This year for my birthday we traveled to Little St Simons Island in Georgia. It turned out to be the perfect kind of place for me although the weather did not cooperate as well as it could have. We drove up from Tampa on Friday and took the 4 PM boat out to the island. Friday night the Hors d’oeuvres before dinner was an oyster roast. They cooked local oysters over a camp fire that you then shelled and ate. They were good. This was followed by our first of many good meals while on the island.

The next morning we took our first excursion, a guided trip to the north end of the island. At our first stop I spotted a very large yellow rat snake laying out in the sun.

We sopped at a couple of the blinds at the North end and had nice views and saw some ducks, water birds, and gators, but the wind was so nasty that we didn’t stay long.

In the afternoon we did a guided hike with the highlight probably being the Red-headed Woodpecker.

After getting back, Christina and I took the bikes and road down to the beach checking out Norm’s Pond and Goose pond also. We didn’t see much at the ponds and didn’t stay long at the beach because of the wind, but it was a nice ride. Along teh way we spotted a Clapper rail which I haven’t seen too many of.

The next morning the weather was a little better, still cold, but less wind. We did a beach walk and found some nice shells and a bunch of nice sand dollars. After lunch Chrissy hung out at the cabin and I biked all over the place. I eventually found an Eastern Kingsnake which was lazy due to the cold and that made all my biking worthwhile.

That evening we had a crowd on the back porch and watched the SpaceX Delta Heavy rocket launch light up the sky just before dinner time.

The next morning it was time to return home. We enjoyed our trip and will definitely plan on returning sometime.