Cumberland Island National Seashore

[Second Hand Pat]

Yea I know. When we were walking to the beach we passed a fair amount of intact buildings as well as foundations. BTW I love the old mansions too. We did not get to see any others.

I do have a another set of pictures to post in the morning which are the second day we were there.

[Darrell Ward]

I lived in Coastal South Carolina for about 20 years. We used to take the boat up the Black River to just look around. They are still several old rice plantation homes intact there, well kept, as well as some ruins. You can only see them from the river. Also, a lot of the old levee system is still intact on the river from the rice planting era. Pretty cool. Most of the docks are long gone, but a lot the fancy brick steps going up the river bank toward the houses are still there. No doubt these bricks were made by hand and laid by slave labor. (In the rice planting era, the river was the road.) At the time, "Carolina Gold" rice was said to be the most popular rice in the world. I suppose the Union Army didn't burn these houses because either they didn't know about them, or they didn't want to trench thru swamps filled with snakes and gators to get to them.

[brewmaster15]

Pat,
That place looks like a great destination...wildlife, old buildings,ocean habitat ...perfect photography subjects.I've read about it alot and always wanted to go...now I want to go even more. When I looked into it, it seemed it was hard to find good accomodations ...any suggestions? You can pm them if you prefer. I'd probably make the trip in April.

Thanks!
-al

[roundfishross]

My family and my uncle still shrimp fish these waters, during the night time uncle usually ties up in front of the brick yard on cumberland. uncle's old high school friend is Henry kate he is the caretaker of the rockafellar mansions on cumberland, coolest job ever you should see the yacht they provide him to get back and forth from st simmons to cumberland!

[brewmaster15]

Leo, hows the weather there in February or April?

-al

[roundfishross]

Al,
I would think pretty chilly in Feb. but april should be great!

incedentally dont just go and think you can load up your buddies and a weeks worth of beer then travel up the intracoastal waterway to go camping there without a "permit" they will ask your drunken a** to pack up your crap and leave.....lol

[roundfishross]

christmas creek on the offshore side is world famous for being an awesome fishing hole but it is pretty dangerous to get there and if the wind changes while you're there you are in big trouble getting back!

[Second Hand Pat]

Pat,
That place looks like a great destination...wildlife, old buildings,ocean habitat ...perfect photography subjects.I've read about it alot and always wanted to go...now I want to go even more. When I looked into it, it seemed it was hard to find good accomodations ...any suggestions? You can pm them if you prefer. I'd probably make the trip in April.

Thanks!
-al

Al, we stayed at the "CUMBERLAND ISLAND INN & SUITES" http://hotelreservations.com/propdet...ms=1&room1=2,0. Tom updated to a suite which was $95 a night. This motel is an older model where room assess is on the outside of the buildings. Two rooms were combined to consist of a suite and included a kitchen, a pullup sofa and two queen beds. The rooms are nice (not fancy), beds comfy, plenty of hot water and quiet. It is about five minutes from the ferry dock. If you want fancy there are beds and breakfast in the area, there is even one of the island at $500 a night two nights minimum.

You will need to pack everything. There are water fountains and restrooms on the island at the two landing points, Dungeness and Sea Camp. Make your reservations on the ferry well ahead of time.

[Second Hand Pat]

My family and my uncle still shrimp fish these waters, during the night time uncle usually ties up in front of the brick yard on cumberland. uncle's old high school friend is Henry kate he is the caretaker of the rockafellar mansions on cumberland, coolest job ever you should see the yacht they provide him to get back and forth from st simmons to cumberland!

Leo, I bet the fishing is awesome. Love fishing.

[Second Hand Pat]

So the second day we got off at the second ferry landing which is called Sea Camp. This landing is a little more north then Dungeness. We decided to hike north through the woods, cut over to the beach, hike south down the beach to the trail leading back to Sea Camp and catch the ferry back to St Mary's.

We went to the main road and found a trail marked the parallel trail and took that. This trail goes north is through the coastal forest.

Looks like this


Here's a short little clip
http://s925.photobucket.com/albums/a...theTrail-1.mp4


There's a skink in this picture. Can you find it? A little to the left of the palmetto.

[Second Hand Pat]

Found this huge oak. Tom is 6 foot.


Top of the huge oak

[Second Hand Pat]

We walked about a mile and found one of the trails to the beach. When we reached the dunes there was a pavilion, perfect for lunch and some great views of the dunes.


Here is another short clip
http://s925.photobucket.com/albums/a...=LunchStop.mp4

Sand dune vegetation.



The dune area seemed to be anywhere between 500 to 700 feet between the forest and the ocean and many 10/15 feet tall.

[Second Hand Pat]

Once we got to the beach there was totally no one of the beach. Truly a once in a lifetime event for me.




Another short clip of the beach.
http://s925.photobucket.com/albums/a...EmptyBeach.mp4

[Second Hand Pat]

From here we headed south along the beach. The recent hurricane had kicked up lots of shells and the beach was full of clams, conchs and whelks, many of them still live and many dead or dying. The beach crabs dragged many of the smallest ones to their holes for their dining pleasure. The ones which were too big they had made their holes next to the shell.

We threw many of the living snail back into the water knowing they would most likely wash up again. I did collect some nice whelks. There were also many horse shoe crabs washed up and they were huge.



Short clip of the beach and ocean.
http://s925.photobucket.com/albums/a...rent=Beach.mp4

[Second Hand Pat]

Made it back to the trail back to Sea Camp and walked to the forest. Found an outside speaking area. See the oak in the background



Huge oak, largest we saw on the island.



Quick clip of the forest. Forgot to remain quiet.

http://s925.photobucket.com/albums/a...ForestView.mp4