Tybee Island, Georgia
Saturday, October 6th
![Picture](/uploads/1/3/2/0/13209263/1014805.jpg)
Every Columbus Day, an amazing thing happens: Tybee Island Pirate Fest. And as everyone who knows Chase knows, he will never miss an opportunity to dress up like a pirate. Furthermore, Chase and his friend Alex made many trips from to Tybee Island before moving to Alaska, but he hadn't been back since 2007. This only meant one thing: Chase and Charla were heading north!
Arriving in town on Saturday evening, Chase and Charla unfortunately missed the pirate parade but showed up just in time for an evening of pillaging and pirate debauchery on the beach. There were bands playing on the street as the sun was setting on South Beach, and beads were being thrown from balconies all night. The entire town was full of pirates (some with live parrots on their shoulders), and the entire crowd was a sight to see! Vince Neil (from Mötley Crüe) headlined the evening before heading back to the campground for the night.
Waking up on Sunday to sunrise on North Beach was a fantastic sight to behold. The Thieves' Market was open to acquire all the necessary pirate accessories for the future, including a large Jolly Roger flag which we will fly from our car in the 2013 Mongol Rally drive from London, England, to Ulan Bataar, Mongolia.
Arriving in town on Saturday evening, Chase and Charla unfortunately missed the pirate parade but showed up just in time for an evening of pillaging and pirate debauchery on the beach. There were bands playing on the street as the sun was setting on South Beach, and beads were being thrown from balconies all night. The entire town was full of pirates (some with live parrots on their shoulders), and the entire crowd was a sight to see! Vince Neil (from Mötley Crüe) headlined the evening before heading back to the campground for the night.
Waking up on Sunday to sunrise on North Beach was a fantastic sight to behold. The Thieves' Market was open to acquire all the necessary pirate accessories for the future, including a large Jolly Roger flag which we will fly from our car in the 2013 Mongol Rally drive from London, England, to Ulan Bataar, Mongolia.
Sunday, October 7th
![Picture](/uploads/1/3/2/0/13209263/7595860.jpg)
Sunday was when the real fun started, at least in theory. Little Tybee Island is an uninhabited island south of Tybee Island. Despite its name, Little Tybee is over twice the size of Tybee, and it is a nature preserve of salt marshes, beaches, and natural sand dunes. On Sunday afternoon, Chase and Charla set off from the Alley 3 Kayak Launch on Tybee in a two-person kayak with all their camping gear and crossed Tybee Creek. Keeping an eye out for the Tybee Bomb, it was a safe crossing to Little Tybee. The kayak was steered around the eastern side of the island facing the Atlantic Ocean in search of a good spot to set up camp for the night.
After setting up camp, it was time to explore the island. We are used to seeing beaches that are frequented by people and heavily used, which made the beach at Little Tybee very interesting. Without crowds of people to affect the beach, many small, natural processes were still visible. Ants smoothed trails through the sand on their way to and from the anthill, and marsh grass were surrounded by circular designs made by the grasses blowing in the wind. Turtle egg shells were strewn across on the beach where a nest had recently hatched, and fiddler crabs ruled the beach.
The night got a little less pleasant after sunset, however. As soon as the sun went down sand mites by the thousands woke up and swarmed the camp. It was about this same time that a thunder storm passed over our camp, illuminating the night sky with brilliant bolts of lightning. The storm forced us into the tent, which was extremely hot, and did nothing to keep the sand mites out. Oddly enough, for about an hour around 10PM the storm passed, the clouds opened, the moon shone brightly, and the sane mites mysteriously disappeared. It was beautiful! Sitting on an uninhabited beach sipping champagne in the moonlight is the good life. Unfortunately, when that hour was up the sand mites returned just as curiously as they had left, and forced a return to the tent. The tent was miserably hot, and still populated with sand mites; there was nothing to do, not even sleep. Finally, around 4:30AM, it was decided to surrender to the sand mites and pack up camp. Against better instincts, a new adventure was begun: using the historic Tybee Island Light Station as a navigation aid, the paddle back to Tybee Island went relatively smoothly. Night sea kayaking is a whole new adventure, and brought an end to the Little Tybee Expedition shortly before sunrise on Monday morning.
After setting up camp, it was time to explore the island. We are used to seeing beaches that are frequented by people and heavily used, which made the beach at Little Tybee very interesting. Without crowds of people to affect the beach, many small, natural processes were still visible. Ants smoothed trails through the sand on their way to and from the anthill, and marsh grass were surrounded by circular designs made by the grasses blowing in the wind. Turtle egg shells were strewn across on the beach where a nest had recently hatched, and fiddler crabs ruled the beach.
The night got a little less pleasant after sunset, however. As soon as the sun went down sand mites by the thousands woke up and swarmed the camp. It was about this same time that a thunder storm passed over our camp, illuminating the night sky with brilliant bolts of lightning. The storm forced us into the tent, which was extremely hot, and did nothing to keep the sand mites out. Oddly enough, for about an hour around 10PM the storm passed, the clouds opened, the moon shone brightly, and the sane mites mysteriously disappeared. It was beautiful! Sitting on an uninhabited beach sipping champagne in the moonlight is the good life. Unfortunately, when that hour was up the sand mites returned just as curiously as they had left, and forced a return to the tent. The tent was miserably hot, and still populated with sand mites; there was nothing to do, not even sleep. Finally, around 4:30AM, it was decided to surrender to the sand mites and pack up camp. Against better instincts, a new adventure was begun: using the historic Tybee Island Light Station as a navigation aid, the paddle back to Tybee Island went relatively smoothly. Night sea kayaking is a whole new adventure, and brought an end to the Little Tybee Expedition shortly before sunrise on Monday morning.