Last Koreshan Days

Thursday, Friday & Saturday
April 12, 13, and 14, 2012
Koreshan State Historic Site

 

I spend my final three Koreshan days all at the beach.

I’ve combined all  the beach days for my last entry from Koreshan so as not to bore those who aren’t quite as much of an oceanoholic as I am. 
My nickname is Oceanannie for obvious reasons.

 

 

On Thursday it’s Lover’s Key State Park. 

We get there and find that I’ve forgotten the camera.  Yesterday the bike keys, today the camera.  Hmmmm this is becoming disconcerting.

  So the only pictures I have are from my droid in full sun when I can’t begin see anything we were trying to photograph.   How do you guys without eye pieces do it with nothing but those LCD screens in bright sunlight??

Lover’s Key is 30 miles from Koreshan so the distance and the $8 admission fee mean I probably won’t be returning here for subsequent beach days.  BUT today this beach does have many more birds than DelNor and many more shells. 

 

I need Leather feet.

The beach is literally covered with shells.  Now don’t get totally excited, these are not big shells or unusual shells but still they are pretty shells and numerous shells.  Better have your sandals and water shoes if you want to walk on this beach or into the gulf.

 

 

 

I guess I’m a big enough target for point and shoot as I try to walk down to the water on the shells in my bare feet.  I’m trying to tell David it’s rough going even with my tough feet.  He’s not listening.  Later, when I finally get  the pictures off the phone, I  find about a dozen shots of me going to and from the water.

 

 

 

 

 

 

SUP practiced here.

I did manage to get a picture of what appears to be the latest kayak craze, Stand Up Paddle Boards, known of course in the 21st century as SUP.  I’ve never tried this, but imagine it is much more likely to be successful in the placid gulf waters than in the Atlantic.  Some might say less fun too I suppose.

 

 

This was one of the best ‘birds at the beach day’ ever.

The waves picked up in the later afternoon and a pelican flotilla flew in to fish and ride them.   We saw SO many pelicans diving and eating fish.  We got so we could tell when they would dive and tried to point the phone and zoom in.  HA!   We have about 25 shots of nothing but the water trying to get them catching dinner.  There also was an osprey who was fishing successfully too.  No pictures of him either.  What a day to leave my REAL camera behind. 

 

 

These 3 in particularly fished and flew around in circles swooping down to glide right above the waves.  All in front of us for some time. 

 

 

Have you been wondering about those Flamingos who came to live with us?

You’ll remember that among the Easter chick basket gifts was not only the sparkly blue bunny but 4 pink flamingos.  I’m sure Carol and Roger knew that every “trailer” needs flamingos.  And we now have 4.  Here they are on duty.  This is also what happens when you can’t really see what you are taking a picture of.  No great loss, you can see 3 of the flamingos.

 

Ok so Here’s the other part of that shot with the other  flamingos. All in pink of course

 

This bird was easy to photograph even with a phone since it doesn’t move.

 

If you are in the area, Lover’s Beach is a very nice beach to spend time on so do go. 

And when you do, here’s some advice.  If you are going to be in Florida doing the state park beaches buying an annual pass to the parks, $60 for one $120 for the family (don’t get me started on why the price for a family of 2 should be the same as a family of 7-one of my REAL rants), might be worth doing.  $8 and $6 daily entrance fees add up quickly.  Bring water shoes here if you want to go in the gulf without jumping sky high when you step on something sharp.  Come early in the day to see the max  birds and stay late to see the least people.  Everyone starts clearing out about 3pm.  There are beach side picnic tables along the paths back to the parking lot so bring lunch.  

AND HAVE FUN !   We did!!

 

 

On Friday we go our separate ways.

Although I love kayaking, I haven’t overdosed on beach yet so I head back to DelNor where the admission for one is only $4.  David goes out with his kayak on the Estero River.  Sadly, he still has no camera so there are no pictures of his paddle. But he reports that the park has a very nice easy entry boat launch.  Only a short walk from the campground if you have a cart.  Otherwise there is a parking lot there.  He describes his trip as a “mixed paddle” between beautiful stretches of what looked like “original Florida” and development - marinas, private communities etc.  He does see one manatee.  He sees big fish.  One he says is 30” although he “didn’t get his name or model number”.  He paddles as far up river as is possible given how narrow it becomes and then a ways down river but not all the way to Estero Bay.  He is out a little over 2 hours.

 

Hooray, today I forget NOTHING!

I am at the beach WITH the camera for 7 hours. LOL.   I stay to watch the sun set.

DelNor, just like the other day when I was here,  has a beautiful SOFT white sand beach.  Very walkable without shoes.  :-)

 

My spot is right between these next two pictures.

 

 

 

 

Great clouds today!

 

 

The bird watching wasn’t as good as at Lover’s Beach, but the people watching was great.

 

Especially the posing.  Tell me how is he seeing her in his cell phone?  There’s just as much sun here today.  Maybe that’s why they take SO many pictures.  It really was a riot watching her pose.  This went on and on in various locations around their beach chairs for about 20 minutes.

 

 

 

For me, this is as good as it gets.

Here’s my spot in the later afternoon when the winds picked up and I closed the umbrella.

 

 

 

The waves picked up and the gulf began to look more like the Atlantic.

Fun playing in the waves. Fun taking pictures of the waves.

 

 

 

 

By about 4:00, only we diehards are left waiting for the sundown which isn’t until 7:55 pm tonight.  I’m the furthest one down the beach.  There is no one beyond me just the open sand.

 

 

This is the beach look I like!

 

 

The sun is right on time and doesn’t disappoint.

 

 

 

 

The end of another wonderful day.

 

 

Saturday is it, my last day at the beach.  Well until next time that is.

We again go to DelNor-Wiggins State Park.  Today they are having some sort of festival so the entrance fee is $7 rather than $6 for two people.  By the time we walk down the beach to check out the festival, they have packed it up because of the dark clouds in the sky.  It never does rain here but unfortunately I can’t report on what was at the festival everyone was supporting with their extra entrance fee dollar.

 

Today seems to be couples day at the beach.  

It’s interesting what you can speculate about a relationship from the way people walk down the beach together.

 

 

 

 

 

I’ll admit, the sky does look sketchy at times.

 

But it never rains at DelNor Wiggins although it is clearly raining across the water somewhere.  See it coming down from the clouds to the water in narrow sheets?

 

It was enough to scare of the festival folks with their booths but not enough to scare off we serious beach lovers.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

This fellow was today’s joy!

He paraded up and down in front of our beach chairs, preened himself thoroughly and in general just put on a long long show for us.  Captivating to watch.

Another great day at the beach.   Never too many for me.  

We’re headed back to Treatmentville tomorrow.   Other than back pain, the patient is currently feeling pretty good all things considered.