BellaGatto Cruising: Georgia: May 2020

Georgia is often considered by Intracoastal Waterway cruisers as more of an ordeal to be endured than a treat to be savored. And it does have its challenges – big tides and their accompanying strong tidal currents, muddy marshes with no place to go ashore, difficult anchorages, and carnivorous horseflies. But on the other hand, there is quite a bit of wilderness to be enjoyed along the way.

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Our first stop in Georgia was an all-time favorite spot, Cumberland Island National Seashore. Just across the St. Mary’s River from Florida, this beautiful coastal island was once the playground of the uber-rich and is mostly unspoiled, with spectacular maritime hammock forests, wild horses, and endless miles of deserted beaches. We spent two nights here anchored off the park service docks at Dungeness and had plenty of time to walk the trails and see the sights.

Heading over the dunes to the beach side

The oak covered drive from the dock at the Ice House museum to the Dungeness ruins

Thousands of fiddler crabs on the mud flats at low tide

These wild horses ran right by us!

The boardwalk section of Dungeness trail

This foal was resting in the field while the other horses were grazing

BellaGatto at anchor near the Sea Camp dock

A bonnet head shark sighting along the shore from the dinghy

From there we had a pretty short day to a marina stop at Jekyll Island. Certainly much more commercialized than Cumberland, it also has a history as a winter getaway for the titans of capitalism, who would gather at the Jekyll Island Club and try to out-rich each other. The Jekyll Island Marina was definitely a bit on the pricy side, but we took advantage of their loaner bicycles and golf carts to explore the island, which has a great network of bicycle trails meandering through the woods.

Bella's first ride in a golf cart

You know you're in the south when you can get a BLT with pimento cheese

Miles of beautiful bike trails

The Jekyll Island Club

The Jekyll Wharf waterfront restaurant

Which way should we go?

After that little civilization break, we were ready to get to get back out on the hook, and our first stop was a spot about 35 miles away on the Duplin River at Sapelo Island. We always pick our anchorages based on the shore access for Bella, and this one was not too bad in that respect. We could land the dinghy at the ferryboat landing and walk along deserted little roads through the woods to Bella’s hearts content. The anchorage itself has a ripping tidal current and we had strong winds that night, but the holding was excellent, and we did just fine.

Rainy day underway as we pass a "sleeping" shrimp boat with the Brunswick bridge in the background

Not a great photo but...ROSIETTES!

Bailing out the dinghy

Approaching the ferry dock in search of the dinghy landing

Found it! We think...

Low tide landing

Lots of hermit crabs on the landing

Great dog walking spot

Iconic salt marsh

The next day we went 40 miles to Kilkenny Creek, bypassing our planned stop at Walburg Creek and also passing up a stop at Sunbury Crab Company. Maybe we will hit those spots another time. Kilkenny Creek is a quiet little spot just off the Intracoastal with a small marina and a nice restaurant that offered spots to land the dog. We anchored just upstream of town and dinghied in for a cocktail and some appetizers at the Marker 107 restaurant, surprisingly sophisticated and upscale for the middle of nowhere. We spent a nice quiet night in the company of one other boat.

BellaGatto at anchor in Kilkenny

Marker 107 restaurant's dinghy dock

Such a surprising find in this otherwise rural town

Dirty martini straight up on Kilkenny time. Socially distancing in a restaurant for the first time in a long time. Very clean and not at all crowded. https://www.marker107.com/

From there our last planned spot in Georgia was Turner Creek, just off Wassau Sound and not too far from Savannah. Here we ran afoul of Georgia’s recently enacted and infamous anchoring law. We had picked a spot in the creek a respectful distance from the nearby marina and had just got the anchor down when a voice over a bullhorn from shore told us we could not anchor there. The voice belonged to a Georgia DNR officer, and when we contacted her by cellphone she explained we could not anchor within 1000 feet of any dock or other structure on the shoreline (we later found out that was incorrect, we only needed to be 300 feet from the marina’s docks). We proceeded upriver and found a spot where we would not offend anyone’s delicate sensibilities and dropped anchor 1200 feet from a launch ramp and park where we could land Bella. So it all worked out, but it left a bad taste in our mouths, and rather than going into town and reprovisioning there, we resolved to vote with our wallets and wait until South Carolina to do our shopping.