Clam Creek, Jekyll Island

As you may have heard, the traveling turtle girl is traveling these days :)



I had a long drive back to Delaware, and made it even longer by driving to the Georgia coast before heading north. I wanted to see the new Georgia Sea Turtle Center, and visit one of my favorite spots in the USA -- Clam Creek.



It's not at all like Pensacola, but it's still gorgeous.



The entrance, with the graceful Spanish moss-draped live oaks is enchanting.



The pictures don't do it justice; it's like driving through a deeply-shaded tunnel, which is incredibly welcome in the heat of a summers day!



There are egret models here as well.



Some beach-combers commented on how co-operative the birds were as they watched me snap away. Of course, the abscence of an ATV may have helped!



Of course, eventually s/he had enough and flew to a nearby marsh.



Maybe it was just lunchtime!



You know you're in Georgia when the shrimp boats stack up, arriving from a bountiful trip to sea. Georgia is fantastic shrimp territory, and the captains are great about using TEDS and rescuing turtles!



We call the beach here either boneyard, graveyard or driftwood beach. Driftwood isn't really appropriate as most of these trees have fallen from the maritime forest as the island erodes at the north end.



The trees initially die from salt water flooding, then fall once the underlaying beach erodes beneath their roots. It's an amazing place to play at low tide -- at high tide, they are nearly covered with water!



You can see some of the tiny drainage/erosion channels here, though it's likely just a few sand grains traveling down this path.



I'll post more on the Georgia Turtle Center in a separate post.