Minor Ritual Modifications

Monday February 18, 2013
Sebastian Inlet State Recreation Area, site 49
Vero Beach, Florida

 

 

In the first few days here I’ve settled into a new routine that is a lot like the old one.

  

I wonder if like me, you have meaningful routine/ritual with which to begin your day.  The one I had at Flamingo was wonderful so I wanted to continue it if I could.  It hasn’t taken long to make that happen since it is again very easy to get over for sunrise, not over Florida Bay but over the Ocean now.

 

 

 

 

 

Then instead of walking over to Eco Pond to see who is fishing, I walk along the Sebastian inlet and do the same.  Many of my Everglades pals are here, the great and snowy egrets, the great blue heron.

 

 

 

 

 

 

True, there are no roseate spoonbills and several other of the regulars at Eco are missing but there are new additions like brown pelicans and other ocean going birds.   More cormorants, ring billed gulls, royal terns, black skimmers, sanderlings and other ocean goers.

 

Another ritual I love in Florida is oranges for breakfast every morning.  Yum!

Oranges seem to go with every possible breakfast,  oatmeal, scrambles, pancakes, cereal.  That juicy orange globe brightens any plate.  Sometimes I think I could just eat a giant plate of oranges and call that breakfast by itself.

 

 

Like many places, especially more urban ones, the people are among the most interesting things I find here.

 

Take our neighbors for instance.  Well no you can’t take them since they’ve left but on our first morning here on Sunday, David notices our neighbor’s coach.  I am astounded that they are driving it.  What in the world happened here and why aren’t they fixing it?

 

 

 

 

I go over to introduce myself and chat.  The woman is standing outside with her dog who starts barking, I smile and keep walking.  “Oh no”, she says, “ he is really not friendly” aka “he will bite you”. Well all righty then, what do you say to that?  She said nothing more.  I say “Have a nice day” and leave.  Interesting.

 

Later I bike down to the pier where the yellow flag is flying in the considerable breeze  Medium Hazard they call it.

 

 

I come upon another interesting character.  A young guy is doing what looks like a rap routine that he is filming using a tripod with an itty bitty camera on it.  He first takes shots of himself on one side of the pier facing the inlet and the bridge. I don’t really notice his shirt until I see him change it.

 

 

 

 

 

He then moves over to the ocean side in his new shirt and continues.   When I leave I notice he has yet a third shirt but I don’t stay to see where he is going next.

 

 

 

 

 

Other than me, these folks are his only audience.  The guys at the end of the pier with their rods and reels are paying no attention at all.

 

 

 

This park, and actually this whole area, is all about fishing. 

There is no visitor’s center here but there is a fishing museum.  Nearly everyone in the campground has fishing poles on or around their rig.  There are 4 different pier type places for fishing two in the inlet and two at the mouth of the inlet.  These spots are often shoulder to shoulder.  It seems to lighten up as the day goes on but clearly here fishing is not a solitary activity.    Fishermen are along the ocean front as well. 

 

 

Sunrise fishing
on the pier 

on the ocean front

 

The fishermen thin out if you leave the inlet and ocean area at the campground and go over to the park proper where the beach seems more filled with swimmers, skim boarders, and surfers.

 

 

I like to bring my day all full circle by observing the sun set.

As most people know, I’m a real water lover.  It’s hard to find a water spot where you can watch the sun rise and set both over water and within walking or biking distance of each other. I know, I don’t want much.

At Flamingo the sunrise was wonderful but I couldn’t see the sunset, only some of the reflected color.  There was no western view except through the mangroves.   That was fine.

But barrier islands like this one are a place where you can watch the sunrise over the ocean and set over a bay or an inlet in this case.  Here sunset is even closer to Winnona than sunrise.  So every night around 6:15 (until they do that dumb spring forward crap) you’ll find me out watching the closing of the day over Sebastian Inlet.  

This is what I love most about this place.  I can begin and end my day with the rituals most meaningful to me.

 

 

 

Do you have routines and rituals that you like to take with you wherever you go??