Bill and I left our anchorage at Sisters Creek early Saturday morning catching a high tide. Our destination today March 30 is to Cumberland Island. This is one of the places that I had been looking forward to visiting during our trip. The day promises to be gorgeous.
The tides here in this part of Northern Florida are wicked so we got up and around early to catch a high tide.
Bill checked the engines, fluids and bilges before we started. Our trip today will be about 28 miles.
The scenery was much like yesterdays with sea oats, marshes.
Beautiful homes along the intercoastal.
More bridges and currents near the bridges.
This guy seemed to be paddling hard.
We passed Amelia Island.This part of the trip has many historical towns and islands.
A Spanish fort in Cumberland Bay near the town of Fernandina, Florida. To the north of this old Spanish fort is the Atlantic ocean.
Then, ahead of us lay the infamous Cumberland Island and as a treat there are feral horses near the waterway in plain view, AWESOME! I took lots of pictures.
Our approach to the Island.
Bill and I settled Proud Lady into her anchorage. We dropped the dinghy and readied it to get to shore. For lunch we ate tuna with our wonderful balsamic pineapple and coconut with a touch of lime oil on toasted oat bread. Then, headed to the island.
The self guided walking tour lead through jungle like paths of palms and oaks. Bill and I got a map from the park office where the attendant told of the attractions we would see and informed us that it was a half mile walk to the first sight and trail through the Dungeness Ruins.
The Island was first occupied by native Indians then the Spaniards, then James Oglethorpe 1736 built a hunting lodge, the Nathaniel Green:s acquired 11,000 acres and built the first mansion which was occupied by the army in the revolution. Then, Thomas Carnegie built Dungeness mansion in 1880 which was occupied by Lucy his wife. There is a lot of history here on the island including black Americans so you need to get online and check it out. During our walk we saw a deer and an armadillo.
The wild horses came walking up the path toward us.
They didn't pay attention to any of the visitors as they walked on.
Finally down a oak covered lane drenched in Spanish moss we got our first glimpse of the remains of the mansion.
It was occupied by the family until 1925 then sat empty and it burned in 1959.
How sad this beautiful old structure lays in ruins.
The building above was the recreation building where guests and family could play billiards, play music or just relax
Here I am reading the history off the brochure behind me is the carriage house, now used to house maintenance tools for the park.
These buildings are servants quarters and old cisterns now occupied by park staff.
These are remains of old cars that were brought over to the island.
This is a picture of the salt marshes we walked along a boardwalk to look out over the area.
There were millions of little crabs.
On we walked to the beach on the Atlantic side of the island.
stingray there were lots of them beached
Crab shells
Jellyfish?
Bill
Joy
Untouched beautiful living shells waiting for the tide to come back in.
After a long walk down the beach to the next entrance and back to an island path.
I cannot explain the beauty of this place I wish you were here.
We toured the Island for about 3 hours by then our feet and legs hurt. We got back to the dingy then back to Proud Lady to rest and dine. It was a simple meal of burgers and baked beans.
What a wonderful day I would recommend this stop. I took 300 pictures that you know won't fit on the blog and I cannot wait to show everyone.
Good night I will write more when we get to Jekyll Island.
Joy, your photos and stories are just wonderful! Cumberland Island was one of our favorite stops too. We will follow your whole trip. Since you two like to anchor and have no pets on board, be sure and include Camp LeJeune anchorage as one of your overnight stops further north. Sit on the flybridge after dark and watch the action in the sky. Amazing! Keep those great pix and stories coming! Love and miss you guys, Cathryn and Bob (on the way home, Arkansas last night)
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