Southern Camping Trip 2026 (aboard "Elsie" the land yacht). cont. 45

 27  February 2026

Jekyll Island State Park 

Jekyll Island, Georgia

   

Driftwood Beach, Jekyll Island.

Marc-  Today was a travel day which usually means we don't do much that is interesting.  Our destination made all of the difference.  We arrived while it was raining which seemed to bring out the no-see-um bugs that bite.  There were awful little things!  After settling in we went over to the Village and found that the local grocer had reasonable prices despite being the only market on the island (eggs were $ 2.90 a dozen, for example).

The Island's best beach is right off of the Village.  We heard a lot of birds there and walked a little.  Then we went to "Driftwood beach" which is home to many drowned trees that did not in fact drift onto the beach (they actually grew there before it became a beach).  We hiked the Northern end of the island only to find that a horse trail bridge was now closed.  We went over the bridge anyway after making an assessment that we weighed less than the horses.  The Northern end of the Island is diminishing due to ocean storms while the southern end of the island is growing (Ocean currents carry the sand south where it's deposited).

Looking out over Village Beach we could see a fog bank at the horizon.

These birds appear to be young terns hopping around on one leg.

Piping Plovers were running all over the water's edge.

Sue's phone app discovered these birds singing in the dunes.  We saw a cardinal and a warbler.

We saw that the water on this beach seemed to be light brown.  The color is due to sediment as noted above and it is a good thing, indicating some of the healthiest water along the Atlantic Seaboard.

Several of the buildings have beautiful murals.

This bird was not singing away so we could not identify it (the strong silent type).

We caught the stern of a car carrier rounding Driftwood Beach (the island in the background is St. Simons Island where a car carrier ran aground several years ago and had to be salvaged in place, otherwise known as cut up into pieces).

Brunswick Georgia is a major car shipping port.

Jekyll fish pier.

Lastly, we stopped at two quilt shops on our way up from Florida. The following photos are from Cinnamon Quilt Shop in Jacksonville.

Cool cat mug rug.

Nice Kaffe Fassett fabrics in this quilt.