Uh, Oh

   Many is the time that I have seen these "car boats" come through the Sound between St. Simons and Jekyll Islands. Always I have marveled at their size coming and going through those waters, carrying automobiles to faraway places and coming in to unload from far away lands.

   These boats look as if they are floating in, but I realize that so much of their bulk is below the water line.

   Carolyn and I spotted one in February 2019, when we were here after our wedding.

   Then one day in September, 2019 on a departure run with a load of cars (I believe there were 4,200 on board), the boat began to list as it made its way east in the channel between Jekyll and St. Simons. Realizing that they could not right the boat, the captain and port pilot became heroes as they took the big ship out of the channel and grounded it on the southern side where it sits today.

   A picture of the taken from St. Simons lighthouse.

    And another taken from Driftwood Beach on Jekyll.

   And why were the captain and pilot heroes in this story?

   Port authorities here in Brunswick say that if the Golden Ray had foundered in the channel, the sunken vessel would have closed the port of Brunswick for months, causing irreparable harm to the economy of the area, not to mention the hardship for many who work here.

   Finally, a shot from the fishing pier on Jekyll's northwest corner.

   The ship is lying on its side, hull in red, with the bow pointed toward Jekyll ,which is in the right of the shot.

   Thankfully no one died in this, but there were a lot of very wet automobiles, and I'm sure the insurance company is waiting, with bated breath, the settlement bill.

   And the Golden Isles has a temporary new tourist attraction.