Soaking it all in

This story was published in Liberty Life Magazine's Winter 2011 edition - After a full week of rain in mid-October, the sun broke through. Its rays cast a warm glow over the coast as St. Catherines Island mechanic Allen Dean steers his Bay Craft boat through the maze of marshes that make up the eastern coast of Liberty County. Dean’s vessel cut through the water of the North Newport River — a left turn here, a right turn there — as he weaves through small inlets on the way to his clandestine destination. “We started exploring all these places … the barrier islands and St. Catherines, and it was just a story that was handed down,” Allen’s father, Ted Dean, recalls as he grabs the anchor and rope. Dean, who grew up in Midway and once owned hardware and liquor stores, began exploring the river as a young man and still ventures out on the waters today. The motor throttles down, and the vessel coasts up to a small bluff on an island about an acre long. Covered with pine trees and t