Day 214
On Monday morning, 04/12/21, we left Fernandina Harbor Marina right at 10 AM, which was also right at slack tide, which almost completely eliminates current flow. The weather was stellar after such a stormy weekend, though a bit breezy, so the water was not glass-smooth, but as close to perfect as we could hope for!
The only real downside we found to possibly someday retiring to a house or condo in Fernandina Beach is that it’s surrounded by chemical plants, which – in addition to being aesthetically displeasing – can also be unpleasant for the olfactory system when the wind is blowing the smoke stack emissions toward town… Fortunately, our visit did not include too many bad smells!
After spending more than 5 full months in the state of Florida, we crossed the border into Georgia on the water this morning and reached our anchorage just southwest of Cumberland Island, GA, before 11 AM, so we had an extremely short travel day. When we dropped our anchor, three young Devil Rays came to the surface and started swimming around our boat! Steve commented we’d probably dropped our anchor right onto their mother and killed her so that now those Devil Rays are orphans. NOT something I found at all humerous!
For the first time in a long time, we lowered our dinghy down into the water, locked up Legacy, and motored over to the dinghy docks at Cumberland Island Seashore National Park for a long afternoon of walking and sight-seeing. It felt wonderful to be riding in “Digney” again! The park was a beautiful place with tons of very old Live Oaks cascading with Spanish Moss. The trees on that island were some of the largest I’d seen yet. I find them breathtaking, the way their huge branches reach out at 90-degree angles, and extend so far out from their massive trunks. The grounds around the park were freshly-manicured and bright green. It took approximately five minutes for us to see some of what Cumberland Island is famous for. The island’s wild horses were very nearby us and grazing on the mowed areas where all the tender new growth was bursting forth. It was obvious they are not the healthiest of animals, since nutrition on Cumberland Island is not plentiful enough to support too large of a herd, and is not subsidized by humans. The horses there are completely feral and descendants of generations of horses, that it is believed were first introduced to the island back in the 1500s, when Spanish missions were first established in that area. During the early 1800s, several plantations were in operation on the island and horses played an integral role in transportation, work, and recreation for the plantation owners. Throughout the 1900s, new stock was introduced and some horses were taken off the island for sale. Property owners on Cumberland managed horses as free-ranging livestock from the 1940s through the 1960s. By the time the national park on the island was established in 1972, horses had become completely feral on the island, and have been allowed to remain as a mainstay in the park. While once populated with plantation owners and their slaves, as well as other private property owners through the years, the entire island of Cumberland is now owned by the national park. Steve and I were amazed at how at ease the horses were with all of us park guests. Steve was able to walk almost within 10-feet of a horse before it would shy away when he reached out toward it. They were nearby, but always stayed just out of our reach.
While on the island, we walked the grounds of the Carnegie Dungeness ruins, once a 37,000 square foot, 59-room, Queen Anne style mansion and grounds built and owned by the Carnegie family, back in 1884, for an estimated $200,000.00. It was considered a gem of the Gilded Age, as Cumberland Island was once held especially dear by the very famous and very rich. In its heyday, Dungeness was run by 200 servants. The estate was intermittently inhabited or utilized by Carnegie family members up until 1925, and when the stock market crashed in 1929 – even though the family didn’t lose everything – they had to reconsider how practical it was to keep a mansion with all those servants on a remote island in Georgia. It is said the mansion and property appeared to have been abandoned overnight, as there are still shells of old, once luxurious automobiles on the grounds, rusting right where their owners last parked them. The property was abandoned and sat unoccupied until 1959, when a mysterious fire destroyed the home, which was determined to be arson. There are many stories of who started the fire and why, but nothing definite has ever been established. Over time, the site was scavenged of most everything that wasn’t burned or permanently attached to the ground, and what remains today is maintained by the US park service as a permanent part of Cumberland Island Seashore National Park and its history.
After exploring the ruins, we walked the 2.53 miles out to Dungeness Beach and back. Steve was not thrilled with the overall 5.6 mile hike! Even though the weather was spectacular, the sun did beat down when we weren’t sheltered by the canopy of Live Oaks. The beach was amazing and worth the walk, even though I pushed the envelope of my comfort zone by walking on sand with my shoes on, which normally grosses me completely out if sand gets into those shoes, which a little did, no matter how slowly and gingerly I tried to walk. (The reason I didn’t just remove my shoes and walk barefoot through the sand is because there were no facilities for me to wash and dry my feet before I put my shoes back on, which would’ve been unthinkable. Yes, I know I’m OCD – have been since birth – which is why it was such a major accomplishment for me not to have just opted out of the beach walk.) Needless to say, those canvas shoes got a good washing in our Splendide 2100 as soon as we got back to the boat. I did thank Steve several times (and profusely each time) for the Cumberland Island excursion, as I thoroughly enjoyed it. Especially seeing the horses!
Position: N 30° 46.138, W 81° 28.241
Distance traveled: 8 SM
Total distance traveled: 2995 SM
Total marina nights: 191
Total nights at anchor: 22
Locks today: 0
Locks Total: 27