The Essential Beachcomber

(Photo Credit:  Momma Gee) "Spontaneous" is a scary word to some people.  The very thought of flying by the seat of their pants or working without a net breaks them into a cold sweat.  Of course on the  spontaneous meter of life there are two extremes.  The low end would be forgetting your shopping list and grocery shopping without one. Going a little higher up the meter would be the middle-aged woman that goes to the hairdresser for her regular highlights but impulsively decides to go wild & get  aqua blue streaks  instead (you know who you are).  Impetuous tattoos and impromptu  skinny dipping would be on the wilder end of the spontaneity meter. (Note - Adding alcohol of any kind especially tequila can definitely affect your spontaneity.  My sobriety has definitely put the kibosh on my impulsive outbreaks of karaoke. But I can still sing a mean Bonnie Raitt in the shower.)   When life gets too daily you just ha...

  At the southern end of Manasota Key lies Stump Pass State Park.  At high tide most of this beach will go under water. In celebration of the full moon and the minus low tide, I treated myself to a walk out to the end of Stump Pass.  Manasota Key has four public beaches to choose from.  Each beach has it's pros & cons.  The main beach at the roundabout draws the younger crowd . Nothing wrong with that if your thing is dodging Frisbees, volleyballs, & sand kicked up by 16yo's strutting their stuff.  If you are on spring break it is The place to see and be seen. There are several restaurants, tiki bars, and my personal favorite - the Circle K (home of the 69 cent Polar Pop) within walking distance.   I usually speed right past that madness and head for Blind Pass Beach a few miles north. It' s remote location and  free parking are more my speed.    When there is a really low tide, I head to the very southern end of ...

  Sanibel Island is my Disneyland. I feel just like the little girl in the video when I find some time to visit my happiest place on earth. Thanks to planet position and gravitational pull,  I am heading to Sanibel for the lowest tide of 2013. The minus -1.1 low tide won't drain the pass but it will be significantly lower uncovering more beautiful shelling loveliness. Follow me on Instagram or Twitter for real-time updates.  Who knows - I might be jubilati ng like the little girl in the video by finding my first junonia. Me in front of the giant junonia on Bowman's Beach last year at the Shellabration .

About once a year the moon makes it's closest approach to the earth called the "perigee moon".  Rachel of   Life As I See  It   blog took this foto in her Englewood, Fl backyard. The biggest and brightest full moon of the year paid us a visit last Saturday night.  Our celestial neighbor passed a little closer to Earth than normal sending all of us who are sensitive to gravitational pull into a little tizzy.   Don't we all feel just a tad cuckoo around a full moon?   My dad was a paramedic for 30 years. He was  full of stories of all the crazy things that happened and looney tunes people that showed up during a full moon on his shift. Maternity nurses swear more births happen on a full moon. During my customer service career at a big box home improvement store I can personally vouch that every off-balance person from 20 miles around showed up at the front desk with some outlandish tale of customer service woe on the full moon...

This is Monday's tide chart for Sanibel Island.  Notice the big dip at 6am.  That is a minus .08 low tide which translated into beachcomber language = Hotdigity dawg! I'm on my way to Sanibel! I'll set my alarm for 3am.  After I hit the road & drink one of these, I'll be in Sanibel  in 1 1/2 hours. I'll be there in time to see this. (Credit:   http://www.foreverwherever.com ) And find some of these. (Credit:   http://www.cafepress.com/sanibelslacker.503030918 ) Woo Hoo!

The Sunshine Skyway Bridge spans across Florida's Tampa Bay, with a cable-stayed main span and a length of 29,040 feet; exactly 5.5 miles. Its part of I-275 and US 19, which connects  St. Petersburg  in Pinellas County and Terra Ceia in Manatee County, and passes through Hillsborough County waters.  We all have highways & by-ways that we travel on a consistant basis.  No need for maps or GPS.  All the landmarks and exits are all too familiar from years of back & forth.  That's how I am with I-75 & I-275 in Florida.  I have navigated them for so many years that I can put myself on auto-pilot and end up wherever I am heading north or south.  These days I travel north to St. Petersburg to the Bay Pines VA Hospital where the Hubbs has all his doctor appointments.  I know exactly how long it will take us to get there at any given time of day barring any unforeseeable circumstances.  Crossing the Sunshine Skywa...

“Whether the weather be fine, Whether the weather be not, Whether the weather be cold, Whether the weather be hot, We'll weather the weather, Whatever the whether, Whether we like it or not” The good news is rain has arrived in SWFL. There is a huge sucking sound as the parched ground soaks in the late afternoon showers. The trees & landscaping are greening up again.  The grass is green & growing.  The bad news is any outdoor activity has to be accomplished early in the day to avoid the afternoon thunderstorms.  Lightning just takes all the fun out of the beach or open water.  Back to the good news - NW winds & summer storms bring in the shells! I am re-posting a shelling adventure from last summer where I took off for Sanibel without checking the weather forcast.  Duh! I did check the tide chart for the negative low tide but failed to see the tropical depression heading dead-on Sanibel. Kids - do not try this at home. I am a trained shelling ...