Trip to Cumberland Island, GA over thanksgiving

Has anyone been (or live) down there during that time period? Good time to take photos of the wildlife and trees?

I've been there once, but it was early spring. St. Mary has a nice area near the departure point to the island. I think they do it up pretty big for the holidays. The island itself has a very nice canopy of trees w/ Spanish moss at the southern part of the island where you get off the boat. We started there and walked through the interior and then turned up the beach on the other side of the island. We saw the free ranging horses around the Dungeness ruins. We crossed some sand dunes and then walked up the beach to the marker for the Sea Dock where we turned and crossed the island interior again. We boarded the boat and headed back for St. Mary. Hope this helped and I hope you enjoy your time on Cumberland.

I don't think you will see fall colors. It probably looks much the same all year around. The ruins and horses will be the main subject for most photographers. The beach is usually interesting at sunrise/sunset, if you will be there at that time.

Need to resurrect this. We didn't make it over thanksgiving, but are planning another trip in April. If we go on Saturday, from 9:30 - 4:30 will that be enough time to see a lot on the island and take thousands of photos or is it more beneficial to camp on the island? My wife isn't too keen on "roughing it".

dsd17 wrote in post #9800228
Need to resurrect this. We didn't make it over thanksgiving, but are planning another trip in April. If we go on Saturday, from 9:30 - 4:30 will that be enough time to see a lot on the island and take thousands of photos or is it more beneficial to camp on the island? My wife isn't too keen on "roughing it".

I don't think there is enough there to justify camping, unless you just like to camp or are determined to shoot a sunset/sunrise. Really, you will have more than enough time to explore the island and shoot the ruins and wild horses. I think your photos will more likely number less than 50.

I'd have to politely disagree with sparker1. It really depends on what you like to shoot. I could personally spend days there and not cover it all. There are beautiful live oaks covered in Spanish moss offering many opportunities for B&W or abstract images. Virtually empty beachscapes, birds, armadillos, raccoons, alligators, horses, ruins, and an infinite amount of macro possibilities would IMHO keep any nature or wildlife photographer quite busy. I also believe it is a wonderful place to camp at the right time of year. I went several years ago during late spring and the mosquitoes were far worse than anything I've experienced on several trips to the Everglades. You might want to check with the ranger but I believe I was told the best time to go is early spring and late fall, meaning March and October. If you do want to camp its probably to late to get a reservation for April. You usually have to reserve several months in advance. Since I don't know what your photographic interest are it might be best to take a day trip first and then decide on whether or not to plan for an extended stay on your next trip.

I know I'll be shooting more than 50 photos. Hell I do that just messing around with my cats.

reece71 - Thank you for the post. I am really into animals, landscape and macro. Pretty much anything that doesn't require me to interact with a person. I'll be bringing my 24-105, 50-500 "bigma" and am renting a Canon 100mm L macro lens. I don't think we're going to camp, but its definitely a possibility to make it 2 days there.

I looked at your gallery. Love your B&W conversions. They are really beautiful. Any hints on what you use to produce them?

You're welcome. Have a blast.

dsd17- Thx, I use the Silver Efex Pro plugin for Aperture. It has easily become my favorite plugin.