What Would You Name Your Island

How awesome must it have been to hop on a boat from wherever you lived, set out across the oceans, and land on an uncharted island.  Assuming you were not killed and roasted on a spit by the natives, you might have earned the privilege of naming the island.

I have accepted the fact that I will not ever discover any islands.

Today, however, we felt the excitement and awe that we imagine explorers must have felt when they landed on an unknown, beautiful island.

We did not know anything about St. Catherines Island except that it was a decent anchorage, and that it was possible to walk along its shore.

When we arrived at the island, there were no other boats in the area except for some shrimp boats off in the distance.   We saw no buildings, no trails and no footprints.  The foliage was stunningly gorgeous with moss-draped oaks and palmettos.







"It's like a scene out of a movie," declared Phoenix.

As we started our walk, we entered an enigmatic scene of skeletal trees scattered starkly along the beach, looking very much like a desolate tree graveyard.





We felt wonderfully alone on this magical island.  It was empty, peaceful and ours to discover.





"What would you name your island?" I asked everyone.

"Phoenix Island!"

"Indigo Island!"

"Sage Island!"

"Yes, islands are often named after their discoverer," I said.  "But they might also be named after someone or something important to the discoverer.  Like I might name my island 'Phoendiskage Island'," I explained.  (Phoendiskage is the name we created for me to use in place of my usual fumbling of all the girls' names when I am trying to call one of them: "Phoenix, Sage, Skye, Indy… oh, whatever your name is!")

"Something important to me -- Love True Island!" said Sage.

"I would name my island Food Island," said Indigo.

"An island might also be named after what it looks like," I continued.

"This one can be Palm Island," said Phoenix, "or Pele's Hair Island." (Pele's Hair is what Hawaiians call Spanish moss.  Pele is the volcano goddess.)

"Whispering Oaks Island," Jamey added.

There is a Palm Island (Grenadines), but there is not a Love True Island or even a Love Island.  There are no islands named Food, Phoenix, Indigo or Sage.

There is the Isle of Skye (Inner Hebrides of Scotland) where I would love to take Skye one day.



Sometimes islands are named after who lives on them, and in a Wikipedia listing I found six Pelican Islands (Ethiopia, Alabama, Louisiana, Missouri, Nevada, Texas) and nine Beaver Islands (Ontario, Mexico, Falkland Islands, Iowa, Massachusetts, New Hampshire, two in Michigan, and one in Antarctica - no beavers there, named after the Beaver aircraft used by the research team that named it).

There is a Pest Island in New Hampshire.

Islands often receive descriptive words as their names.  Bird Poop Island is the name that the girls call the little island that we kayak to back home. There are twelve Big Islands (ten in Canada, two in the U.S.) and one Big Burnt Island (Canada).

There are three islands named Inaccessible Island.  One is a British overseas territory in Tristan da Cunha which is the most remote inhabited archipelago in the world, accessible only by sea, and has a population of 275.  Another is claimed by the British and the Argentinians as part of the Falkland Islands.  The third is in Antarctica.  I would love to visit all three Inaccessible Islands.

What would you name your island?


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WHERE WE STARTED:  Anchored in Queen Bess Creek, next to Ossabaw Island, Mile 606

WHERE WE ARE:  Anchored in Walburg Creek, next to the north end of St. Catherines Island, Mile 620

 
THERE TO HERE:  14 miles,  Nancy at the helm.  Due to thick fog, we slept in and started later than usual.  As we joined the ICW from the tributary where we were anchored, we met five other boats heading south.  We were part of this parade till we hit Saint Catherines Sound.  It was fun to go the route less traveled.



ST. CATHERINES ISLAND: After we left the island, we found out that the island is home to the St. Catherines Island Center which takes animal species that are facing extinction, and care and breed them to build up their population.   The island has successfully bred many species including rare tortoises, parrots, zebras (we did see what we thought were deer tracks; maybe they were zebra prints?), lemurs and even an animal called the Jackson hartebeest (a type of antelope).

Archaeologists and anthropologists have also been active on the island, and 10,000 year old ceramic pottery has been found on the island.  The island is private, but the law in Georgia declares all beaches public from the ocean to the high water mark.  As we were there during low tide, we had plenty of room to roam.