Just Beachy

Today was a lovely day off.  My fiance and I drove to New Smyrna beach which was less than an hour from the park.  We had absolutely perfect weather and the beach was not crowded at all.  There were several other people there, but we had plenty of room to ourselves.  I'm sure it was good that we were there on a weekday.


There were no Seagulls anywhere.  I think this is the first time that I have ever been to a beach that wasn't overrun with Seagulls.  I don't know why that is.  There were a few other birds.  We saw a few Pelicans fly over us and there were several Ruddy Turnstones that were always pecking around on the beach nearby.  There was also one bird that only thought that it was a Ruddy Turnstone.  It stayed with the group the whole time we were there.


The waves were nice.  I usually prefer the calmer Gulf waters, but my fiance loves to battle the waves.  I think we were both happy with the water conditions today.  There were enough waves to play in, but I didn't get knocked over by them.


What is a visit to the beach without some seashells?  I learned long ago that while it is fun to collect pretty seashells, once they come home in a pocket, they just become clutter.  I would rather leave them on the beach for everyone to appreciate.  That doesn't stop me from collecting them and photographing them though!  Here is what we found.


Most of the shells that we found were tiny or they were pieces of shell.  On the way off of the beach, there was one more shell that I had to stop for.  It was the largest one that we saw all day and it was far from the water.  I wonder if it fell out of someone's pocket at some point.


Thought of the Day #42
At some point in my career, I think that I would like to work at a beach park.  I'm sure that they come with their own, unique set of challenges with crowd control and water safety, hurricanes and wildlife protection.  A beach park would also have some very different natural communities that I would like to learn more about.  Salt water communities are fascinating to me.  I grew up in the mid-west so life near the ocean is still quite foreign to me.  I had a small introduction to salt marshes and the Delaware Bay when I worked for a private nature center in Delaware.  What I learned was exciting, but I feel that there is so much more for me to learn.  Plants have evolved methods of dealing with the salt and harsh conditions near the shore.  There are also completely different birds, turtles, fish, etc.  Florida is an exciting place with so many opportunities to explore.