Beach Walk on Cumberland Island

Of the four days we had on Cumberland Island, the first was devoted to arrival, setting up camp and watching a sunset.  The last day, we spent breaking camp and enjoying a ferry ride back across Cumberland Sound and up St. Mary's River back to the town of St. Mary's, Georgia.  This left two days.  We decided to devote one day to a wonderful day-long van tour featuring the history and structures of the island.

This left one full day, which we decided to devote to a VERY LONG WALK along the VERY LONG beach of the island.  Here is National Park Service map of the island:

We began our walk at Sea Camp on the eastern shore, walked south down the beach and around the southern point, to the South End Ponds on the western shore, and then back along the beach again around the southern point, to the Dungeness Ruins.  From there, we walked the River Trail along the western shore back up to the Sea Camp Ranger Station, and finally across the island back to Sea Camp - about 12 miles.  So this was a major excursion!

We were rewarded with more wildlife and natural scenery that we expected.  Right away, we spotted a starfish in the sand.  We're not sure how the starfish acquired the same color as the sand, but they were nearly indistinguishable from each other:

Continuing on, we realized that the morning sun was stretching our shadows out across the beach toward the dunes, so we couldn't resist a shadow photo:

Most unexpected were the number of large, live crabs scuttling along the sand.  Most of them let us get very close to them:

Cumberland Island is populated by approximately 130 wild horses, all descended from stock raised by the Carnegie family from the 1880's into the mid-20th Century.  These horses roam freely, and there is always a chance of an interesting encounter.  As we walked south along the beach, a family of horses clop-clopped up the beach toward us.  It seemed that a stallion was in the lead, who clearly commanded and herded the group.  Another seemed like his mare, and there were two younger ones, one of who was always wandering off track and had to be herded back to the fold by Dad.  We just sat quietly as they passed.  They kept a cautious eye on us but did not change their route.  About 20 yards past us, sonny turned an took one curious look back at us before following the rest of the family on up the beach:

As we neared the southern point of the island, we came to a huge jetty that, with a corresponding jetty from Fort Clinch State Park, protect the mouth of the St. Mary's River.  Because this jetty originates on the island, which is not accessible except by ferry, there was no means for fishermen to take advantage of the fish habitat it creates, except by approaching by boat and fishing toward the jetty.  That morning, there were numerous fishermen trying their luck along the jetty:

As the day progressed, the tide receded until low tide sometime during mid-afternoon.  By this time, the beach had gotten very wide.  Because so few people are allowed on the island at any given time, this portion of the beach was entirely deserted for as far as our eyes could see.  Here is a photo of David nearly invisible in the vast stretch of the beach:

Walking back up toward Dungeness, we stumbled (literally) on this Blue Claw Crab.  As David's foot approached, the crab started waving his claws and clicking them loudly.  If he hadn't done so, David might have accidentally stepped on him!  Luckily, that did not come to pass, and instead, we had the opportunity to ask Mr. Crab to pose for a portrait.  He seems very proud of himself, and he clearly is telling us not to approach any closer.

It seems this was the Day of the Crabs, because shortly thereafter, we spotted a seagull who had found a yellow crab and was trying to decide how to scoop it up for a meal.  The obvious problem the gull had was that, while he might pick the crab up with his beak (and we saw him do this several times), the crab always had a claw free to grab at the gull's eyes and face (which the crab willingly did).  So, after several attempts, the gull looked up, and over at a group of sea gulls standing around in the surf about 50 yards away, and very clearly started calling for help.  One gull broke away from the crowd and flew over to see what the fuss was.  We expected the two gulls to gang up on the crab and somehow grab both claws, but we were surprised to see Mr. Invitee Gull size up the situation and refuse to offer any help to Mr. Inviter Gull.  So, as we walked away up the beach, Mr. Inviter Gull was still toying with the crab and trying to figure out how to eat dinner without losing an eye.

WILDLIFE ENCOUNTERS - EPILOGUE I - THE ONE THAT DIDN'T GET AWAY

When we got home Sunday, we discovered that Kathy had illegally captured and brought home a wild critter from Cumberland Island:  a little deer tick.  We were unsure, but it seemed the tick hadn't taken up residence on Kathy a full 24 hours.  We couldn't pry its head out, so we had to visit a care clinic this morning to get help completing the process.  The doctor is hopeful that this will not result in any Lyme mishap, but we have to be on the lookout for a rosy bullseye in the next 24 hours or so to be sure.

WILDLIFE ENCOUNTERS - EPILOGUE II - THE ONE THAT WASN'T

I stopped by the RV campground office and was telling our stories to the campground hosts and one of their cronies, when the crony volunteered that he had visited Cumberland Island once - and almost stepped on a large Diamondback Rattlesnake!

Well.

When we arrived at the island, the Ranger had advised to be careful to "look out for ticks and snakes," but there was NOT A WORD about POISONOUS snakes, let alone DIAMONDBACK RATTLESNAKES.  Hmmm.... Perhaps we would have been a lot less relaxed around our campfire each night, or perhaps we wouldn't have been able to devote our attention exclusively to the sunsets as we sat on the tall, grassy bank on those sunny evenings.  All we can say on this point is that we didn't encounter these particular critters on this trip.

Whew.