Georgia is Wild(life)!; Sunday 4/27

Sunday couldn't have gone much smoother or been more enjoyable. I left the Lanier Isl. bridge (SEE THAT LOCATION BY CLICKING HERE) around 9 am at the start of an incoming tide. It was a beautiful few hours up the Mackay River where there was nothing but pristine, undeveloped marsh all around me. A maybe saw only a dozen other boats total before noon. I had scouted out a potential campsite on Blackbeard Isl which is a National Wildlife Refuge (so you're really not supposed to camp there) but the problem that I've noticed in GA is that dry land alond the ICW is hard to come by. Its pretty much marsh the whole way. So when I saw a nice spoil area at the NW corner of Little St. Simons I was tempted to stop, afraid that I wouldn't be able to reach my spot at Blackbeard, which was 40 miles away, and that I wouldn't find anything else. But I kept going into the Buttermilk Sound and thats when all the animals began showing up.

In a span of about an hour I was entertained by a large pod of friendly dolphin, several stingrays swimming close to survice and a sea turtle - I guess a Loggerhead?, I'm not good at identifying turtles. I also became a believer in what the crabbers had told me the day before bc I saw two alligators. The first was in the water, eyes and nose exposed as they often are, and I initially mistook him for a buoy and paddled too close. Just when I realized it was a big gator is when he decided to dive down so I changed my course and took off. Not even 5 minutes after seeing the first gator (I'm still looking over my shoulder to make sure hes not following me) I see some big shapes moving around on a marsh island in the distance. I was so curious so I paddled over to it and discovered cattle, at least 50 of them just hanging out. Where they were was on a small island, which my chart only classifies as MARSH -not even a name -on the north side of the waterway, just west of Dolbow Isl. I thought it was rather strange that they would be out there all by themselves and so I paddled along the edge of their island trying to snap some pictures of them to show you all. Well thats when I got an upclose look at my second gator. He was up on the bank sunning himself bc it was overcast and not too hot and when I came around the corner he let out a deep croak -kind of like a bullfrog - and then bellyfloped right in the water. I'll be honest I do not like seeing the alligators. I don't know if any of you have seen the horrible movie Lake Placid but I have and I could only immagine that gator swimming up from behind and jumping into my cockpit and tearing me apart. Anyhow, it was just a lot of animal interactions in a short time. Oh and I almost ran over a manatee right before: he surfaced right in front of me and I was just barely able to pull up my skeg in time so it didn't hurt him. Also I had these 2 annoying flies buzzing around my head like electrons all day which was so frustrating. I didn't get angry though bc I knew I would have the last laugh when they realized how far they had to fly to get home.

When I got to Deboy Sound (between Commodore and Sapelo Islands) the tide was moving out and the SE winds against the current created some large following waves. I didn't have my skirt on and I have to take my PFD off to get it over my head, which I obviously didn't want to do bc I was rough conditions) so I ended up getting pretty wet there. I took a shortcut up New Teakettle Creek and into the Mud River to avoid the longer Old Teekettle Creek/Front River route which worked out perfectly and saved me a few miles. It was getting late at this point and I was getting tired but I finished the day by paddling along the south side of Sapelo Sound finally reaching the beach at Blackbeard where I had planned on camping. It was a relief to see that it was indeed hard firm ground (sometimes Gmaps is hard to read) and that there was nice flat soft sand above the high tide mark. Stepping onto Blackbeard around 730 pm was the first I had gotten out of my boat all day so I was a little wobbly but was able to set up my tent and cook some pasta before passing out. It ended up being 42 ICW miles but only 37 for me bc of my sweet shortcut. One word about camping on the beach: it sucks. First off sand gets everywhere and you are totally exposed. It was my only option and it wasn't ideal but it worked so I cant complain. HERES THE LINK FOR WHERE I CAMPED

Also: Special Happy Birthday wishes to Sun all the way to Korea!!!