It's a Place to Explore - Or Just Do Nothing At All! ~ Jacksonville.com
It's a place to explore, or just do nothing at all - February 28 - by Maggie Fitzroy
The high-tide current ran quickly and forcefully beneath me as I stood on the dock at Eagle Island, a small private barrier island hideaway off the Georgia coast.
The stress I'd brought to the island from daily living seemed to flow away with the current as I looked out at a vast expanse of creek and sky.
For a few days, I wouldn't be living in the real world, but on a wooded 10-acre retreat surrounded by winding rivers and salt marsh, accessible only by boat.
Staying in the property's only lodge, it seemed the outside world couldn't touch me.
I took a deep breath and smiled.
"We're a five-star resort without an innkeeper, we're a five-moon resort," owner Andy Hill told us after he'd dropped us off that day. "No agenda, no clocks, no deadlines."
Eagle Island, about a 10-minute boat ride from Darien off the mid-Georgia coast, is unique, a place you need to know about if you've ever dreamed about truly getting away from it all.
I'd arrived to take part in an all-women writers' retreat.
But the island is also for honeymooners, weddings, small family reunions, couples' getaways, boating clubs or for small workshops of all kinds because guests have the island all to themselves, including Eagle Lodge, which sleeps up to 12.
Eagle is part of a string of islands owned by Hill and his wife, Shannon, called Private Islands of Georgia, which lie between the state's large barrier islands and the mainland.
Guests can hike the trail that circles the retreat, relax on the lodge's wraparound screened-in porch, fish or crab off the dock and explore the area, including nearby Sapelo Island, in kayaks or motorboats.
Or if they want, they can do nothing at all.
Our group of seven met Hill at Skippers Fish Camp in Darien to have lunch before loading our luggage and ourselves aboard his small boat to venture to the island.
Eagle guests have several food options. They can bring their own groceries; they can have meals such as chowder, grouper fingers or fried shrimp catered in from Skippers, or Hill can come out and host low country boils or oyster roasts.
Since many guests fly in from other parts of the country, Hill will grocery shop for them if they send him a list.
"One couple had their wedding there, then the guests left and they stayed for a week," Hill said. "We have a lot of honeymooners."
I could see why once I arrived, unpacked and toured the lodge and the island, named for bald eagles that live in a tall tree within view of the west side of the porch.
The lodge features a fully stocked kitchen and rustic living room with wide fireplace on the main, second floor. There are two bedrooms on that floor, a sleeping loft with two twin beds on a loft above, and a ground floor area that accommodates sleeping for six.
The porch is wide, with a hot tub and fireplace on the west side, and fishing poles and bait await guests in a storage room.
No one has lived on the island since pre-Columbian Indian tribes, Hill told us as we set out on the trail to circle the property covered in cedar trees, towering oaks draped in Spanish moss and pines.
I could sense the Indians' presence when we came upon an area on the southwest corner covered by oyster shell middens.
Much of Georgia's 100 miles of shoreline looks like the coast did when the Europeans first saw it in the 16th century, I learned from a book in the lodge's small library.
In "A Guide to More than 1,500 Miles of the Georgia Coast" by Nancy Schwalbe Zydler and Tom Zydler, I read that of eight large barrier islands from Tybee south to Cumberland, only three - Jekyll, St. Simons and Tybee - are connected to the mainland by bridges, and therefore developed. The remaining islands are protected by the state or federal government or are privately owned.
Eagle sits on May Hall Creek, which flows into the Darien River, the northern branch of the Altamaha River, which flows into the Atlantic Ocean.
Hill is almost finished building another guest lodge on nearby May Hall island. As far as he knows, his island retreats are unique.
When I went back on the trail alone at dusk, the setting sun painted the sky with streaks of orange.
It felt strange to not have any phones to answer, although my cell phone did work out there.
The island does have Internet service, but I didn't bring a laptop computer and for a few days I stayed away from the news.
It was a much-needed four-day retreat that was a combination of learning, exploration and relaxation.
In between writing and talking about writing with my companions, I soaked in the bubbling hot tub at dawn, hiked the woods, took pictures of sunrises over the creek and sunsets over the salt marsh, went kayaking and took a boat trip to Sapelo Island to explore the beach there.
I can see how the island appeals to honeymooners.
But it also makes for a great girlfriend getaway.
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Eagle Island, Ga. - The island is reached by boat from Darien, a small fishing village off Interstate 95's exit 42 in Georgia. - A tandem kayak is provided for guests; extra kayaks can be rented from Altamaha Coastal Tours in downtown Darien. Call (912) 437-6010. - Guests can rent a boat from owner Andy Hill during their stay, or they can contract with him for day trips to nearby Sapelo Island. - Pricing varies on weekdays and weekends and for numbers of guests. For more information, call (912) 222-0801 or visit www.privateislandsofgeorgia.com. |
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