Pensacola Beach Blogger

This huge inflatable waterslide was set up the day behind Crabs on Pensacola Beach. Makes me wish I was 12 years old again:

Life is good, but who’s driving the boat??

This little captain was spotted in the Santa Rosa Sound, behind the Pensacola Beach Boardwalk. Don’t worry, her parents were nearby, and boat was only in about a foot of water, but it made for a captivating photo.

A sailor’s joys are as simple as a child’s.
– Bernard Moitessier

Only about 30 minutes away from Pensacola Beach, Gulf Shores is a fun change of scenery. After some shopping at the huge outlet mall in Foley, Alabama, we headed 10 miles south to Gulf Shores. Upon a recommendation we hit up the Pink Pony Pub on the beach for dinner and some drinks:

They have a back deck overlooking the Gulf of Mexico. We took the waitperson’s recommendation and ordered up some Nachos, one of their specialties. Very good, and VERY large. Come hungry!

The beaches here are similar to Pensacola Beach: wide, flat, and powdery-white sand:

Here’s something that I’m not used to seeing on Pensacola Beach though, an oil rig off the coast. Click to enlarge:

Wrapping up our day in Alabama with another great sunset shot:

Here’s some information about the Pink Pony:

Address:
137 East Gulf Place
Gulf Shores, AL 36542

Phone:
251-948-6371

Web:
www.pinkponypub.net – They have a menu online. Check it out!

If you’ve spent any time at all on Pensacola Beach (especially near dusk), you’ve seen the crabs! But have you ever tried catching one? Check out the crab we pulled up in a net:

If you hold them from the back, they can’t pinch you:

Of course, soon after we caught this guy, we let him go:

There was plenty of action on the beach this Saturday, with Taste of the Beach, right next to the “Life’s a Vette at the Beach” show down at the Casino Beach parking area. Even with all of this going on, the day was just too perfect to pass up a lazy beach day!

The towers you see in the distance are three of the Portofino towers. You can also see that the beach now has a different shape due to erosion from Hurricane Ike:

But there still plenty of sand left to enjoy:

There were big surfers out:

And little surfers:

A perfect day for fun with family:

Or fishing…

Or just a relaxing walk by yourself!

These guys were out a few weeks ago (before Hurricane Ike) kitesurfing (also called kiteboarding I think). I couldn’t believe how fast he was going across the water. You can click these pictures to enlarge them:

It looked like he was having a lot of fun out there until he took a spill:

I meant to post this a bit earlier in the week, but if you have any interest in astronomy, you’re in luck this weekend. The Escambia Amateur Astronomy Association (EAAA) is hosting a star gaze on Casino Beach (at the pavilion) on Friday, September 12th and Saturday September 13th.

As long as the weather holds out, they will have their telescopes set up to look at the Moon, Jupiter, and other star clusters and galaxies. Star charts will also be available for use. The event starts at 6:30PM and goes into the night.

If you miss the star gaze this weekend, they are also setting up just past the temporary gate to Fort Pickens on Friday, September 26th between 6:30 PM and 10:00 PM.

When I came home tonight, there was nearly a full moon out, perfect to get a night shot of the beach!

I’m still a beginner when it comes to manual modes on my camera, but I can usually figure out what I want after some fumbling around. For shots like these, a tripod is necessary. The shutter was open for 15 seconds, which is why you can’t really see the huge waves that are still crashing in from Hurricane Ike. Everything seems to level out, to what appears as a peaceful beach scene. You can also see some blur in the clouds, since they were moving so fast.

Speaking of night shots, I got this cool shot during last week’s Bands On the Beach:

This one was also taken under moonlight, with some help of the stage lighting from the band. The purple wavy lines you see are trails from children running around with glow sticks. If you look close, you can see where one kid threw the glow stick into the air!

Hurricane Ike is out in the gulf, and will be missing Pensacola Beach completely. But we are seeing very high waves, and the Santa Rosa sound is getting pretty high. These are some pictures I took this morning:

Charlie’s Beach doesn’t look like a beach I’d want to be on today:

This is behind the Boardwalk on Pensacola Beach. There is usually a beach behind it:

You can see the water crashing through the dock behind the big stage:

To get that last shot, I had to run out on the dock while timing and dodging the waves shooting up through the wood:

Forget sea-side dining. How about dining IN the sea?

Some of these scenes were amazing, but this flooding is making a mess in some areas:

As with Hurricane Gustav, the flooding has taken over the picnic area on Pensacola Beach:

Well, I’ve never seen this. Waves actually crashing over the Pensacola Beach Pier!

The pictures I took from under the pier ended up looking like scenes out of an Indiana Jones movie. Check this out:

Run for your life!

These are some of the biggest waves I’ve ever seen out here on the beach:

Hurricane Ike is causing some high tides and flooding over in my neighborhood on Pensacola Beach, the sound-side in particular. I woke up this morning to a beautiful sunrise:

But water rushing down the street is never a good sign:

Looks like the Gulf is coming over the dunes! Not a good thing for our expected turtle hatchlings on Pensacola Beach.

In fact, I found this screen covering used to keep crabs out of the turtle nests. I’ll be sure to let Barrier Island Girl and Traveling Turtle Girl know.

The Santa Rosa sound is rising:

And it is causing plenty of problems for my neighbors on the sound-side of the island:

I took many more pictures down at the pier this morning… I’ll have them up shortly!