There is a fee to get onto Jekyll Island. Refer to this site for details :
https://www.goldenisles.com/plan/how-to-get-here/parking-island-access/
Jekyll Island is where we started geocaching and is still our favorite place to be. Although we have been coming for over a decade, we always find something different because the island keeps changing shape each year. Jekyll Island is one of the Golden Isles of Georgia barrier islands. The ocean is shifting the sand from the north end of the island to the south. This cache, which is only available at low tide, gives you an interesting visual of this process. The picture above is of the eroded Driftwood beach at the north end of the island. A waypoint is listed if you wish to see it in person. (Which is a must if you are on Jekyll Island.)
This picture illustrates how much sand has eroded from Driftwood Beach. Notice the roots of these tree give the appearance that the trees could be walking out to the water. In actuality, the sand was once several feet higher. Looking closely you can see the base of the tree is actually several feet above the current level of the sand. On a side note if you look closely at the center of the picture you can see the bottom of the Golden Ray, a shipwreck in St. Simons Sound.
The southern end of Jekyll Island, like the southern ends of most of the Atlantic barrier islands, has a hooked shape. This occus because the waves that transport sand southward along the front of the island refract into the inlet. This drives longshore transport around the end of the island and onto the back side for a short distance. This feature is called a recurved spit or just a spit. As with most of the islands on the Georgia coast, the north and south ends are very different. Much of the northern end of the island is undergoing erosion. Driftwood beach, pictured above, located at the north end of the island is covered with dead trees as the waves take the sand and deposits it on the southern end at St. Andrews beach. Here the beach is very wide, and growing wider. The Mary Ann sank well offshore in the middle 1990’s has now been engulfed by the prograding sand, and is now onshore at low tide with only the top of the mast visible. The island has grown by over ½ mile since 1953.
Here is a link to learn more about the movement of the sand : http://itc.gsw.edu/faculty/bcarter/physgeol/ocean/LandfCst.pdf
The Mary Ann, a 60' shrimp boat sank in the mid 90's. Waves have deposited sand along the south end of the island and only the top on the mast is showing. The boat was owned by Daniel "Cool Breeze" Breese. Here is his story on the wreck:
We had been shrimping that day with Whitney Purvis who was captain of the “Capn’ SAM.” (In an aside he said “SAM” stood for “Secret Agent Man” because they had suspected the previous owner worked for the CIA. ) We anchored on the back side of Jekyll beach so that a crew member of the Capn SAM could get ashore and go to a graduation. He was supposed to come back that night but never did. Our two boats were tied together bow to bow. We knew we shouldn’t have stayed there because it was a sandy bottom and the anchors would probably drag. But we did stay and we went to bed. I woke up with a green light from the marker flashing in my window and I knew we were in trouble. I got up and turned on the depth meter and discovered I was in only seven feet of water. The anchors did not hold and we were near shore over the hump (a sand bar). I went to the other boat and woke up Whitney. I told him what had happened and that we needed to move. I went back to my boat but before I could do anything the Capn’ SAM swung around the Mary Ann and broke my outrigger and tangled his nets in our rigging. We sat there the rest of the night all tangled up. The Mary Ann began to list because the other outrigger was pulling her over so I got on the Capn’ SAM. The tide was going out and the Mary Ann was touching bottom and listing more and more. When the tide came in about 5:00 a.m. it filled the Mary Ann. When daylight came, the Capn’ SAM was floating but the Mary Ann was sunk. We were able to go back on the Mary Ann and get as much gear as we could. We then moved the tangled cables and untangled the nets to get the Capn’ SAM free. After we were loose I called the Coast Guard and reported the accident. We then headed back to the Brunswick dock. Looking back I made two mistakes. The first was staying there when I found out the water was only seven feet deep. The second was staying tied to the Capn’ SAM. Everybody knows when you start getting in trouble like that you cut yourself free. Fortunately I didn’t owe anything on the boat. I always paid cash. And no, I did not have insurance.
Here is a link to the story - http://mack-lipseyslapses.blogspot.com/2011/01/v-behaviorurldefaultvml-o.html?m=1
To log this cache please message me:
1. A picture of you at the mast. The picture must include you and the mast in the same picture. The Mary Ann is only availabe at low tide.
2. How much has the island grown since 1953?
3. What is the main difference between Driftwood beach and St. Andrews beach, and why?
4. What is the name of the hook shape feature at the southern end of the island?