A Golden Roadtrip to The Golden Isles of Georgia

Arriving in the Golden Isles of Georgia in the mid afternoon afforded us time to enjoy the gorgeous grounds and beautiful, several-hundred year-old majestic oaks covered in Spanish Moss, surrounding the pool at our hotel.

The Plantation Village Best Western was a truly beautiful hotel property complete with lovely architecture, spacious grounds, a gazebo, massive pool and all the amenities we could need.

It was out first time to the Golden Isles nestled on the Georgia coast between Savannah and Jacksonville. Brunswick and four barrier islands make up these magnificent jewels.

In the morning we visited the lighthouse on St. Simons Island and we hiked numerous nearby nature trails which allowed us to see several historic churches and monuments dating back to the 1700’s. We stopped in a couple of art studios and were pleased to see how friendly and talented the locals were and very happy to share tidbits of history and offer suggestions for our little getaway.

By lunch we had worked up an appetite and enjoyed the best crab cake sandwiches ever at Sea Jay’s water front café on the Jekyll Harbor Marina on Jekyll Island. Even the iced tea was strong, full bodied, and flavorful, not for the faint-hearted.

Later we toured the Georgia Sea Turtle Center and Hospital where we actually watch surgery being performed by skilled doctors on sick and injured sea turtles, some huge and some very old. We saw rescued turtles in tanks, all with fascinating histories and backgrounds, and they seemed to understand instinctively the care and compassion they were receiving.

The pinnacle of our day was a Shrimpin’ charter on the Lady Jane Shrimp Boat. Our crew caught lots of fascinating creatures in the nets, which were dragged up three separate times for all the passengers to meet and explore the diverse catch with each drag. We saw and touched bonnet head sharks, ancient horseshoe crabs, silver eels, puffer fish, squid, rays, skates and naturally, lots of shrimp were sorted out from the rest and cooked dockside for our enjoyment. The competent crew taught us a little about each species before throwing back the specimens, except our shrimp dinner of course.

Back at the Plantation Village that night we were lulled to sleep by the numerous huge bullfrogs happily serenading us throughout the grounds, as we dreamed of our next trip to such a beautiful and unique place.