Return to Savannah, Part III: Dolphin-spotting off Tybee Island,seabirds, lighthouses ... and more

In this post devoted primarily to our dolphin sight-seeing boat trip, arranged through Kelly GrayLine, you'll see not only dolphins, but seabirds -- tons of them -- as well as a shrimp boat bedecked with lots of those seabirds; and the old Cockspur Island Lighthouse, all off or near Tybee Island, Ga. 

At the very end, I'll include some pictures of my time spent actually on the island's north beach, which included a climb of 178 steps to the top of the Tybee Island Lighthouse, the tallest lighthouse in Georgia, and pictures taken from the top of that lighthouse. 

The Cockspur Island Lighthouse, the state's smallest lighthouse, is now inactive as a navigational aid. It sits on a tiny islet off Cockspur Island. And while inactive, there is a functioning light at the top that is for display purposes only.  

While out on the water, our boat captains challenged us to take selfies with a minimum of two dolphins in the background. I was shooting with my Canon 6D, so I was not about to try any selfies. (Besides, I wasn't interested in doing selfies on a bumpy-cruise boat; I feared dropping my phone overboard!)

But I had another issue going on. The glare was such that I was never quite sure I was either seeing dolphins as they surfaced alongside our boat or just guessing that I was seeing them. It wasn't until I got home from the trip and started processing the images that I saw that, indeed, I had been seeing them, and in one case, I had eight dolphins evident in a single frame. I'm not talking full-figure dolphins; I mean some portion of the sea mammal -- mostly its fin or partial bodies -- was evident in the frame. I also had a few with seven, and others with smaller numbers. 

And yes, that eight-dolphin shot is the one leading off the post. If you need help counting, you can click on the photo and then magnify the size. There are three on the right side of the frame and five on the left. The three on the right are lined up vertically -- there's the splasher in the foreground, the decent-sized fin in the middle and the tiny fin (likely a baby) at the top, close to the shrimp boat. And then if you look to the left side of the image, you can see closest to the camera the bodies and one fin of two together in the middle. Closer to the top of the frame, there are three fins visible from left to right. The one on the far left is tiny, which could mean another baby. 

Again, I had no idea I had all these in the picture at the exact moment I took the photo. That's how bad the glare was on the water, even though I was using a polarizing filter. 

Any beach you see in the background of shots is Tybee Island. The restaurant facade you see is North Beach Grill on the island itself. North Beach Grill is home to the amazing Cruzan Confusion mixed drink. 

And from the image perspectives, you should be able to figure out which shots were taken from the top of the Tybee Island Lighthouse. The few shots before those and the very last shot of the post (of the lighthouse itself) were taken from the ground near the lighthouse. 

And now, the pictures. 

Next Up: Savannah eateries, galleries and boutiques

Previously in this series:

Part I: Revisiting Savannah's historic district

Part II: The Crab Shack, Tybee Island

Return to Savannah, Part II: The Crab Shack, Tybee Island

Lee Ann and I had been to Tybee Island before -- on our very first visit to Savannah in March 2017, in fact. We stopped for lunch at a very modest eatery, the North Beach Grill, on that visit. North Beach Grill was right on the beach, and we didn't really see or notice any other local dining establishments on the trip because our focus was to spend time at the beach. 

But on our Tybee Island bus tour on Monday, May 15, 2023, we got to see a bit more of the island (although still not much of the south end), even though -- curiously -- the first 40 minutes of the tour was spent driving past some important places in the historic district. Once we reached the island, the first stop was for lunch -- at the Crab Shack. (That's a portion of the exterior you see in the photo leading off the post). 

It is unlike any other restaurant I'd been to before. That was partly because its space for diners is expansive (I don't think there was any risk that we wouldn't get a table). But the grounds also has an area set aside for alligators -- yes, the real things -- and for visitors to view those gators from a safe, elevated perch. 

There are also exotic birds living in quarters elsewhere on the grounds, and there is a decent-sized gift shop (surprise!) there, too. I didn't make it to the exotic birds, but I did make stops at the alligator quarters and gift shop as the photos below will attest. I took shots of the view of a waterway near our outdoor seats (first photo below) and a black bird (possibly a crow) that perched on a tree limb near our table during the meal. 

I took countless pictures of the grounds simply because of how different this place is. That's what the majority of the photos you see in this post are about. 

If I had one regret about the visit there, it's that the food was not all that great. 

As you might expect, seafood items dominate the menu, but I was not in a mood for seafood that day, so I had barbecued chicken (first photo below), which for some reason did appeal to me when I saw it on the menu. It came with cole slaw, corn and toast. Unfortunately, much of the chicken was dry. There were a few portions that were decent, but not nearly enough as I expected. The coleslaw was unsatisfyingly bland. 

Lee Ann ordered the Low Country Boil, essentially a platter of items you'd find in a shrimp boil -- shrimp, potatoes and sausage. But her "boil" plate also came with crab legs. Both of our meals had plenty of food, and Lee Ann's was considerably voluminous. So much so that she begged me to take some. 

She didn't care for the sausage in the boil (I found it okay, but nothing outstanding). And while the shrimp was okay, you had to peel the shells off them, and given how many shrimp she got, it got frustrating and tiring after a while. I swear I ate at least a dozen myself, and I know she ate quite a few. 

I don't know what any of the other folks on our bus had to eat; curiously, nobody talked about the meal or the eatery afterward. I couldn't help if that was because everyone was abiding the old saying that if you don't have anything nice to say about something, just say nothing at all. 

Next Up: Dolphin-spotting boat ride off Tybee Island

Previously in this series:

Part I: Revisiting Savannah's historic district