Hot pink

One nice thing about the weather being so hot and steamy is that I get to the beach early and enjoy the privilege of a sunrise like this one. Wow! Winds from the west make the ocean calm and a perfect mirror to reflect the early hint of sun.

Hopefully the rest of the day will be as striking and as rosy.

Double the fun

With this being the height of the turtle season my eyes are always on the lookout for turtle tracks or rarely to be seen, the turtle itself. I laughed aloud when I saw this little guy. Well actually not so little... I'd guess it's maybe 3 to 4 feet long. The fun comes from the expression on its face — priceless. This turtle is cute, just plain cute.

The best part is that I enjoyed it at the beach and again when downloading the photo to share with you. A double-smile turtle for sure!

Hello moon!

Since I tend to think of a full moon as being a nighttime occurrence it is always such a pleasant way to welcome the start of a day. This one presented a lovely ambience in real life and an interesting photo. I even spoke out loud to it... "Hello moon!"

Hot reminder

During this past winter when it was so cold for such an extended period of time I promised I would not complain when our Florida summer raised its hot and muggy head. Well, I'm trying to keep my promise but this morning it was just plain hot. Phew! Not a breath of air and if it hadn't been for that lovely bank of clouds that burning hot sun would have been unbearable.

I like this photo because the sun really does look like it is a hot fire and the heavy clouds help illustrate of the weight of the air I was trying to breathe. Fortunately after about 20 minutes a gentle breeze came to stir the air and the sun never escaped from its cooling cloud cover. Not complaining, really not... just reminding myself that this past winter I would have given anything for a day like today so I will enjoy every breathless moment of it.

Perfect u-turn

At the end of last week our county had counted a total of 451 turtle nests. The first one I reported on in May has already hatched and the little ones are off to the Sargasso Sea to grow. I still get excited every morning that I see a new nest and this morning I saw one new nest and this perfect u-turn of a false crawl... though this false crawl is unlike any I've seen before.

With most of the false crawls the turtle comes farther ashore and there are signs of preliminary preparation of the nest before deciding, for whatever reason, to head back to sea. This one was such a perfectly symmetrical about-face that it brought a smile to my lips. This gal didn't hesitate, didn't think about building a nest, she just came in and without breaking stride decided against the process and headed back to sea. Ah-h-h-h to be so decisive!

Here is a closer look at her perfectly formed flipper tracks in the sand. The hard sand makes them easy to distinguish and gives you an idea of her size by the distance between the left and right tracks. I'd say this one's bottom shell was 20 to 22 inches across. Dragging your 300 pound body on your belly across the sand would make me want to turn around and head back to the buoyancy of the sea too! Hope she comes ashore again soon, this time really making a nest and not just checking out the accommodations.

Monochrome

It was a strange day, hard to explain but there was very little color, everything seemed to be in shades of gray. It felt as if there was no air to breathe and it was like walking in a bubble protected from the world. Even the sun was without color... very strange indeed.

Thinking I was alone in my thoughts about being encased in gray bubble, I was glad one of my beach buddies stopped and commented on the strange atmosphere. Almost like we were trapped in some bizarre atmospheric inversion. The photo above shows the monochrome tones of the day and the colorless sun.

As is my wont, I started humming an appropriate song, this one by Paul Simon... can you guess? Yep... Kodachrome. Uplifting and a quick and easy way to dispel the monochromic skies.

If you are so inclined, here is a YouTube video that someone put together of the song that I find particularly appealing. Check it out, maybe you'll get this tune running through your brain just like it is running through mine. Good thing it is a happy song.

Study in gray & gold

Lots of clouds gave way for the gold of the morning sun. This photo is an interesting study in light and dark with highlights and shadows in abundance. It sort of reminded me of an art history class. Fortunately my canvas was huge and all encompassing. No sitting at a desk in a classroom, this outdoor classroom suits me to a tee.

Forrest Gump moments

It was oppressive this morning, not a breath of air and I was happy to go to the beach early, before the sun's scorching rays. A big ol' smile crossed my face when I got there... along the horizon were shrimp boats, their lights twinkling like holiday lights. I counted 10 of these working boats from one edge of the horizon to the other. The photo isn't fabulous but with a little imagination you can probably get the idea. Looking north or south dotted all along the edge of the sea were the lights which, if nothing else, signify some mighty good local eating in the next few days.

I did another post on the implications of local shrimp back in March of 2009. Check it out if you want your mouth to start watering in anticipation of good eats. Oh happy day!

A lot going on...


So much going on this morning. It began when I stepped outside into 80ยบ heat with 93% humidity. Kind of like my own personal sauna and the sun hadn't even come up yet. I knew my beach walk was going to be hot, hot, hot but fortunately it was not, not, not because the sun decided to stay hidden behind a lovely cloud.
That gave me the opportunity to enjoy dolphins just off shore, a great heron strolling along with me, bands of pelicans cruising just above the crest of the waves and a new turtle nest. There certainly was a lot going on this morning. Kept my mind as busy as my feet.

Rain at sea, none on me

There were several patches of rain at sea this morning... fortunately not one drop fell on me. Though we could use some rain on our lawns, this was simply a visual enrichment to my day.

I kept looking for a rainbow with rain and sun in such close proximity but it never appeared. I'm not complaining, was just hoping for some icing on the cake, so to speak.

Small, medium and large



My Dad used to call them sand fleas and we would dig them up from the shoreline and use these cute little critters for bait. They are rarely seen since they live under the sand in shallow water near the edge of the waves. Usually the only evidence of them are little V-shapes in the sands as the water recedes.


This morning I noticed a whole colony of them (maybe 20 to 25) above ground running around waiting for the next wave to cover them up. There were all sizes and picking them up reminded me how I used to laugh at the way they tickled my palm as they ran around in my closed hand. Here are a small, medium and large ones.


After these photos a wave came in and woosh they all dug down into the safety of the sand and were gone in an instant. I was so glad to have been able to see them for as long as I did.


The rest of my walk was filled with reminiscence of times on the beach fishing with my Dad and learning about the critters large and small.


After coming home and doing some research I found that when most people refer to sand fleas they are talking about those tiny, biting no-seeums. These little guys are really called Emerita, a genus of oval-shaped crustaceans known as mole crabs, sand fleas, sand crabs, sea pigs or beach hoppers. Their antennae filter plankton and organic debris from the water. They also eat the tentacles of Portuguese man o’war, which are collected by winding the tentacle around the sand crab's leg. Amazing... I never knew that. (See my post Portuguese Man of War from February ‘09.)


So today I learned something new, got to bring back some fond memories, and got to feel a sand flea tickling the palm of my hand. Hurrah!

Storms at sea, threat of rain... unbelievable sights!

It looked so threatening outside that I almost didn't take my morning walk, fortunately I turned to my trusty computer and the weather radar indicated that the storms were well off shore so I headed out — with my umbrella, just in case.

My reward was just plain awesome! The sun was hiding inside the mouth of the monster storm at sea. It looked like part of the sky was on fire with a red, orange, gold and magenta maw opening up in a dark and turbulent animal of a storm with bumps and ridges of colors and textures.

I was mesmerized and unbelievably all alone. During my three and a half mile walk I saw not one other human being. No one else got to participate in the out-of-this-world magnificence of this dawn.
Not having a wide angle lens on my camera I can only give you bits and pieces. First the fire, then the tumult then the whole panorama as I tired to meld the two in my photo editing software. Doesn't give you the whole vista, nor the breeze in your face, nor the feeling associated with low pressure but it is the best I can do. Though I'm happy to have had the beach all to myself, I'm sorry not more people got to enjoy this. Mesmerizing!

By the way, the umbrella was for naught... not one drop of rain fell.

Fabulous 4th

Rain on this Friday morning kept me from my beach walk at this beginning of the July 4th weekend. The photo above was taken about a month ago and when I saw the striking red, white and blue sunrise I knew I had to save it for the 4th of July.

I get choked up thinking about what a wonderful country we live in, warts and all there is no other nation on the planet where I'd rather live. Thank you Founding Fathers for your courage, wisdom and foresight to make this country great.

Happy Birthday America!