Like all great adventures, this trip started with a singular goal....to go camping with my buddy Ben who recently moved to Savanah, GA. After a quick google search I discovered options were limited at best and due to the short nature of this trip, we didn't want to travel more than an hour and a half out of the city.
Luckily I came across a blog post mentioning people backcountry camping at a place called Little Tybee Island just 30 minutes outside of Savannah. Little Tybee is one of three barrier islands off the coast of Georgia which is only accessible via boat. The amazing thing about this place is that it's mostly still kept in its original unspoiled state, free of restaurants, hotels, and tourist, and you can paddle there in a kayak.
So we loaded up the truck with all our gear and two nine-foot river kayaks late afternoon thinking we could simply paddle across the tributary, find a place to camp and enjoy the sunset. After all its just camping right? We go camping all the time, why should this be any different?
As soon as our boats hit the water we quickly realize we should have rented sea kayaks. Not only were our boats significantly shorter than sea kayaks but we loaded them down with gear. This resulted in a highly unstable boat with a significantly shorter distance between the cockpit and the open water. In addition to a sketchy ride, it turns out the tide starts coming back around the same time so we were paddling against the current.
After taking close to an hour to paddle less than a mile we finally made it to solid ground just in time to capture the sunset
We found a great spot to camp on the beach roughly 300 feet down the coast where the forest meet the beach and proceed to set up our tent, build a fire and make dinner while waiting for the February Snow moon to rise.
Once the moon hit the horizon it made all the struggles of getting to the island instantly worth it. We were lucky with clear winter sky off the coast and absolutely not haze. The shot below was a 30-second exposure of Ben and me, minutes after the moon rise.
We spent the next several hours exploring our little section of the island under what was probably the brightest moon I have ever experienced. I actually ended up ruining several landscapes due to the shadow from my camera! Despite the moon was tossing shadows some of my favorite shots from the entire trip were captured.
Despite the moon being so bright, there was still a decent amount of stars that were visible from Little Tybee Island with minimal light pollution.
The next morning, after the fog rolled away and the tides went out, we finally had the opportunity to explore the rest of the island. The stark beautify of this barren island was powerfully impressive and almost apocalyptic. There's something special about a place that's mostly untouched by mankind and is affected so much by the natural daily changes of the sea. I highly recommend anyone who gets a chance spend some time exploring that natural treasure on the Georgia Coast
