Gorgeous day at Nokomis Beach, short trip to Bonita Springs & on to Myakka

Sunday January 5 – Tuesday January 7, 2014
Myakka River State Park

 

 

 

SUNDAY

 

This was just a glorious day at Nokomis Beach.  No doubt trying to perk us up for the planned freeze in our very near future.

We got to the packed beach about noon and went right in the water as did many other people.

I got some shots of David enjoying himself. 

 

 

The waves were very gentle and it was possible to just lay back and float which is just what he did.

 

 

 

 

 

 

It was so warm and sunny that we actually set up the umbrella.  Today’s high was SEVENTY NINE degrees!   Wow!!  In January!!

 

 

These young men seemed to be demonstrating all the ways to move a paddle board along.  You can stand up like most folks or you can sit down and paddle or you can paddle surfboard style with your hands.  It was fun watching them negotiate.

 

 

 

The gulls and skimmers were claiming their section of the beach too.  Just beyond them at the very top of the picture you can see the density of people out to enjoy this gorgeous Sunday afternoon.

 

 

 

I’m wondering about this black skimmer and royal tern with their mouths open.  Lots of the birds were doing this.  Do they pant like dogs do if they get hot?  Help me out Judy.

 

 

And of course every beach has to have a beach bunny!  
I particularly like this kind of bunny at the beach.

 

 

 

 

As the sun fell lower in the sky we realized we’d been out here nearly 5 hours and if we’d just stay another 45 minutes we could see the sun set.  But when the sun dips, so does the temperature so we took down the umbrella and I put on my sun shield/keep warm white uniform.  Reading in my chair on the beach is pretty high up on my list of ways I love to spend an afternoon.

 

 

 

The sky began to color as the sun neared the horizon.  What a magnificent spot to be in at this very moment.

 

 

 

We tried to take a selfie just as it went down but neither we nor the sun came out correctly.  Oh well!   Nice try anyway!

 

 

 

 

The after color was so pretty that I went back in wading in the warm water knowing that it was probably the last time for a while given the weather forecast.

 

 

 

This panorama was my last shot from Nokomis beach as we walked up the boardwalk to the car.  I thought it was just beautiful.   I do love the beach!

 

 

 

 

MONDAY

 

 

Today turned out to be chilly and breezy.  The temperatures were in the low 60’s, not too bad, but 20 mph winds made the wind chill factor feel much much colder.  Not a good day for much of anything outside.  On the spur of the moment we decided to take a trip south to check out Bonita Springs as a possible place to stay put next winter for a longer period of time than the state parks will allow. I had read about Heyduke and his Bride enjoying this area and Imperial Estates RV Park. I tried to contact them so we might drop in to say hi but I had the wrong email and we missed them. We were sorry about that since we won’t get back this way before they start heading North.

 

 

 

We checked in at the office and were given a map and told to just look around all we wanted. So we walked around the park which is divided into 3 loose sections. One is the village which is permanent homes, not sure exactly how that differs from the co-op section but the latter folks own the park. And finally there is the RV section which is amazingly right on the river. Well some sites are right on the river which looks like a great place to put in your kayak.

 

 

 

 

 

 

We found, as Heyduke had described, that it was a very friendly park. Every single person we passed smiled and spoke to us. It also has a lot of activities as this board standing in the “center of town will attest to.   I particularly like the first activity on the board.  We also got an activity calendar from the office and it was full up every day of January.  You sure won’t want for things to do here.

 

 

 

 

From there we wanted to check out the beaches so we drove down to Bonita Bay Beach. It was a cold and blustery day but even so several wind surfers were out. Sure hope they had on full wet suits for this day. We took a quick look around noting that they charge $2 an hour for parking here. Perhaps the folks at the RV park would know of some free parking within walking but for a beach-o-phile like me, that would be a killer. If we’d spent yesterday here, the parking alone would have cost over $12.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

We’d seen a sign on our way to Bonita Bay Beach for something called Barefoot Beach so as our last stop we turned down the road and drove through a very upscale community to a county “preserve”. Here the charge is $8 per car. Both Bonita and Barefoot beaches were small but lovely. Isn’t every beach really?

 

 

 

 

These are only a couple of shots of the really BIG homes and condominiums on the broad brick road to Barefoot Beach.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Notice my attire standing here in the wind beside the waves of the gulf in South Florida.  It is COLD!   I know, nothing like the 4 degrees poor Carrie woke up to but still feels cold to me.

 

 

 

 

TUESDAY

 

Today is the day of the big 24 mile move north to Myakka River State Park.  We’ve been here before and it is a wonderful park with amazing birds and three campgrounds.  Our friends Nancy and Bill are currently camped Big Flats, the original campground located closest to all the action.  

Our site is in the newest campground Palmetto Ridge. The site is simply huge and has Full Hook Ups which really surprised me as this is not something we normally find in a state park.

 

 

 

 

The duckie view from this site includes an interesting collection on display at the end of our neighbor’s site.

 

 

 

He has two portable trellis displays all lit up at night.  Not sure what the “theme” is if there is one as he wasn’t there to talk to.

 

 

 

 

Good Grief is right, you just never know what you might see in a Florida State Park!

 

 

 

Tomorrow is David’s Birthday so we’ll have to find out what he wants to do on HIS day. 
Those who know him can probably guess at least some of it.