Jekyll Island, Georgia

Today's weather was sunny and hot, with a light breeze (sound familiar?)

Actually, I should have pointed out a while ago that we have been in the "Horse Latitudes" since roughly Beaufort NC. Ranging from 35 to 30 degrees of latitude (roughly Beaufort NC to Jacksonville Fl on the east coast), this area is well known as a region where winds are generally light -- indeed, they got their name during the sailing era because boats would be becalmed for weeks and run out of supplies -- and when, as the folk story goes, water was getting low and there were horses on board, the horses would be pushed over the side -- actually, as a practical matter, they were probably eaten -- in any case, that's the "folk" theory why this region became known as the Horse Latitudes (Google Horse Latitudes to see other points of view). Back to our journey.....

We noticed boats leaving the marina as we were having breakfast -- people who had long trips to get home from the holiday weekend were taking off. This created an opening for us -- we called the marina, snagged a slip and were happily on a dock by 9:30.

Our plan for the day was to use the morning to take a walk to see part of the island (and get some fresh produce, something we had run out of), hang out at the Marina's pool for a while in the afternoon and then go out to dinner.

Jekyll is not a very developed Island -- there is a historic district with large hotel (the Jekyll Island Club) and a number of turn of the century "cottages", four golf courses, a stretch of lovely beach on the ocean side, a few basic stores in double-wides near the beaches, a small collection of vacation homes and not much else; i.e., no condos or high rises or honky-tonk on the island -- just pristine forest, salt marsh and lovely duned beaches.

Today's hotel started as an extremely exclusive club in the late 1880's -- 53 of the wealthiest northerners pooled their resources to build a "clubhouse" for their exclusive use. From the time it opened till WWII, the island was the exclusive playground of people like William Vanderbilt, J.P Morgan, Marshall Field and their ilk. A very few of them built "cottages" near the clubhouse to bring their families and retinues to the Island for an extended period -- cottages supposedly didn't have kitchens -- everyone was expected to eat and and socialize at the clubhouse.

WWII put and end to the party -- priorities changed and labor became scarce, driving the club into financial difficulties in the mid 1940's. Eventually, the state of Georgia bought the island in 1947 and handed it over to an "authority" to preserve its history, develop it for public use (no private dwellings) and "run it like a business". The result is what we have today: an uncrowded beach and golf destination with a well-preserved historical district available to all (well, the hotel isn't cheap but anyone can come over for the day).

Our walk today would be down bike paths (the island is laced with them). To get from our marina to the stores, we took a path that crossed the island to the beach side and then a path that ran along the beaches to the store area -- total distance 1.5-2 miles one way. There was little shade along the beach part of the walk, so the sun and the light breeze made it very hot going -- hot, but pleasant enough -- the path was uncrowded and clean, there were a number of modern fountains, changing houses and picnic areas along the way -- we even passed an under construction beachfront conference center and permanent homes for the existing stores (they are all currently in double-wides).  On our return trip, we stopped in a gas station/DQ complex just before the marina to reward ourselves for a "hot & sweaty grocery run" with an ice cream :-)

Sue and the bicycle path along the beach

Jekyll Island beach -- nice dunes separate the bicycle path from the beach

The under construction retail center -- with hotel rooms above?

As planned, the afternoon was spent at the marina's pool (with some laundry and consulting work accomplished on the side).

Our evening excursion was a mile or so bike ride to the historical district and dinner at what one local touted as the "best restaurant on the island", Latitude 31. The Jekyll Island Club Hotel was a impressive, rambling building; the "cottages" (all of which would qualify as Manses) were all architecturally different but fit the landscape very well. All were laid out in a long strip of oak shaded lanes with the club/hotel at the center and the cottages neatly laid out on either side -- quite beautiful and serene, not at all showy or out of place.

The sun setting on the Jekyll Island Club

The passing shuttle driver stopped, offered and took this picture of us -- great service !

Latitude 31 and its meal were delightful -- creek-side view, cloth table coverings, reasonably priced bottles of wine, excellent food (except for the key lime pie, which was just so-so) and attentive service -- a great climax for our visit to Jekyll Island.

Jekyll Creek -- Latitude 31 is in the building.

The postscript to the day was the bike ride back: there were no lights on the bike path, it was unfamiliar, very serpentine, including going through dark brooding wooded areas and narrow board-walked marshes and we had just eaten a full meal with lots of wine -- we made it back OK, but not without missing a turn or two and lots of giggling while we were asking ourselves "what were we thinking" :-)