May 9, 2014

Today we went ashore where we sat on the ranger station porch and waited for the ferry to bring the rangers and other visitors. We watched “wilderness campers” magically appear from the woods to catch the ferry to take them home. It was amusing to watch them doing “tick checks” on each other.

When the ferry arrived, Donna cornered the ranger, asked about vacancies in the tour, and learned the tour was fully booked. That meant our travels would be either on foot or on bicycles.  If you follow this blog, you know Donna had a bad bike accident, so the walking tour was her choice despite her still aching and swelling ankle.

We took the trail to the beach about ½ mile away. It was a pleasant walk through a lush natural setting with undergrowth, huge trees laden with moss and wildlife such as birds, lizards, turkeys and armadillos. Arriving at the edge of the forest, we climbed ramps to cross over the dunes to a beautiful sight, miles and miles of the Atlantic Ocean’s natural beach.

We walked northward about ½ mile and beachcombed for shells, driftwood and other interesting objects. Turning southward, we continued past our entry point and headed for the next ramp 1 mile south. Beach finds were pretty scarce on the southern trek.

 

Arriving at the south ramp we headed for Dungeness ruins. Dungeness was the home of the Carnegies which was supposedly torched by a disgruntled local. We walked the grounds, took pictures and continued onward back to the Seadock. By this time Donna’s ankle is bothering her and we take several rest breaks.

 

 

When we reach the ranger station, we take a longer break and then jumped back in the dinghy and headed back to the boat where Donna once again propped her leg up and applied cold packs.

Location: Cumberland Island at anchor.