May 19, 2018. The Village on Saint Simons Island.

May 19, 2018.  The Village on Saint Simons Island.  The village is about a mile from our condo.  It consists of 4-5 blocks of tourists shops, restaurants, a pier and a lighthouse.  There is a park and museum.  We were there late morning earlier this week and saw three busloads of tourists unload.

The pier hosted 5-6 fishermen and women.  We saw one pull in a foot-long silver fish of unknown species.  I wasn't quick enough with the camera to show you what we saw.  Doubtlessly, if I had been, one of my knowledgeable readers could tell us all what it was.  The fisherman raised the lid of a cooler and tossed it in before I could get a good look. 

There was a pelican sitting atop the railing along the pier.  He was banded and absolutely fearless.  When photographing wildlife, I always take one picture from a distance in case the subject is flighty and flees as I approach.  If it doesn't run away or fly off, I get closer and take more pictures.  This bird allowed me to get within three feet of him/her.  She locked her eyes on me when I was close enough to reach out and touch her.  She did not flinch and she did not look away.  One could almost conclude she was domesticated and put on the pier by locals for the fascination of tourists.

About two blocks from the pier is the lighthouse.  It is one of the best maintained lighthouses we've seen, including those in Maine shown to you last fall.  The original lighthouse was constructed in 1810.  It was destroyed by Confederate troops during the Civil War to keep it from falling into Federal hands.  The lighthouse is said to be haunted by the ghost of a former lightkeeper who was slain in a duel with his assistant.  The duel is said to have been over inappropriate advances made by one to the wife of the other.  Accounts differ as to which was defending the honor of his wife.  The current lighthouse was built on the same site in 1872.  It underwent a major restoration in 2010.

There are several banyan trees around the lighthouse.  A feature of a banyan tree is that its limbs will often dip down to the ground, take root and jut skyward again.  There is one in Lahaina, Maui, Hawaii, which covers two acres and has rooted into 16 major trunks.  Those here are not nearly so majestic, but are attention grabbers, all the same.

We had lunch at the Iguana Seafood Grill.  The Iguana has a giant iguana painted on an interior wall.  She is wearing sunglasses.  Why she wears sunglasses inside, I do not know.  And, I did not ask.  I suppose it was supposed to be whimsical.  I have used feminine pronouns here because of the name we assigned to the iguana.  We decided to call her Lajuana the Iguana.

We have no plan for tomorrow.  Sea Island is nearby and is said to be worth the ten-mile drive.  Jekyll Island remains on our itinerary.  Or, we may do nothing.  Sunday is a day of rest, you know.

Goodnight.