On about an annual basis, my mom, sister, and I try to find a weekend to get away somewhere. We've been to St. Louis (Missouri), Door County (Wisconsin), and Dubuque (Iowa). This year my sister dreamed of sand and the sea so the destination we picked was Jekyll Island, Georgia. None of us knew much about the destination until we started planning except I had seen amazing photos of the driftwood on the beaches often in my social media feeds. The driftwood would be just one of many highlights of the weekend.
Saturday morning, my sister and mom boarded a flight at their local airport while I drove to Atlanta to pick them up when they landed. Despite delays to de-ice the plane, they still managed to land relatively on-time and I had timed my drive well to only have to spend a few minutes in the cell phone lot before picking them up. Then we made the approximately five hour drive across the state of Georgia to Jekyll Island.
Just before the bridge to the island is a gift shop, restrooms, and the ticket booth to pay the daily entrance fee to the island (which is a state park). We picked up our first tourist gear, paid the entrance fee, and headed to the Beach Village to first pick up some wine for the weekend before continuing on to the hotel.
We stayed at the Residence Inn which shares the building and amenities with the Courtyard. We had booked a one-bedroom suite with a balcony overlooking the ocean. We couldn't have asked for a better room and a better view.
We had dinner that evening at the hotel restaurant, Shore. Food was good. There was a musician singing and playing on the patio. We had decided to eat outside as the weather was beautiful although not far into our meal we discovered the no see ums or sand flies. After dinner, my sister and I took a quick walk to check out the beach as the sun was setting before heading back to the room to relax, catch up, and enjoy some wine.
The next morning my sister decided to join me for sunrise on the beach. We wanted to be down there before first light to try and capture some stars and enjoy the colors as they filled the sky. This meant a very early morning. We were down on the beach before 6am which felt like 5am for both of us because of the time zone change, but it was worth it. As the light started reflecting off the beach, we realized it was covered with small sand dollars.
I set up my phone to do a Timelapse. As you will see, my sister was so fascinated by the sand dollars she kept finding that she kept walking right through the scene, forgetting I was recording. I think it adds something to the video.
Any photos of me that are clearly not selfies were taken by my sister.
While most of the sand dollars we found were no longer alive, we did find some that were. Here is what an alive sand dollar looks like. We returned this one to the ocean.
Once the sun had risen, we headed back to the room to get ready for the day and find the included breakfast in a lounge on the first floor. I have been so pleased to see more Marriott brand hotels including dairy free options in their breakfasts and in this case that meant a dairy alternative milk for my coffee. Another huge plus was a pitcher of cold brew coffee. Breakfast overall was pretty good.
Our morning excursion took us to St. Andrew's beach which we had read was quieter and still had some driftwood. We wanted to save the busier Driftwood Beach for a weekday. St. Andrews is on the south side of Jekyll Island and a very nice beach with some cool driftwood.
I love the patterns engraved on the driftwood from water, wind, and time.
After a walk along St. Andrew's Beach, we headed to the Historic District including Riverview Park, the pier at the Wharf, the Jekyll Island Arts Association gallery, and a chocolate shop called Islands Sweet Shop (where of course we picked up some chocolates).
Female Downy Woodpecker
A Boat-tailed Grackle tried to chase away a Double-crested Cormorant but was unsuccessful.
Ring-billed Gull
Hooded Merganser (2 adult males and a female)
Snowy Egret
After purchasing our chocolates, we briefly stopped at the Beach Village area to pick up food we could eat for lunch and then headed back to the hotel to enjoy lunch in our room and open some wine. I had brought a quality bottle of Champagne I had acquired on a recent cruise which we truly enjoyed.
After an afternoon sipping wine and catching up, we took a stroll down our beach with the ultimate destination of the Beach Village where we had a nice dinner at the Sunrise Grill, picked up some more provisions at the market, and then walked back on the path along the road back to the hotel.
Ring-billed Gull and a Forster's Tern
Forster's Terns
Juvenile Ring-billed Gull
Adult Ring-billed Gull
Laughing Gull (in breeding plumage)
Willet
Laughing Gull (in non-breeding plumage)
Gorgeous flowers (snapdragons?) around the sign for our hotel
I was the only one up for sunrise Monday morning so just enjoyed the quiet on the balcony. There were some colors early on and then the clouds took over. Just as the sun started to rise I was surprised to see a gap in the clouds form to get just a few seconds glimpse of the sun.
After breakfast, we took a short walk on the beach out front of our hotel.
A live Sand dollar making its way back to the water
Ring-billed Gull
Sanderlings
I've never seen a Sanderling get this deep into the water and take a bath (check out the next photos too). Usually, they run from the waves.
Ring-billed Gull
Sanderlings
Today's morning excursion included Driftwood Beach, Horton House and the Fishing Pier, all on the north side of the island. The island was pretty easy to get around and we had no issues finding parking at each site although I imagine it gets busier on the weekends in prime season.
Not long after we had stepped on to Driftwood Beach, I spotted a pair of Pileated Woodpeckers, a bird I had been searching and searching for in hopes to photograph one day. I had seen a glimpse of one a year or two earlier at Cades Cove and I remember once seeing one before I was into bird photography but I had never been able to truly spend time with one. They are the largest woodpecker in North America.
Willet
Ruddy Turnstone
Willets
Juvenile Double-crested Cormorant
Dolphin
Brown Pelican in flight
Eastern Bluebird
Carolina Wren
Horton House, built in 1743 by William Horton was our next stop.
Then we continued on to the fishing pier.
This Boat-tailed Grackle was guarding the entrance to the pier.
By that time we were hungry and we found an excellent Mexican restaurant, Tortuga Jacks.
That afternoon, we enjoyed some time at the hotel, relaxing, chatting, and enjoying a little wine. For dinner, my sister and mom ordered pizza from the hotel restaurant and I finished off some of the food I had bought the day before. Then just before sunset, my sister and I went down to the beach for one last walk.
Cannonball Jellyfish
Our weekend together had come to an end. Tuesday morning, we enjoyed one last breakfast at the hotel, packed up, and headed back to Atlanta where I dropped my sister and mom off at the airport for their flight home and then continued on to my own home. The trip seemed to be a good balance of relaxing and catching up combined with active beach walking where together we could search for shells, watch the shorebirds, and find those unique photography angles. We are already looking forward to the next adventure together.
