Parents, think twice!! by OutdoorParents
Parents, think twice!!
I strongly believe that any parent with kids under the age of 12-14 should think twice before bringing them to Cumberland Island.
After visiting this place with our two daughters of 7 and 5, I decided to share my opinion about this overrated place, and maybe spare others from the useless effort .
You should re-evaluate why you do want to put the driving, physical and monetary effort of going there:
1) Planning. The strict restrictions of arriving to and staying in Cumberland Island, in the name of preservation, are questionable to me as an adult, and are twice limiting as a parent.
The ferry schedule is very limited, and unless you called ahead to reserve your ride BACK on the last ferry , you might find yourself in a ruthless race against time – hauling your kids on the sand dunes trying to rush from one boring place to the other, as if in a soldiers boot camp.
2) What do you want to see? Wild horses?? And would this be a sight which your child would also appreciate?
What is the difference for a youngster if they see a brown skinny horse grazing on Cumberland Island, than the ones at the side of any rural road, or at the nearest equine ranch? do you honestly believe you will be so fortunate to see those two riving male horses fighting , standing on their back legs at the sandy beach, as in those promo pictures ??
Collecting shells ? give me a break! Did you drive all this way, and paid that much to get there, only so your kids would collect some shells ? These can be found on any public ocean shore.
3) Remember: There are no restaurants, snack bars or vending machines on the island. This forces you to carry heavy backpacks with food and bottles at all time, plus there are no trash bins available, so you need to carry your litter until the end of the stay. And yes, we did see old trash lying around in some places, without any Ranger picking it up.
4) Restrooms locations are remote from one point to the other, so once again, you have to improvise your way to help your child overcome this challenge.
5) Obviously, you can’t bring your car over to the island, but although we saw about 10 Ranger trucks (Environment friendly?? Electric??) just on the south part of the Island, no kind of shuttle or any transportation will help you get around and make your stay more flexible and enjoyable.
It seems the extreme lavish way of life which once dominated this land in the name of Hedonism, was replaced by an opposite Spartan extreme, in the name of Nature preservation.
Bottom line , if you and your spouse think that seeing a few lean horses ignoring you in different ways, a few valuators on a dumpster , a glimpse of remote wild Turkeys, and some local hawks , will overcome the heat and the restrictions (which nobody dares to question) , better do it before you first born , or wait until they have grown up!
