Yesterday we stopped at the Jekyll Island Visitor's Center to pick up maps and brochures. It was there we learned there was a $6.00 fee collected for each vehicle entering the island. Turns out that Jekyll Island is a publicly owned island. Initially, it was part of the Georgia State Park system. However, by 1950, as costs associated with getting the island ready for visitation began to mount, the island was taken out of the state park system and organized into a separate authority in order to become self-sustaining. The Jekyll Island Authority is the state agency responsible for the overall management and stewardship of Jekyll Island, obtaining its operating revenues from leases, fees, and island amenity operations, including the $6.00 per vehicle charge.
Once we got over the fact that we had to pay $6.00 each time we visited, we got about the business of being tourists. First stop - The Georgia Sea Turtle Center - operated by the Jekyll Island Authority as a primary conservation program dedicated to increasing awareness through sea turtle education, rehabilitation, and research programs.
Here are Dave and Kathy at the entrance to the center.
The Georgia Sea Turtle Center is an advanced marine hospital that is open to the general public, offering an interactive Exhibit Gallery and Rehabilitation Pavilion with a many sea turtle patients regularly on view for guests. Here is a view of the Exhibit Gallery. We learned that a number of turtle species frequent the waters off Georgia, including loggerhead, leatherback, green, Kemp’s Ridley and Hawksbill. Of all the turtle eggs laid in a nesting season only 1 in 4000 make it to adulthood. I guess those aren't the greatest of odds, but they suffice.
The folks at The Georgia Sea Turtle Center are doing their part to help increase a little turtle's chance for survival. While nests are marked and protected, most nests are not relocated. However, nests are moved if they are too far below the high tide line or in a bad habitat. These nests would be washed over too frequently and would not survive. It is important not to manipulate or interfere with sea turtle nests, as it can cause a decrease in hatching success rate, affect the sex ratios or alter hatchling fitness. Nests that have been damaged by predators are salvaged and the little guys or girls are brought to the center to be hand raised until they are old enough to be released back into the wild. These cute little buggers are getting their weekly checkup.
We had a chance to get a close up look of some of the permanent residents. We shot a video of this little guy as he entertained the crowd:
After touring all the exhibits and watching a short film on the life of a turtle, we headed over to the Rehabilitation Department. The Georgia Sea Turtle Center has treated hundreds of sea turtles with a release rate of nearly 60% of these patients. The patients are kept in temperature controlled tanks. Most of the patients in the hospital were "cold-stunned" - which is the hypothermia-like reaction that occurs when sea turtles are exposed to prolonged cold water temperatures. Initial symptoms include a decreased heart rate, decreased circulation, and lethargy, followed by shock, pneumonia and possibly death. The polar vortex has not be kind to the turtle population. Over 1,000 cold-stunned turtles were rescued and brought to the New England Aquarium in Boston, Massachusetts. However, that facility didn't have the space to treat them all, so the Georgia Sea Turtle Center agreed to take 50. Here is an example of their climate controlled holding tank.
Try as we might, it was difficult to get the turtle to stay still long enough for a good photo.
We learned a lot about the life and times of the various turtles. It was a great little adventure.
Now it was time for lunch. We decided to walk over to the Jekyll Wharf so we could have a scenic view with our lunch. On our walk over, we passed through the Historic Jekyll Island Club. The Jekyll Island Club was a private club founded in 1886 when members of an incorporated hunting and recreational club purchased the island for $125,000 from John Eugune du Bignon. The original design of the Jekyll Island Clubhouse, with its signature turret, was completed in January 1888. The club thrived through the early 20th century; its members came from many of the world's wealthiest families, most notably the Morgans, Rockefellers, and Vanderbilts.
The club closed at the end of the 1942 season due to complications from World War II. In 1947, after 5 years of funding a staff to upkeep the lawn and cottages, the island was purchased from the club's remaining members for $675,000 during condemnation proceedings by the state of Georgia. The State tried operating the club as a resort for some time, but this was not financially successful and the entire complex was closed by 1971. The complex was designated a historic landmark in 1978. It was restored and reopened as a luxury resort hotel in 1985. Jekyll Island Club Hotel is a member of Historic Hotels of America, the official program of the National Trust for Historic Preservation. Here is a photo of the famous boar in the lobby.
We even found a row of ROCKING chairs to relax in on the spacious plantation-style porch:
But I digress. We walked on to the Wharf, where we found lunch at the Rah Bar.
Here Kathy is about to dig into her Georgia seafood sampler - shrimp, mussels and crayfish. YUM!
After lunch, we walked over to the Jekyll Island Museum to learn more about the history of the island. Along the way were were escorted by Marty Jekyll. According to his business card, he is the guardian of the Pier Road shops on Jekyll Island. He loves to visit with people and make new friends. Please be my friend on Facebook at Marty Jekyll. Needless to say, we've already LIKED his page.
Here we are getting ready to enter the Jekyll Island Museum.
Did you know that explorers from Spain were the first to make an official claim to Jekyll Island in 1510, giving it the name Isla De Ballenas (Whale Island) and that, later, Juan Ponce de León served as the civil governor of this and Spain's other claimed North American territories? In 1562 French explorer Jean Ribault claimed the island for France and renamed the island Ille de la Somme. Ribault later surrendered to the Spanish and was executed, an event that began a conflict between the two countries along the Georgia and Florida coasts. After his army swiftly defeated the French, Philip II of Spain immediately had a colony established on Jekyll.
In 1663–65, England established grants to land stretching southward from their Jamestown colony to an area below St. Augustine, Florida. The English allied themselves with the Cherokee, Creek, and Yuchi tribes, and sent members of these tribes armed with English weapons to attack the Spanish and Native American settlements on Jekyll in 1681–83. By 1702, the English had driven the Spanish from the entire area.
General James Oglethorpe established Georgia as a colony in 1733. Jekyll Island was named shortly thereafter by Oglethorpe in honor of his friend, Sir Joseph Jekyll. For many years, including the "Club Era", it was misspelled as Jekyl Island. The additional "L" was later re-added by the Georgia legislature in 1929 to correctly spell the name of the former sponsor of the colony. Prior to English settlement along the coast of Georgia, the Spanish had established missions in the coastal Georgia area. No mission is known to have been established on Jekyll; however, the Spanish influenced the island from the mission that was established on St. Simons Island before the English settlement.
This gargoyle was taken from the Faith Chapel during restoration. It was used as the form for a new mold. Replacement gargoyles now grace the Faith Chapel.
We are looking forward to our bike ride tomorrow so we can get a closer look of Jekyll Island.
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