After we left the north end of Cumberland Island, we headed north for a couple quick stops at Jekyll Island and St. Simons. We didn’t intend on them being quick stops, but with logistics and timing the weather it’s just how it turned out.

Jekyll Island, GA

Jekyll Island, along with Simons Island, Sea Island, and Little St. Simons Island, is considered one of Georgia’s Golden Isles. These barrier islands are known for their marshes and beaches. We motored 11 miles to Jekyll Island from Cumberland and dropped our anchor near Jekyll Harbor Marina. For a $20 fee, the marina allows you to use their dinghy dock as well as as their amenities (pool, laundry, trash, marina bikes, etc.). We needed to do laundry so we dropped the dinghy in the water and went ashore.

The marina is a nice facility and staff were friendly and helpful. There is a restaurant, Zachry’s Riverhouse, on-site that overlooks the pool area and the laundry facilities are in the same building. Once we loaded up the machines, I borrowed one of the marina bikes to look for a grocery where I could buy some produce to hold us over until we got to St. Simons.

There’s a lack of real grocery stores on the island, so I managed to find a “general” type store that had mostly souvenirs, a deli and some food items. It was quite expensive to buy the few pieces of produce I got. Thankfully, we knew there was a Winn Dixie on St. Simons Island. On my way to the store, I did get to ride a few trails which we really cool. Jekyll Island is known for their bike trails all over the island and it is a great way to get around and explore. Randy and I wanted to hit the trails the next day but we were watching the weather and hoping to get further north to possibly get out on the Atlantic.

The next day, we decided to move on and decided we would try to stop here on our way south. We stopped at the marina’s fuel dock to get some diesel and water and motored to St. Simons Island.

St. Simons Island

St. Simons Island is another place we wanted to stop on our way south so we can spend a bit more time. We anchored at North Lanier Island and used the free public dock at Gascoigne Park. The mission here was provisioning. There was a Winn Dixie approximately 1.75 miles so we hoofed it there with our bags and cart. We successfully filled our fridge and pantry and discussed our plans for the next few days. I noticed that most of the things to see on St. Simons seemed to be 3-5 miles away from each other and that in order to see the island, you really need bikes. St. Simons also has a lot of bike trails you can use to explore the island. We thought about renting bikes for the next day but it was too short notice to make it happen so we decided to continue heading north.

Cumberland (North) to Jekyll Island = 11 nm
Jekyll Island to St. Simons Island = 12 nm
TOTAL miles: = 679 nm

Bridges = 0
Total Bridges = 19