Georgia on My Keel

We made a brief provisioning stop in Fernandina Beach, then on to the Low Country of Georgia — and, as you’ll see, I do mean LOW.

Fernandina is a pretty little town with a very good marina, great nearby shopping, a Publix and 20 restaurants within walking distance of the harbor. The downside is two giant paper plants on either end of town, which in the right wind make you wonder if your holding tank has burst, if you know what I mean.

Navigation in the Low Country is pretty challenging — the Corps of Engineers doesn’t have the money to adequately dredge and the Coast Guard doesn’t have the money to move the buoys to the right channel. So moving through the rivers that wind through the marsh grass is a bit of a guessing game.

I saw a temporary buoy yesterday that looked out of place with brown water all around it. I was well off it and in the channel, but I slowed down anyway, but too late, so we plowed into a sand bank. Backed right off, but a big sailboat behind us, who was even further off the buoy, plowed in hard. She finally got off with the help of a powerboat, but was not the last boat we saw easing through the mud. It’s also hard to tell where you are outside of the normal navigation marks, since every piece of marsh grass looks pretty much the same as any other piece. So you could have made a wrong turn and not figure it out for miles.

But the challenge is worth it, since this is gorgeous, wild country. John thinks it’s just about the most boring thing he’s ever seen, but I think the marshes are beautiful — every shade of green, brown and sand you could think of, birds everywhere, wild azalea and wisteria blooming all over.

The highlight was Cumberland Island. It was tamed and cultivated after the Revolutionary War by General Nathaniel Green, a hero who built a mansion called Dungeness. (Actually it was tamed and cultivated by hundreds of slaves). After the family died out the island was acquired by the Carnegie family, who built a new Dungeness and turned Cumberland into a Victorian Xanadu, complete with a barber and beauty shop, a building devoted totally to billiards, tennis, swimming, hunting and fishing, and acres of gardens.

During the Depression, the island went into ruin and was acquired, and is now beautifully preserved by the National Park Service. It is right up there on the Memsahib scenery scale with the North Channel, Tennessee Gorge and Pine Island Sound.

Also visited Jekyll Island, but not much to report since the weather blew us in for two days and we couldn’t tour this equally famous winter playground of the Robber Barons.

Fernandina downtown — well preserved and very active. The night we were there (a Monday) there was not a restaurant table to be had, so we had to jump in the car and head for Route 1.