Little St. Simons Island in Georgia Gives Surf Fishing, Dolphin Kayak Excursions, and seven miles of Undeveloped Seashores

Touring to observe loggerhead turtle nests, work with researchers to catch and mark bats, look ahead to greater than 300 fowl species, and sail on riverways with wholesome populations of river otters, alligators, and occasional flamingos may counsel going to Costa Rica, Panama, or Colombia. However in central Georgia’s Golden Isles, Little St. Simons Island presents a uncommon coastal wilderness immersion inside home borders.

“There aren’t a whole lot of locations in mainland America the place you possibly can simply have an actual journey,” says Jamie Pazur, the overall supervisor of the largely undeveloped island the place friends in a single day in a 1917 searching lodge or one in all 5 cozy cabins amid 11,000 acres of wilderness.

Positioned within the 135-square-mile delta of the Altamaha River the place it meets the ocean—among the many best estuaries on the Atlantic coast—the barrier island exists to get friends into nature. It makes use of its proceeds to fund the island-based Middle for Coastal Conservation, incomes it a spot on Journey + Leisure’s 2025 International Imaginative and prescient Awards checklist for its work in defending the habitat for quite a lot of wildlife.

“Our friends are contributing to conservation once they come keep right here,” says Scott Coleman, the island’s ecological supervisor who directs the Middle for Coastal Conservation, including that that is true even when guests favor to easily learn beneath a dwell oak tree fairly than have interaction in programming.

But it surely’s the island’s naturalist-led actions that make it an academic journey. Very similar to a safari camp, friends have the selection of morning and afternoon excursions similar to shell walks on seven miles of undisturbed seashores, surf fishing for ocean species, kayaking tidal rivers in quest of dolphins, birding from a pontoon boat within the marsh, climbing a number of the 26 miles of trails, and taking a wildlife-watching journey at the back of an open pickup truck.

At night time, after a social hour by the pool or an oyster roast, a naturalist or researcher may give a chat on oystercatcher breeding on the island, the introduction of armadillos, or the success of its 40-year program to guard sea turtles, leading to a progress fee amongst loggerheads of three p.c a yr.

Rustic lodging for a most of 32 friends—out there for full-island buyouts—add to the locations’s throwback allure, with rockers on the porches and cabins with knotty-pine interiors. Marsh views and the shade of dwell oaks keep the connection to nature and stays embrace every day Lowcountry meals fastidiously sourced from native farmers or the on-site backyard. 

For individuals who need to keep away from group excursions, Little St. Simons encourages friends to take a motorbike to an empty seashore or line up their very own kayak outing full with a packed picnic lunch.

Pazur provides, “When our friends come right here, we feed them nicely, we give them comfy lodging, after which we give them nothing to fret about to allow them to spend as a lot time as doable exterior the primary compound the place all of the buildings are, having fun with the island and actually attending to expertise nature.”