To start this trip report from the beginning, click here.
Although we had a really fun day yesterday, I have to say that today was my favorite day of the trip. We started out by going to the Beach House Restaurant for breakfast, which is right next to the hotel. Next, we headed over to the Jekyll Island Bike Barn to rent some bikes. Jekyll Island has over 20 miles of paved bike paths, and it is really the best way to explore the island. The Bike Barn has lots of options to choose from: adult and kid-sized bikes, tricycles, tandem bikes, two- and four-person surreys, bike trailers, and dual trikes. After looking over all of the options and much discussion, we ultimately decided to rent a four-person surrey. It has pedals for 4 people, but can seat up to 4 more small kids (although more weight = harder to pedal). You could fit 1 more kid in the middle of each bench seat, as well as 2 more in the bench on the front. There is only one working steering wheel (the second one you see isn’t intended to work).
The four-person surrey is on the right, the rest are two-seaters:
The man working there told us that he recommended either riding to the historic district or across the street and along the ocean. It was a little bit foggy which would have kept us from seeing the ocean, so we opted to go to the historic district. I was anxious to see more of it anyway, after our tour yesterday. He gave us a map and pointed us in the right direction.
To get to the historic district, we rode along the edge of one of the many golf courses on the island. The scenery was spectacular, but I was pedaling too hard to get any pictures. As long as we were on flat land it wasn’t too hard to pedal (and as long as all 4 people were helping!), but going uphill was a challenge. Every time we had to go uphill, we would all start laughing hysterically which didn’t help matters! We eventually started letting one person rest (i.e. not pedal) at any given time so that we each got a break every so often.
We soon reached the historic district and enjoyed riding up and down the paths.
This is the Jekyll Island Club Resort:
I got off briefly so I could take a picture and video:
After this rode by the Island Sweets Shoppe and decided to stop for an ice cream break.
They have hand-dipped ice cream here, as well as fudge, truffles, and pretty much any other sweet you could want. During this break, we checked out the huge oak tree next door.
After our break we rode down next to the wharf and discovered this gorgeous grassy area with trees that have branches low enough for climbing. My girls love climbing trees, so of course we had to stop for a bit.
It was here that I got my favorite photo of the whole trip:
This picture gives you a sense of how big the trees are:
Next we rode some more and went into a few shops in the area. We also went inside the Jekyll Island Club Resort briefly just to see what it was like. It was gorgeous!
After we had been riding for about 2 hours, we decided we were ready to head back to the Bike Barn. I will admit that by this time we were pretty tired, but it was such a fun activity and I would definitely do this again.
It was now lunch time, but we weren’t very hungry and we were planning on an early dinner, so we just went back to the hotel and ate some snacks that I brought from home. We also didn’t have much time before our next activity.
After our snack, we went on a dolphin boat tour with Jekyll Island Boat Tours.
Even though we were early, we were the last ones to arrive and the boat was ready to go.
The ride lasted about 90 minutes and the guides were super friendly and informative. They narrated the whole trip over a speaker and even passed around binoculars for people to use. The first wildlife that we spotted was a bold eagle. The guide saw it perched on a very tall power pole. It was so high up that I didn’t even try to take a picture. Soon after, we rode right past these:
It wasn’t too long before we spotted dolphins!
Whenever dolphins were spotted (we saw a lot of them!) the boat driver would circle around and/or follow them at a safe distance. I wish I had photos or videos to share with you, but capturing dolphins on camera is not an easy task! I tried to for a little while, but then gave up because I was so busy looking at my camera that I was missing out on a lot of sightings.
In addition to the wildlife sightings, we got to see some neat views of the island.
As we passed by the beach above, the guide told us that it is called Shark Tooth Beach. Whenever they dredge the channel (about every 10 years), they dump the sand on this beach and all of the shark teeth from the bottom of the channel end up here. They passed around this megalodon tooth that was found there:
After our dolphin tour it was time to go check out Driftwood Beach. Located on the north end of the island, this beach resembles a tree graveyard and will make you feel as if you’ve escaped to another world. It’s one of the most photographed places in Georgia and was recently used as a filming location for the television show The Walking Dead. It’s free too! The locals told us that the recent hurricane altered it greatly and it’s not what it used to be, but we still thought it was spectacular.
While we were there, some fog rolled in and which made it seem a little bit eerie.
Soon it was time to go to dinner. The girls wanted to stay longer, but Mom and Dad were hungry! Tonight we ventured to the Beach Village shopping area, which is a cute little area near the water where there are lots of shops and restaurants. We ate dinner at Jekyll Island Seafood Co. I totally forgot to take pictures, but it was really good. After dinner we went into a few souvenir shops and got some frozen yogurt. By this time we were all exhausted, so we went back to the hotel and called it a night.
The next morning we woke up to this:
One last beautiful sunrise over the Atlantic! We ate breakfast at the Beach House Restaurant and then hit the road.
Final thoughts:
We thoroughly enjoyed our time on Jekyll Island. We visited off-season, and although we couldn’t swim there were plenty of things to keep us busy and the nonexistent crowds were a bonus – we felt like we had the island to ourselves. I wouldn’t hesitate to visit again at any time of the year. The beach front location of the Holiday Inn Resort makes it the best place to stay, in my opinion, especially in the summer when you’ll be hauling stuff to the beach. There were two things that surprised me about the island. First, I wasn’t prepared for the natural beauty. I have been to many beach towns, and this was hands-down the most beautiful and least developed. Second, I think the history of the Jekyll Island Club is fascinating and spending time in the historic district really does feel like you are stepping back in time. I can’t think of any other place I’ve visited where I’ve felt that.
If you made it to the end, thanks for following along!
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Disclosure: I pay for all of my own Disney cruises vacations, but occasionally I am sent on assignment for a family travel website, kidtripster.com. We were hosted at the Holiday Inn Resort and Jekyll Island Dolphin Tours for the purpose of a review of Jekyll Island for kidtripster.com.
Thanks for such a great review. I am now adding this to my travel bucket list.
This was a great review! I have never heard of Jekyll Island, but I would love to go. How beautiful!
I know, I had never heard of it before either! It is such a wonderful place, I can’t believe it’s not more well-known.