catherine's Island, finding a campsite near the southern end in an area known as the boneyard. The boneyard is an area of beach where dead trees resemble bones. The end of the beach is eroding, causing the forest tress to end up in the salt water. We camped at the top of the beach, which we determined later would be flooded at high tide. This forced us to move our gear into the forest and camp on flotsam blown in by storms. We also heard and saw several wild hogs. Rain came in that night and we woke up to bad weather.

The rain was light as we left Saint Catherine's and paddled to Sapelo Island. We landed at a beach side pavilion and managed to get in touch with someone in Hog Hammock who has a guest house. We had the guest house to ourselves, got hot showers and slept indoors for two nights. We had to stay over a second night because the storm brought strong winds the next day.

On the sixth day we left Sapelo and paddled to Little Saint Simons, camping in some large dunes. It was a great campsite and the weather as beautiful and a bit cooler. The sunset and sunrise were beautiful, and the pictures above are proof.

We had planned to paddle to the back side of Jekyll Island and camp but decided to make a long crossing from Little Saint Simons to Cumberland Island. We spend nearly eight hours in our boats that day, riding out twelve foot swells nearly a dozen miles from shore. Night fell before we landed and the last hour of paddling in the dark was not something I would like to repeat. We landed at last, in whipping wind, too exhausted to fix dinner. We ate a sandwich left over from the days paddle and laid in our tents moaning in exhaustion.

Our last morning we spent walking the Cumberland Island beach. We had done this on each island, having each place to ourselves, our own private beaches. When we finally found some human footprints on Cumberland, we realized we were coming back into contact with other people.

We paddled the long length of Cumberland, seeing a few houses on the beach. At long last we came to the end of the island and the long jetty that sticks out a mile or more into the ocean. Deciding not to paddle around the jetty, we began to portage our gear to the other side. A ranger driving down the beach was persuaded to carry our boats atop his jeep, saving us a bit of effort. Puting in, we paddled in and around the back of Amelia Island to the town of Fernandia Beach, where we had left Dale's Explorer.

That evening we drove as far as we could and stayed in a motel near Saint Mary's. The next day we made it back to Tybee to pick up my Silverado and head back to north Georgia. This had been a long and arduous trip, but one of the best either of us have ever been on. We hope someday to repeat this adventure!