The Essential Beachcomber

Just off the top of my head I can think of some really good reasons to get up early to watch the sunrise... 1 )   Alone time because the hubby is still sleeping.  2 ) The world is quiet & still.  3 ) An early start gives me more productive time during the day. Yup, I could give you lots of reasons to crawl out of bed for the sunrise. Maybe even millions of reasons. As the thunderstorm rolled across SWFL late last night, I knew I would wake up before dawn to see what had rolled in. No need for an alarm clock or wake up app. Just to sit on the beach and watch it wake up is reason enough.

Misty Morning Dewy Dayspring Soupy Seashore Bleary Boulders Petrified Patterns Pea-soupy Shells Treasure T rove Trio Shrouded Serenity (Thank the Lord for http://thesaurus.com/ )

The Florida Fish & Wildlife Conservation Commission webpage gets updated every Friday.    Like a drunken sailor drifting up and down the coast looking for a port to land in - the red tide algae bloom that made it's appearance on Christmas Day is still wandering aimlessly up and down the SWFL coastline.  Manasota Key was hit especially hard.  For 4 weeks now tourists, snowbirds & local beach goers have been hacking, coughing & sneezing all the while stepping over dead fish to try to get in some quality beach time. I ventured out to Blind Pass Beach on Manasota Key hoping the recent NW winds had blown the nasty stuff back out to sea.  The sun was out and the tide was low enough to make it a great day for sharks toof hunting.  The beach was clear of dead fish but there was a definite whiff of red tide in the air.  We stayed for a bit until the winds blew the bloom our way and as the hacking and coughing commenced we quickly exited the b...

Taking beach combing finds and arranging them in to perfect order. The shell line stretched the length of Blind Pass Beach on Manasota Key. Heading north from Blind Pass Beach will eventually bring you to the rocks. At high tide this area is impassable. On Monday this tide was a minus -0.3. Lots & lots of shells hiding behind the rocks.   The looking has to be quick because the tide has turned and the water is rising. The victims of the latest Red Tide outbreak from Christmas Day.  The county clean-up crews have cleared most of the beach but missed some of the more remote areas. Beautiful pink. It's about a mile walk to the rocks from the main Blind Pass Beach.  Head north (or facing the gulf > go to your right)  

About a 1/2 mile walk north of the Blind Pass Beach on Manasota Key is a little place I refer to as my Chapel-by-the-Sea.  It's not fancy.  There are no padded pews or air conditioning.  Just bare bones sand, sea and salty wind blowing against my face.  There are no choirs or instruments.  Just the melody of the waves rolling in to shore with an occasional Osprey singing harmony from a nest high in an Australian Pine tree.   The parishioners are feathered and are not paying any attention to a sermon.  They are more concerned with the schools of white fish moving across the surface of the water.  There is no collection plate passed but my shell bucket receives many gifts from the sea. As my thoughts and words of praise & thanksgiving go up, I feel my Heavenly Poppa's love come down and invade my heart in this sacred space.   It was, after all, His invitation for me to join Him and I simply said Yes. ...

The first tropical storm of the 2012 storm season -Debby - blew in, hovered over Florida for 3 days, then blew out leaving many SWFL beaches rearranged. The southern end of Manasota Key was dredged 2 years ago to open up Stump Pass and deepen the channel to allow boats to travel through without getting beached on the shoals building up by the constantly shifting sands.  The dredging was a success but thanks to the storm the pass has become shallow again.  Further north on Manasota Key, Blind Pass Beach (not Sanibel-Captiva) has a swath of new sandbars cut into the beach. Good news to sharks tooth hunters.  It hardly seems a week ago we were all hunkered down with tornado warnings, rain squalls, & flooding.  But the sun is shining again and SWFL is back to normal.   Lest we all forget there was a storm, Here's a video I took last Monday.  I donned my slicker and hiked the mile out to the end of Stump Pass to see if my junonia had washed in yet. ...

Every SWFL surfer lives for stormy days & high surf advisories. Just another day in paradise.  Tropical Storm Debby is rolling through SWFL bringing tornado warnings & high surf advisories.  Warnings like that are Beach Boy music to the ears of every beach comber & surfer in the vicinity. It's still a little too rough for the shells to roll in.  Low tide was at 11:11am & the storm surge had pushed the tide line past the turtle nests and up to the sand dune embankment.  The south  winds were gusting to about 30 mph with the waves reaching the 6-10 foot range. One of my shell sistahs calls these tropical storms "shell showers". I'll keep you posted. Just another day in paradise - welcome Tropical Storm Debby. Blind Pass Beach on Manasota Key was packed  with surfers and their entourages. No life guard - No board - no problem.  There's always body surfing. This turtle nest will hopefully hold on.

Sunday afternoon on  Manasota Key was 60 degrees cool & a 30 mph wind blowing from the NW. Never underestimate the power of large groups of young men in wet suits with surf boards. I was suprised anyone would brave the cold water & took all these fotos on my iPhone. In SWFL when the surfs up - twitter is hopping. The word spreads via social media that the surf is cooking.   There were surfers everywhere enjoying the decent waves. It's still too rough & windy for shells or sharks teeth but there's always something to enjoy at the beach.

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