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.
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. 
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!"
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.
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. 
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. 
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.
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. 
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.
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!
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. 
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. 