In a sense, it was a sort of jekyll and hyde vacation. It had its good parts to be sure, but some aggravating circumstances in the beginning and end due to the remnants of Harvey and the presage of Irma. During the drive down, we had to pass through the remnants of hurricane Harvey. No driving winds, but rather driving rain as we went across the mountains. Waze got us around one wreck and we only lost 20 minutes taking a detour. But there was a second wreck not far from the Tennessee border and so we had stop and go (mostly stopped) traffic for about an hour.
When we finally got to the motel, we could see on the news that the rain was still following a circular pattern and that was why we would go through periods of a light drizzle and then a heavy downpour as the system spiraled above Kentucky and Tennessee. So much for a relaxing drive through the mountains to start our vacation, it was more of a white knuckle time. Things improved greatly our first day at the beach. Jekyll Island has mild waves - no body surfing for me, but it made it easy for Becky to get into the water. Beaches are nice, the sand packs tight, so you can take long walks as well. Now it was time for what had came for - relaxation. The place is lousy with sand dollars, it is infested with them. So we have plenty of souvenirs if we can pack them right so that they don't break.
I got to do a little fishing and caught whiting and a small stingray. Lost several that got off the hook, but finally called it quits for that day when something snapped the hook in two and tangled all the line. They have a sea turtle station on the island. It is part hospital and part learning center to find out about the sea turtles. They rescue turtles that have been struck by propellers or fishing equipment, or just in ill health. The surgery room has a huge picture window and by chance they brought in a turtle that had been hit by a propeller. Interesting to see the team spring into action. Everyone had their jobs and they efficiently went to work. We went to the recovery area and there were about a dozen turtles there and even some baby turtles. The baby turtles turned out to be terrapins whose mother had been hit by a car, but they were able to harvest and hatch the eggs. All in all a neat experience.
We had booked a dolphin tour for the last night of the trip. But we were notified that due to the next hurricane, Irma, that they were cancelling tours at the end of the week. So we did the tour on Wednesday. The tour guide remarked that it was one of the better trips for seeing dolphins that he had done. We got to see a small pod driving fish up into shallow mud to catch them - I think he called it 'stranding'. When we got to the South end of the island we had them come up by the boat several times. As close as 10' away from the boat. So definitely a memorable trip.
Southern hospitality is a real thing. We met several people during our visit, and they are always warm and friendly. We can be cold and distant up North at times. One couple we met at a restaurant, we talked through out the meal and they stayed an extra 15 minutes to visit with us after they paid their bill. They were a wealth of knowledge and told us of several other good restaurants in the area.
Another time we went to an isolated part of the beach to watch the moon and stars with a bottle of wine. We met another couple who were there too - but to catch shrimp of all things. So you get a net and attach it to two lengths of PVC pipe, then you drag it along the shallow water just after high tide on the beach at night to catch the shrimp. We chatted with them for awhile while they were waiting for the tide to be just right.
Finally the tide was right and they made their first pull and went about a hundred yards. They brought the net on shore and I was amazed at the quantity of shrimp and they were of all sizes. I helped gather them up and they offered us some - but we are staying at a motel and so cooking them up was not an option. They had a 10 gallon cooler they planned to fill by 11:00pm - they were well on their way from what I could see. We thanked them for their company and went on our way.
We did spend a day on St. Simons island to check it out since we were so close. There was a lot more traffic and more congestion. So we didn't think we missed very much by choosing Jekyll island for our vacation. We did get to watch a 3 masted wooden ship under full sails. Sure modern ships will get you from point A to point B a lot faster. But seeing that ship brought to mind a feeling of elegance and grace. As it rounded the point, you had a feel for what sailing was like 200 years ago.
Our last day at the beach was anti-climatic. I had hoped to fish for half a day and spend the rest hanging on the beach. Mother nature had other plans. The wind was blowing and the waves were choppy. We thought it was from hurricane Irma, but apparently a regular storm was brewing out to sea and was approaching land. Walked a little of the beach and found some more stranded sand dollars washed up and left high and dry at high tide. But it was too windy to sit on the beach and too choppy to really fish.
We did picnic in our favorite spot. The local squirrel population took to Becky and her pringles. On past days she had up to 8 of them in a circle around us and even taking them from her hands. But this breezy day all but one brave soul stayed tucked away. But Becky made sure that her one customer was well fed, I grumbled that she owed me a can of pringles to a make up for all that she had given to the rodents !!! :-)
Our motel was booked full that last 2-3 days of our stay with Floridians getting away from hurricane Irma. 80% plus of the plates in the parking lot were from Florida. We had been keeping watch on the traffic and saw that it was heavy - but moving. Our plan was to get up at 4am and get on the road early and get on a west bound highway before I95 got packed. It sort of worked. We had an hour stretch where we averaged about 45 mph. But the remainder of the drive to Knoxville went fairly well.
We did feel sorry folks at the rest stop at mile marker 1 at the state line for South Carolina. It was packed with the cars of folks who apparently could not find a motel. There must have have been a couple of thousand cars parked there. Lot full, cars parked in the grass, under trees, and both the on and off ramps. They had even brought in extra porta-johns for all of the people. So not a good a night for the evacuees.
Knoxville was about the half way point and we stayed a night there. Getting too old to do 14 hour drives anymore. When I made reservations, I tried to get the same motel I reserved on the way down - but it was fully booked. So we had to find another and it was subpar. A noisy AC unit that wailed in pain every time it kicked on and grumbled to itself while it ran to the end of the cycle. Woke us up several times. But the motel was booked up when we checked in and with the folks leaving Florida flooding the area, we didn't have any options but to endure the slowly and loudly dying AC unit.
We did have a nice supper at the Smokey Mountain Brewery. It is a micro brewery set up with a bar and grill. Big screens galore and the booths each had their own screen. Most screens had the Tennessee game on of course. We figured that they would not have the Ohio State game on so left just before game time to watch the game in our room. As it turned out, we should have just stayed as Ohio State looked awful. I turned off the TV after they got 3 scores behind - and wailed in pain along with the air conditioner...
All in all a good vacation and I recommend Jekyll Island to anyone wanting a quiet, peaceful time.
Here are some pics from Jekyll Island if you are not bored to tears already!
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