Summer 2016 | Sea Island Life Magazine Spring/Summer 2016 | Page 27

The Yacht Club is now home to six charter boats.

Rogers adds, “In June 1928, the Brunswick
News stated that the ship ‘is equipped with
every modern convenience and appointment.’ ” She reads the amenities listed in
the periodical: telephones, handsome furnishings, promenade decks on each floor
and a roof garden.
Rogers then directs her attention to a
black-and-white photo of past New York City
Mayor Jimmy Walker and his wife fishing on
Sea Island at The Cloister, where another
dock has stood for generations. “The
thing that’s interesting about it is they’re
so dressed up. He has on a coat and tie

… and they’re holding a string of fish,”
Rogers describes.
Though the original yacht club was demolished in the 1970s, guests and members still
frequent the current Yacht Club located
at The Cloister for summer fun, especially
fishing. It’s a tradition that has played an
integral role in Sea Island’s appeal to guests
throughout history.
Today, Sea Island’s dock is home base to six
charter boats that stay busy taking guests on
fishing trips. Michael Kennedy, the director
of recreation at Sea Island, keeps tabs on the
number of guests who fish during their visits.

Former
New York
City Mayor
Jimmy
Walker
with his
wife at
Sea Island

Sea Island visitors enjoy crabbing off the dock.

“We’re probably seeing close to 8,000 people
across our dock a year, ” he says.
The dock’s proximity to the salt marsh
is just one of the many reasons that it is
an exceptional base for fishing operations.
“Our water is really nutrient rich, and
with that we have an incredible fishery,”
Kennedy says. “It’s almost like a nursery
for the Atlantic Ocean, ... so when you add
natural beauty along with great fishing, it’s
[a] win-win.”
Over the years, the fishing program has
evolved to accommodate new interest from
anglers. While the staff used to schedule
mostly six- and eight-hour fishing trips in
the past, they have hosted more and more
first-timers, who want to try the sport for a
shorter window of time. Now, around 70 percent of the trips Kennedy’s team plans are
short ones designed with the guests’ desires
in mind.
“If they want to go look for dolphins
and fish for an hour, we’ll do that,”
Kennedy says. “If they want to