Jekyll Island - Day 2

We did it!  We got up for sunrise!  Those who know us well, know that this is a big accomplishment!  We have proof!

While walking down the beach, we met up with many other photographers who were there for the sunset, and we also met up with lots of gnats, which have a nasty bite!  These guys, along with the mosquitos are really horrible!  We had prepared ourselves with mosquito and gnat repellant, however, so it wasn't too bad for us.  It was, however, really bad for a number of other people and Kelly handed out quite a few towelettes of repellant to other people, who were very grateful!

After sunrise on Driftwood Beach, we took a short walk along one of the trails near the beach

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On the way back to the car, we saw some people taking pictures across the road, so we checked it out.  Turns out there was an alligator out in the swamp.  As we were watching him, he started coming toward us!  (There was a steep concrete wall between us and the swamp, so we weren't really too worried.)

Some of the people there mentioned that they had been to "Horton Pond" earlier and there were alligators and turtles there, so we went off searching for Horton Pond.  After a few wrong turns, we finally found it.  It was still very early morning, so there wasn't anyone around.  This is where we found the Tupelo Trail.  It was a short 0.7 mile trail, so we decided to do it.  Along the trail, we saw a trail to "Horton House".  We figured the house had to be close to the pond, so let's check it out!  Turns out, the "house" is actually on the other side of the island.  The trail goes all of the way there!  Turning back to Tupelo Trail, we returned to Horton Pond and decided it was time for some breakfast.

After yet another fine breakfast (which couldn't be beat!) in our screen house next to the trailer, we decided to actually go the other side of the island and visit Horton House, so getting into the car, we made our way there.  It's really just the remains of what was previously Horton's home.

along with a sample garden of plants they would have grown.  The fence around the garden was built in a very interesting way:

Leaving Horton House, we decided to visit the Jekyll Island Visitor's Center and see if we could find a map of the island with interesting places marked.  Interestingly, if you visit the Visitor's Center, you are now "outside" of Jekyll Island, and thus must pay the $8 entrance fee again to get back in!  Since we were outside, we decided to take advantage of the fact and run some errands to Lowes and Walmart, where we found some more bug spray and towelettes, having reduced our supply earlier in the morning!

After having run errands, we decided that since we were still outside of Jekyll Island, maybe we should also go over to St Simon Island.  Kelly had read a story of the "Tree Spirits" there, which were carved into the trees by unknown people.  Apparently, it had started with only a few and then others happened elsewhere on the island.  We visited the St Simon Visitor's Center to see if they had a map of the known locations of the Tree Spirits.  They did!  Well then, that should make things a lot easier!  We decided to start tracking all of them down, starting with the ones within walking distance.  There were seven in the original list and while we were out, some local people saw us looking and mentioned yet another one in their neighbor's yard!  Kelly has pictures of them all.  (coming soon)

Another interesting attraction, also mentioned to us by the local people, is the "Avenue of the Oaks".  These oaks were planted in 1826 as the approach for "Retreat Plantation" (the family name was "Retreat") on the island.  It is now owned by a private club and while only members are allowed inside the club area, the "avenue" is actually on the way there.  We drove over and took some photos.  It's really amazing to see!

The end of our afternoon on St Simon Island was spent with a visit to the big fishing pier in the "downtown" section of the island.  This got us closer to the big overturned cargo ship removal project.  (The short story is that a large cargo ship had capsized in 2019 and since multiple efforts to right the ship have failed, they decided to cut it up in place and remove it!  You can read the link for more details.)

(pics soon)

Kelly later searched for interesting shells on the beach, many of which were inhabited still!  She carefully looked at each shell and, in some cases dumped them into small pools to see if anyone was at home.  We will not be responsible for any eviction of hermit crabs from their claimed homes!

Finally, returning to Jekyll Island, we paid our $8 entrance fee (again) and made our way back to the campground, but...  What about a short trip over to Horton Pond to see if maybe things are happening now?

We saw the big "Daddy Alligator" resting under the observation platform

the smaller, but still big, "Momma Alligator" watching the pond just over the front of the observation platform

a few little baby alligators swimming around

and quite a few turtles!

It was a good thing we came back to Horton Pond at the end of the day!

At long last, we returned to our sleeping kitty in the trailer, had yet another very fine dinner, watched the PBS Newshour, and settled down to record what was a very long day!

(We have a lot of pictures which still need to be added to this page, but it's rather late and tomorrow's sunrise is quietly calling to us!  Check back later for more pictures.)

Tomorrow...  Up for sunrise again!