Time Off for a Beach Break at Lover’s Key

Tuesday February 23, 2016                                                               Most Recent Posts:
Koreshan State Historic Sites                                                            Are You Kidding?  The Jack and Now the Phone?
Estero, Florida                                                                                  Ups and Downs Windows and Jacks

 

Wow what a great bunch of comments on yesterday’s post. 
Thank you all so much for letting me know you are out there and share my pain. 
It really did boost my spirits as your comments always do. 
If you haven’t read the great comments and added your own,
it’s the top link above.

 

 

Today is predicted to be sunny and in the upper 70’s so we head over to Lover’s Key State Park where we are not going think about jacks or phones. 

We pay $8 to spend the afternoon on the beach.  Our other choices here in southwest Florida for spending the entire afternoon involve between $2 and $4 an hour in parking fees for the use of county beaches.

Lover’s Key has 2 parking lots.  One is a bit far from the beach and the other is further yet.  If it looks like we made tire tracks with our beach buggy or cart, you’d be wrong.  At least not yet.  But we’ve sure got a front row seat for all those big waves on the gulf.

Looking both directions, South and then North, there really aren’t a lot of people out as we arrive around 11:30.  Had to wait for it to warm up.   That’s us in the foreground of both pictures.  We’ve got the umbrella for the sun which is supposed to be out all day but so far it isn’t hot enough for us to need to put it up.

 

 

 

 

Of course I have to check out the water. It’s been a relatively cold and rainy winter here in south Florida and the water is too chilly even for an oceanoholic like me.  Too bad since in previous years here we’ve been swimming in January and I’m wearing my suit.  Optimistic thinking clearly.

 

 

So back I come for some reading and more people and bird watching.

 

 

We get out our umbrella to deal with the sun and its heat.  Hope it’s working on warming up the water for another day.

 

 

 

The regulars are here on patrol.  The Willet.

 

The ruddy turnstone and the sanderling.

 

I’m terrible at identifying gulls other than to say they are gulls.  But I’m going to take a chance here and based on this behavior of throwing back his head and cackling say this is a laughing gull.

 

 

Looks like he is in non breeding plummage.  I hope it’s the beak that’s giving it away.

 

 

I’m thinking this is also a laughing gull perhaps going into breeding plumage although if so, his beak isn’t reddish yet.

 

 

Just off shore and I mean as close as these pelicans is a dolphin moving north.  I don’t know how he can be so close in where the water is so shallow.  

I’m not fast enough to catch him any of the times he comes up in the places I, of course, am not pointing my camera.  But I get good looks at him and do get these two pelicans flying along right behind him.  Guess they think he knows something of interest to them.

 

 

The population on the beach picks up and in flies a great blue heron to stake out a space between two women fishing at the edge of the shore.  He isn’t bothered at all by all the people walking right by him.

 

 

 

 

He stands up quite tall when he first arrives but once he gets the lay of the land he settles back down.

 

 

By mid afternoon, the winds have picked up  and the waves are looking rather un Gulf like.

 

 

 

With the winds up and the sun retreating behind clouds, we take down the umbrella and bring out the beach towels as covers.  I’m using my Kindle at the beach and it works great.  Even with the sun in and out behind clouds, it is a very bright day.  David can’t see his camera LCD screen, I can’t see my old phone LCD screen but the Kindle is great.  No problem at all reading in this bright light.  So why don’t the camera and phone people use this same technology?

The only thing I don’t like about the Kindle, other than I can’t smell the ink and thumb through the pages,  is the quality of books for free.  I’m having a very hard time finding well written literary fiction like say All The Light We Cannot See.   It’s available on Kindle of course but not for free.  In fact, I’ve seen books that are as much for the Kindle as for a hardback and some Kindle books costing more than the paperback edition which I suspect is the way things are going.  Once folks have an e-reader they gradually slip into paying more and more for their “books”.

I am using my library to get Kindle books but the hold times are very long for the things I want to read.  Guess you can’t have everything.

 

As the afternoon wanes and the fisherwomen leave, the Great Blue Heron takes off as well.  Although David didn’t get him centered in the picture.  I like this close up of his wings.

 

 

David has a good day with in flight pictures also capturing this osprey.

 

I had read that some beaches banned these metal detector things but apparently that’s not the case here.  I always think these guys look funny and it is usually guys.  Wonder if they ever actually find anything worth having?  Hope so since the equipment is pretty expensive.

 

We’ve been here since about 11:30 and it’s nearly 5:00 now.  Wish we’d brought some dinner with our lunch so we could stay to see the sunset over the Gulf.  The temperatures are dropping fast so we pack it up and head out.  A day in February on a sandy beach on the Gulf  with nothing to do but watch the birds and read.  What a wonderful life!