[Paddlewise] Queen Island, GA Trip Report

My friend Mike Moody had been after me for a long time to come down and
paddle with him
in the coastal marshes around Darien, GA, so I decided to organize a
mid-November sea kayak camping trip to an off-shore island. Mike
suggested a place called Queen Island, which is located on Doboy Sound,
SW of Sapelo and NW of Little St Simons Islands. Besides me and Mike
there was my wife, Meg, and Lonnie McBride, Will Hazelhurst, Belita
Gordon, and John Reebers.

We drove down to Darien Friday night and stayed at the Fort King George
Motel, an
establishment with a name much grander than its accommodations. Saturday
morning, after
breakfasting at the Pizza Place (really) we all met at Mike's place,
Altamaha Wilderness Outpost, and put on at the Darien shrimp docks at
the last hour of the incoming tide. Everyone was in a plastic sea kayak,
all Perceptions except for Belita's Necky. The plan was to paddle down
river on the ebb tide, camp on Queen, and come back up on the flood then
next morning. Mike projected the trip at about 3 hours. He was wrong, of
course.

The trip was relaxing and scenic. About 1 mile down, we came to a long
dike that dates back
to the 18th century rice farming days. It encloses an area of hundreds
of acres, with the water level regulated by simple cannon valves. I
watched a fisherman land a plate-sized flounder over the tops of four
big blue crabs. I was tempted to stay there and collect the makings of a
great dinner, but we had miles to go, and anyhow I had forgotten my crab
net.

After the dike, there is no dry land until you get to Queen, which means
that the relief
opportunities are limited. Most sea kayakers have developed a variety of
techniques to deal with this problem, but all of our group was
iron-bladdered enough to not need them. Except for Mike, who found a
small shell bank and got out to pee and was instantly beset by a couple
of thousand no-see-ums. John and I had contemplated doing the same until
we observed Mike's waving and cursing. Even sitting in the boats 6 feet
off shore we attracted a cloud of gnats. For the record, you can't
outrun them in a sea kayak, but eventually they seem to lose interest.

At about halfway, we branched onto the Rockadunney River, so as to come
out on the
southern side of Queen. Around 4:00, we arrived at Queen, so figure 5
hours in the boat. My
GPS said we were 8 miles from the put-in, but considering the meanders,
we estimated we had
paddled about 12. Will had been down a few days before, and had cleared
a campsite. The
camping opportunities are limited, as Queen is mostly marsh, with only a
thin strip of sand and scrub running around its southeastern shore.
Unfortunately, the shore in front of the best camping spot is not beach,
but oyster beds and small mud bluffs, so you have to come in elsewhere
and carry down a few hundred yards. There was only a few inches of surf,
so the landing was easy.

By the time we had set up camp, cooked, and eaten dinner, it was dark.
You could see the
Sapelo light off to the Northeast. We knew that's what it was because we
had seen the candy-
striped lighthouse during the day. I was in bed by 8:00, which severely
disappointed about
10,000 mosquitos, but I think a few of us stayed up late to feed them.

The next morning dawned clear and cool. We were back on the water about
9:30, looping up
around the east and north sides of the island. On the way in, we paddled
past a few ballast
islands. These are quite impressive piles, perhaps a half acre each,
composed of the discarded ballast rocks that the old sailing ships
carried from Europe. I marveled at how disciplined they had been to dump
the rocks all in the same spot. A couple of the islands are currently
graced by ramshackle cabins, which Mike claims are habitable, or may be
in the future. The phrase "any port in a storm" comes to mind.

Near one island, a fisherman in a powerboat had just landed a good-sized
sheephead. He
proudly displayed it and showed us the fish's teeth, which it uses to
eat barnacles, shells and all. Any orthodontist would have been proud of
that mouth of teeth.

The trip back upriver was uneventful, except for having to dodge shrimp
trawlers. We had
hoped to ride the tide, but it turned when we were still a couple of
miles out, and so the last bit was slow going. Belita graciously allowed
me to practice my towing skills, but she kept paddling, so mostly I
didn't really do anything. Will claimed to have seen a gator, and I'm
sure I heard one entering the water, but we didn't see any other
animals. We did see great blue herons and wood storks, though, and of
course gulls and pelicans. Oh, and half a dozen dolphins, which are
always a thrill.

Steve
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