Jekyll Harbor Marina, Jekyll Island, GA
Cold, foggy, and windy seem to be the theme of this trip so far. There's only so much you can do in these conditions, which for us consisted entirely of staying on the boat. Finally the weather began to clear around 1:00, so we got the e-bikes ready, plopped Steve in my computer bag for his bike-riding debut, and rode to lunch at Sunrise Grille.
Lunch was great, and warm enough to sit outside so Steve could join us. The four of us cooked up a brilliant plan to ride bikes around the northern loop of the island — a plan so brilliant it lasted a grand total of four minutes as we quickly realized that Steve and the computer bag weren't exactly a match made in heaven. Oh well. You never know 'til you try, and he was fine — just not terribly comfortable, much like his master, who had the unenviable job of trying to make something work in a way for which it was never intended.
While Ron and Steve headed back to the boat, Griff and Skeet and I set out to do a little exploring which ended up being a LOT of exploring and a very long bike ride. Especially long when you're the one NOT on an e-bike! I exercise regularly but can't tell you the last time I rode a bike — something I took entirely for granted because today's ride was a challenge, and that's putting it mildly. On a flat island, too. Yikes. Not a good look for ye olde endurance. Emphasis on olde.
We started on the path at around #55 on the map ("Beach Village" at the top) on the oceanside of the island. I drew our path in fire red because that's how my legs felt by the end of this adventure/ordeal 😂. Don't get me wrong – It's undeniably beautiful and such a peaceful, easy ride. I think I just tried to cram too much into one day because we're running out of time here and the weather isn't looking good for the next two days.
On the northeast corner of Jekyll is a gorgeous spot called Driftwood Beach. Driftwood Beach ranks No. 3 in the United States and No. 12 in the world by Tripadvisor’s Best of the Best Beaches as part of its annual Travelers’ Choice® Awards for 2023. Described by Tripadvisor reviewers, Driftwood Beach is “other worldly” and a “don’t miss beach.” The bike path took us right by it, so we stopped for a bit and walked around (and on!) these incredible live oaks that had been ravaged over time.
From GoldenIsles.com:
"The beach and its iconic driftwood formed as a result of decades of erosion. What was once a maritime forest is now a sandy shore lined with weathered tree trunks and branches, creating a sight that's truly unique to the Golden Isles."
Once we'd looped around the northern end of the island and were heading home, I encouraged Griff and Skeet to go at their own e-bike (much faster) pace and told them I'd meet them at the boat. Skeet greeted me at the bike racks when I finally got there, and walked back with me to the boat, where our sore legs got ready for what became the highlight of an already fun day.
Whitney and Will surprised us with a gift certificate to Georgia Sea Grill on St. Simons for Christmas Eve dinner, and what a special surprise that entire evening turned out to be. Thanks to a suggestion made by our waitress at yesterday's lunch, we made arrangements for a ride with a locally-owned company called At Your Service Jekyll Island Girl. The driver Dave picked us up at the marina, and entertained us during that scenic drive with interesting stories about Jekyll and St. Simons, including a lot of fascinating history about the area. We arrived on St. Simons just in time to see the very end of the Christmas parade passing through their charming downtown area, with Santa waving at all the children while riding in a handsome antique fire truck.
I've got that I-just-went-on-a-too-long-bike-ride look on my face 😳
I'm starting to think I only write this blog to talk about food or ways to preserve it. Hahaha. What a head scratcher that more people don't flock to this blog to read my great insights. Yawn. But GAH that dinner was outstanding, and started with fried parmesan cheese and crab stuffed hushpuppies which I will now have to attempt to recreate. They were fantastic. But my SALMON was even better if that's possible. Such a great evening, and it continued along this theme when our nice driver Dave took us through a spectacular light show put on by the Jekyll Island Authority that features 1,500,000 total light bulbs, 350+ light displays, and 45,000+ lights adorning the Great Tree in the historic district.
We rode through a whole section based on the "Twelve Days of Christmas", and if you sing along while watching the video above, you can get a sense of what it was like to be in the car with Ron. 😂
Back to the marina, fat and happy — kinda like Santa. All the boats looked so festive; even the ones with tacky leaning inflatable Christmas trees.
Night night KORKZcrew!
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