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                                               Cumberland Island, Georgia  
                                                      

-A fantastic, pristine, undeveloped barrier island in Georgia. It is the largest barrier island wilderness in the East coast and is  full of old oak forests, salt water marshes, wild beaches,  freshwater ponds and 2 very old plantation mansions. It is 12 miles by 1/2 - 2 miles wide.
-It was owned almost entirely by  the Carnegie family and  has now been deeded to the National Park System.
-John Kenndedy and Carolyn Bisette were secretly married on Cumberland Island in 1996 at the First African Baptist church.
- Famous for wild horses that roam all over the island.  They 
were left  behind by the Spanish conquistadors in the 1500's.
-You  can only reach it by ferry.  Only 300 permits are allowed per day for visitors - OR you have your own boat and go anchor there.  Basicly you have the  island almost to yourself. 
-We anchored 2 nights there and went into shore by dingy.  
-We hiked and biked (me with one arm) all over.
                                                          

-I saved us 3X in one day!  
             1. A tug boat came out of a side river,  was in front of us 
and was really close.  At the last minute I REALIZED it was coming at us, not going with us, and yelled for Bill to turn.  Bill was on the radio nicely asking the other captain which side he should pass on - the captian about the same time "doesn't matter do something  NOW " and we  turned out of its path in the nick if time.

             2. I had read about a revolving bridge we would pass under that will turn with no warning if a train approaches.  Sure enough we we were right under the bridge when it began to turn and close down on us. Bill would  have had no idea what was going on

              3. When we were passing the nuclear submarine area there were restricted areas and dredging around it - very confusing to navigate.  I figured out how to pass through.

               

Wild horses on the beach

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Plum Orchard Mansion- was owned by the Carnegie Family

Ruins of the Dungeoness Mansion on the other end of the island - owned by the Carnegie Family, burned down in the 1950's

On our way to Cumberland Island from Amelia Island we passed this nuclear submarine base home to 5 nuclear submarines.  We saw one - it was huge!! 

Tides are a huge concern. This sandbar was 50 feet behind our boat.  It would completely disappear a low tide.

giant horseshoe crab - shells all over the beach, not good to eat

nuclear submarine docking