You are right about one thing, Dave, I really do enjoy flying over lighthouses.

Dave began his trip on Thursday and saw Amelia, St. Augustine and Ponce Inlet before he met me at the Jax. airport early in the afternoon Friday. We headed for St. Mary's , GA where we both had a great ride in the plane he showed you in his post. I really liked the door being off. It was a great view and I really felt like at times, when we were skimming the surf, I could reach out and have the ocean run thru' my fingers. We saw lots of birds, wild horses, dolphin and wonderful views of the marshes that are a part of Cumberland Island, GA. Most of you are aware that there are private homes on the end of the island where the lighthouse is, and they DON'T want any visitors, so flying over it is the only way to really get a good look.

After that adventure, we headed to Darien, GA where we were able to find a neat restaurant, Pelican Point...food was good and the scenery, since the place is right on the river, was good too.

Saturday morning we headed to Sapelo Island, GA to see the lighthouses and tour the island. There was much activity on the island and the ferry was full of visitors. Our tour guide, Alfred Bailey, was very interesting with lots of info since he has lived on the island all of his life. Somehow, someone who usually has the key, let him hold it so it would not get lost. The inside was interesting even tho' we couldn't climb up into the lantern room.

When we moved to different locations to take photos of the restored tower, a sign for another Sapelo lighthouse that was moved to South Fox Island, MI, caught our attention. Someone has built stairs and a platform so visitors can climb and look out over the water. The oil house for that light has been restored and there is a path that goes down to the water where the old pier was.

We left the island on the 12:30 ferry and headed to St. Simons Island. Never had climbed that light and since it was open, up I went. Later, we took a stroll by some of the tourist shops and out on the pier to take other photos of the light. Too bad the city folks don't think about the poles and wires messing up scenic photographs. But, it gave a great water perspective without having to rent a boat.

Sunday morning was a gorgeous FL day. The car headed to St.Marks Lighthouse. The wind was nippy but our LH spirits were high. Wearing my dive boots I was able to take advantage of the low tide opportunity to get photos from all sorts of locations. The cloud formations over the light added even more perfectness to the day. My homework had been done several weeks before and somehow I finagled someone to show up from the Panama City ANT Coast Guard Station to let us in the light. Erika Gonzalez was a lovely young lady. Because she came, many visitors were able to climb the light while we were there. They had no idea just how fortune they were. One dad climbed with his young daughter and an eighty year old climbed as well. Needless to say, we hated to leave but we needed to head home.

I do believe the trip was one of the best ligthousing weekend trips ever. Wish you all could have been along.

[This message has been edited by Nana (edited 03-13-2002).]