Incredible Cumberland Island

This time north, we decided to poke around in new places, in particular, the Georgia coast. We motor sailed into Fernandina Beach, the last stop in Florida and stayed for a nice Memorial Day ceremony and watched pretty sunsets out on our mooring ball. The second day, we motored across the St. Mary's River to anchor at Cumberland Island. What a treasure. We spent two days exploring this beautiful, gently inhabited island, part of the National Seashore. We anchored just beyond the park service dock. You can only reach the island by boat, your own or a passenger ferry out of St. Marys.

The tides rose and fell by 10 feet there and we witnessed a sailboat running aground under full sail at high tide. She lay on her side several hours later in the sand, but they must have pulled her off at midnight during the next high tide, because she was gone by morning.

Cumberland Island is covered by lush with maritime forests with dramatic live oaks dripping with Spanish moss and twisted cedars, and an underbrush of fan leafed palmettos. Wild shifting sand dunes tumbled into broad golden beaches of soft sand where the tide ran out 100 yards and more. In other areas, brilliant green marshes rise out of black mud, teeming with life. At the southern end of the island lies the ruined mansion of the Carnegies. Abandonned in 1929, burned in 1957, the ruins retain a crumbling beauty and give a home for the wild horses, remnants of the Carnegie stable, turkeys and other island life.  When they left the island, they also left behind their fleet of cars, which have now rusted into the ground.