Jekyll Island, GA

I talked it over with Kevin and was wondering if, now that we aren't in an exotic location like the Bahamas, we should keep posting so often. I mean, reading about the sights of a rinkydink small town in Georgia just doesn't seem to have the same appeal, does it? But we figured at the very least there would still be four people reading the blog (our parents), if only to make sure we are still afloat and okay. So we'll keep it up. Those of you who only care about our travels to faraway places should stop reading now and come back in January 2007 when we plan to leave the country again. Still reading? Good.

We left our anchorage at Cumberland Island and headed north on the ICW (ah, good old Intracoastal Waterway with your water the color of old tea and your multitude idiot powerboaters with massive wakes in no wake zones) to a marina on Jekyll Island because you are required to be at a marina to check in to the US. Checking in to the US is surprisingly easy. Last fall we applied for a customs decal which allows you to call a telephone number when you arrive in the country from wherever you make landfall (instead of having to go to a specific "port of entry"). So we phoned and less than an hour later, a Customs and Homeland Security agent was aboard and checking us in. He was a super nice guy and the whole episode was much less intimidating than we'd expected, despite the fact that the agent was packing heat in a hip holster. We weren't nervous; we had nothing to hide. The whole thing took less than 20 minutes and we were now free to move about the country.

We were surprised to discover that Jekyll Island is quite the tourist destination. Back in the late 1800's this was the playground of Rockefellers and Vanderbilts and they all had cottages here which you can tour, there is also a great beach, a water park, and miles of bike paths and nature trails criss-cross the island. We took a walk to check things out and quickly realized that we should've taken the free bikes offered by the marina. Tromping through insect-infested woods in 87 degrees and 79 percent humidity is no picnic. We saw enough to decide that we will stay an extra day to explore everything and headed back to the air-conditioned boat (hooray for shore power!).

After our walk we took a dip in the marina pool and then watched in awe as a 100 foot cruise ship docked at our small marina (it was small for a cruise ship but big compared to the rest of the small sail and powerboats docked here. It looked a little out of place. What was funny is that Kevin immediately recognized The "American Spirit" as the cruise ship that we'd seen often last summer in Narragansett Bay, traveling between Newport and Block Island. I thought, "No way it couldn't be", but sure enough we asked a crewmember and it's the same boat. It really gets around. Guess we'll be seeing it again as we make our way north.