A GREAT PLACE TO KAYAK
The Georgia coast is often referred to as a
passive coast. We do not get big breaking waves or heavy ocean swells. Beach
break is rarely over 3ft and peaks at about 6-7ft. It's due to the very shallow
sloping sea bed and the 'Georgia Bight' that the big wave energy dissipates far
off shore. These weakened waves tend to 'spill' over as they approach the shore,
so it is a great place to learn to kayak surf. The local board surfers have to be
content with short rides until we get the Nor'easter's in fall and
winter and hurricane activity in late summer.
The extensive salt marsh, protected by a chain
of barrier islands, provides many route possibilities in just about any weather
condition for good paddling. We have the choice of running the longshore
currents down the front of the islands or of going at a more relaxed pace
through the many
protected creeks.
Water temperatures range from 48' in winter
to over 80' in summer. On summer kayak tours, many people want to
capsize their kayak and go for a swim.
The ebb and flow of our tides and sandy
shores, their actions and re-actions, keeps the landscape constantly changing,
daily, weekly, seasonally, and from year to year. Even as a guide who experiences
these changes on a daily basis, the changing scenery is often full of
surprises.
The tides, along with the rivers, give us
some fairly swift moving currents, which when they reach the sounds and
estuaries hit incoming ocean swell and longshore currents. This collision causes
the sediments in solution to drop and to form offshore sandbars that can then
quickly form into Ebb Tidal Deltas. At low tide, they are great places for
pelicans, skimmers and numerous other shore birds. At high tide, they can
simultaneously have
3ft waves breaking on them and refracted waves bending around them, creating 'clapotis'...breaking
waves colliding with each other. These are great places to go boating to improve
one's rough water skills, and great places to avoid in your Old Town Loon or
Swifty. Our local Ebb Tidal Delta is between Tybee and Little Tybee...Yippee.