Ossabaw Island, Georgia

March,  2004

I, along with the only other female, Kris Mattocks, embarked by boat from Ft. McAllister, Georgia on Friday afternoon. The trip by water took about an hour. We arrived on Ossabawa Island, the largest island off the coast of Georgia. It is about 26,000 acres and the only human inhabitants are the park ranger and his family.

Kris and I, along with about 25 Confederate soldiers started the 3 1/2 mile trek to the area where we were to camp. We walked down a two lane dirt road and were visited by armadillos, wild pigs, deer and even saw some alligators.

When we arrived we made camp about 50 feet from the beach. It was a full moon that weekend, perfect temperatures and the crashing of the waves made for some good sleep during the night. The only visitor we had during the night was an armadillo looking for food. Those possums on the half-shell aren't scared of anything!

We did have to walk about a half mile each time we needed water which we were able to get from an artisan well (very, very good water). The guys fished at the fresh water creek and attempted to catch some whelk from the ocean but were unsuccessful. I had learned how to cook whelk and was really looking forward to trying some but we didn't have any luck. We had permission from DNR to shoot wild hogs as there are too many on the island, but the guys didn't have any luck with that endeavor either. It's a good thing we brought food!!

The beaches were absolutely awesome with not a bit of trash. A lot of the trees were down due to Hurricane Hugo a few years ago. We plan on doing this event again next year and hope everyone can attend.
 

Anne

 

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