Fri, Oct 15 2010 - Sapelo Island Atlantic Coast Camping & Beachcombing Weekend + bonus Island Festival! (View Original Event Details)
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SAPELO ARCHIVE WRITEUP by Trip Co-Leader Charlie Cottingham, Oct 19, 2010
Our fun-loving group of 25 AOCers shared an unforgettable fall camping trip to historic Sapelo Island on Georgia's seacoast near Savannah, with three days and two nights at the GA-DNR's wonderful live-oak-canopied oceanside "Cabretta" group campsite. The weather could not have been better! Clear skies all weekend, with temps ranging from mid-50s at night to high-70s in the afternoon and a big bright gibbous moon high in the sky surrounded by beautiful stars and the planet Jupiter each evening-and very few biting insects. We also were lucky on this trip to be approved to take the 8:30 AM Friday ferry over to the Island, which gave us an extra 8 hours (compared to most recent Sapelo trips) to enjoy the gorgeous weekend. The Knights Inn at I-95 Exit #58 on the mainland made a great Thu night spot to break up the trip for most of us. Those of us who had arrived by 8PM Thu enjoyed a nice dinner together at Sapelo Station restaurant in Eulonia followed by a fun session in the big Knights Inn Bar hosted by Manager Al Patel.
Besides great beachcombing, campfires, delicious food & refreshments, and fun & laughter all weekend, two rare "bonuses" made this particular Sapelo trip really special:
1) On Saturday we all got to enjoy the Island's incredible annual "Cultural Day Festival," an extended "family reunion" of sorts produced by"SICARS," the Sapelo Island Cultural and Revitalization Society. Hundreds of friendly people from all over the country take the ferry over and back from the mainland and descend upon the tiny community of Hog Hammock for this huge 1-day outdoor celebration (3rd Saturday in October each year) featuring live music, dancing, storytelling, arts & crafts, and mouth-watering island delicacies such as barbecued ribs, smoked mullet, fried shrimp & whiting, and numerous delicious sides. Most of us took a midday break from the celebration to enjoy a 7-mile-roundtrip hike to the Island's south end and back to the Festival, including a nice walk around and into the palatial Reynolds Mansion.
2) On Sunday, thanks to our friend J. R. Grovner who grew up on Sapelo, we were treated to a rare guided 3.5-hour bus tour of all of the Island's major attractions, including Raccoon Bluff church, the ancient Indian shell ring, the 220-year-old "Chocolate" tabby ruins, and Moses Hammock Hunt Camp (all on the remoter north end of the island) followed by the Spalding Sugar Mill & Post Office, Behavior Cemetery, the Marine Research Institute's "Turkey Statue" (where we took obligatory group photos with Lisa riding the turkey!) then the Lighthouse, Nanny Goat Beach, the Reynolds Mansion, and the "Gator Ponds," where we did get to see a wild gator! J. R. had been nice to provide free transportation in his van for many of us to Cultural Day, and we look forward to his continued hospitality on future Sapelo trips.
Our beachcombing walks on our four miles of pristine white sand beach at Cabretta were rewarded with the newly exposed ribs of an old ship on the north end (likely hundreds of years old), hundreds of sand dollars on the south end, and the amazing shapes of gnarled dead trees—also of course colorful sunrises and sunsets. We took the time all weekend to take hundreds of snapshots of one another and of quaint island signts and interesting fauna and flora including horses, deer, armadillos, snakes, shorebirds, butterflies, etc. (Click on our various Photo Links Below.)
We kept a roaring campfire going late into the night both nights, making good use of our pickup-truck load of excellent cut oak firewood and "fat lighter" kindling that had been pre-delivered by our DNR bus driver Marvin at the fire ring. Our sessions around the campfire were a blast, complete with jokes, stories, abundant "spirit-lifting spirits," sing-along songs (both G-rated and not) , roasted marshmallows, s'mores, and other fire-roasted treats. Thanks to everyone in the group for your delicious contributions to our "potluck" group meals and for sharing so cheerfully in their preparation, serving and cleanup!
Thanks especially to my AOC co-leader and old friend Bobby Marie who did a great job on all aspects of the trip including prep & serving of our delicious Friday night dinner and helping set up our Sunday bus tour. No one will forget Bobby's coaxing the entire group around Friday's campfire to mimic his hilarious hand gestures in the kids' rabbit song, "Little Cabin in the Woods," with guitar accompaniment.
At the beginning of our Sunday return ferry ride we got a kick out of attracting dozens of beautiful sea gulls by tossing bits of crackers and cookies upward off the ferry's top deck and watching the graceful aerialists dive and catch the morsels in midair just a few feet from our outstretched hands.
Our DNR-provided bus transportation between the Island ferry dock and the Cabretta campsite went exactly according to plan-a real plus for groups like ours that camp on Sapelo Island along with the hot showers and optional sleeping shelters! An unexpected plus on this trip was our getting to put to good use for the first time the spacious new 15' x 50' dining pavilion that had been erected by the DNR just a couple of month's prior to our stay. I was proud of our group for taking in stride the temporary unavailibility of more than half of the comfort station's usual number of restrooms and hot showers (due to construction) but we look forward to the completion of the nice new comfort station structure in the future.
TRIP PHOTO LINKS RECEIVED THUS FAR:
Mike Vitale's Kodak Gallery albums:
http://www.kodakgallery.com/gallery/sharing/shareRedirectSwitchBoard.jsp?token=752904662408%3A1800192357&sourceId=533754321803&cm_mmc=eMail-_-Share-_-Photos-_-Sharee
Angie Riddle's Kodak Gallery album:
http://www.kodakgallery.com/gallery/sharing/shareRedirectSwitchBoard.jsp?token=109908762408%3A1481233916&sourceId=533754321803&cm_mmc=eMail-_-Share-_-Photos-_-Sharee
John Caldwell's Picasa album:
http://www.kodakgallery.com/gallery/sharing/shareRedirectSwitchBoard.jsp?token=752904662408%3A1800192357&sourceId=533754321803&cm_mmc=eMail-_-Share-_-Photos-_-Sharee
Arlene Sewsankar's Picasa album:
http://picasaweb.google.com/arlene301/20101018?authkey=Gv1sRgCPHoy7K34eLd9wE&feat=directlink
Jan Lanier's Picasa album:
http://picasaweb.google.com/lanierjan/SapeloOctober2010?authkey=Gv1sRgCLvzi5GT9J3IKw&feat=email#
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