January 19: Driftwood Beach & the capsized cargo ship . . .
Read MoreHow this area came to be is quite fascinating. I learned during my first visits to the island that the strong ocean currents have been gradually eroding the northern end of the island and depositing the sediment at the southern end. This is why the famous Jekyll Island Sandbar at Great Dunes Park, not only exists, but has shifted south, (the sign for the sandbar no longer lines up with the actual sandbar). Those ocean currents are responsible for what is seen at Driftwood Beach.
Early in the morning on September 8, 2019, the Golden Ray departed the Port of Brunswick and was headed outbound on the Brunswick River toward the Atlantic Ocean and eventually Baltimore, Maryland. About 20 minutes into the journey, the ship unexpectedly began to list, or lean to one side. Whatever was happening quickly developed into an emergency and caused the Captain to intentionally ground the ship in shallow water in St. Simons Sound where it capsized.
In October 2019, recovery experts determined that there was no way to refloat the ship so it could be towed away. So a plan is in the works to scrap the ship onsite, (i.e. cutting it into pieces and hauling them, and all the cars inside the cargo hold, away), in a process that may last through the rest of 2020.