Pensacola Beach Blogger

Ida brought an overbearing surf and pushed enough sand around to close J. Earle Bowden Way.  This is also known as the “road to Navarre” on the east side of Pensacola Beach. On my way to work, I was stopped by this roadblock. You can see the sand completely covered the road. In some places, you could see where the water crossed the road (click to enlarge):

I had to turn around and head back the other direction. You can see just barely see Portofino in the distance:

I’m not sure if this is re-opened now or not… please comment if you know otherwise!

Ida came with about 4 inches of rain, big winds, and a strong surf, but left with a lot of the sand on the beach. You can see how high the surf got over the night. See the water line on the walkway over the dunes? You can also see where it spilled over the dunes to the left of the walkway:

This is a perfect example of the sea oats doing their job. You can see where the surf ate away at the dune until it reached the sea oats:

See these blocks of wood in the sand? There used to be 4 foot high fences on those. The sea oats certainly outperformed the sand fences.

Other than the beach erosion, Pensacola Beach held up fine. I didn’t see any damage on my walk this morning. Fort Pickens Road is washed over, and still closed, but that’s about it!

We are starting to feel the effects of hurricane (now tropical storm) Ida. It has been raining for several hours out here on the beach, and we are starting to get some wind. It looks like Pensacola Beach will take a direct hit in this one. Thankfully it has been steadily weakening.

Down at the pier, the local photographers and Weather Channel reporters congregate… I saw Jim Cantore, Stephanie Abrams:

but my favorite sighting was David from Beach Bum Photography.  He and his wife took our wedding photos!

The island authority has been busy removing anything that hangs, swings, or could blow away. I took this from my iPhone this morning while driving. They are taking down the road signs:

Here’s what the radar looks like as of 11am:

Stay tuned for updates. I’m riding the storm out on the island, so I’ll be updating as long as I have power!

Hopefully everyone made it out to the beach yesterday. The water was calm and clear… a perfect time to do some snorkeling!

We found all kinds of shells and creatures. Look at this little guy:

We had a few jelly stings, even though we didn’t see any actual jellyfish. Their tentacles can still float around and cause a bit of pain, but sometimes I don’t even notice it until I’m out of the water. Here’s a tip for the jellyfish stings: If you feel a sting, don’t rub it or rinse it with fresh water. These actions will only make the sting worse by activating more nematocysts (poison filled sacs) on the tentacle. I simply try to ignore it and the pain usually stops within 10 minutes or so, but if you feel the need to take action, try using meat tenderizer on the affected area. I’ve personally never done this, but I suppose if I ever get a bad sting I would give it a try. Of course, if you’re feeling severe pain, light hotheadedness, chest pain, or shortness of breath, get yourself to the hospital!

Today is our big day! Just wanted to thank everyone for making Pensacola Beach such a wonderful place to live. I’ve called Pensacola Beach home for several years now, and I’m excited to announce that Lydia and I are both going to be calling it home after today. The “locals” on this island are all so thoughtful and caring, and we could never ask for a friendlier group of people to be our neighbors.

This surfboard was a gift from my parents. I love it! No matter where we end up in life, we’ll always have this to remember Pensacola Beach.

Looks like more rain heading our way today. Pensacola has had 8.82 inches of rain this week. Yesterday accounted for more than 5 inches, and it looks like more on the way today. I snapped this shot before the clouds moved in this morning:

Let’s get all of the rain out of the way this week! Folks start arriving on Monday for our wedding next week! 8 days!

I have a stalker!

I was working on some photos this morning and I felt like I was being watched. I turned in my chair and sure enough, this little guy was peeking through the tree at me! I was quick, and snapped the picture above from my computer chair. After he figured out that I spotted him, he lost interest:

He’s just the friendly neighborhood cat. Not sure what his name is… I love it when he visits me, and this encounter had me laughing all morning!

Bye for now, island cat!

Green Anole lizards are common on Pensacola Beach, and the rest of the Gulf Coast area. I often find them right outside my door, or running up trees as I walk by.

They eat insects, so I don’t mind them at all. The color of their skin can change from green to brown depending on their mood, or their surrounding colors, but they usually stay green when the temperature is above 70 degrees.

You can tell the males from the females by a white stripe down their back. The females have one, the males do not. It is a little hard to see in the first two photos, but you can see it on the tail here:

Sorry these pictures aren’t “tack sharp”, but I’m still getting used to my new 50mm lens! I went a little overboard with the aperture. I guess you don’t learn if you don’t make mistakes!

Got these shots this morning. The colors of the water and the sky were great for a photo shoot!

Calm for now though:

Remember you can click the pictures to enlarge them.

Walkway 21. This is my walkway to paradise.

I use this bridge over the dunes at least twice a day. This one, 21, is only about 150 yards from my front door. They have these walkways (or walkovers) all the way up and down the beach. They are there so that the dunes do not get trampled on, so please USE them!

This walkover was a disaster this time last year. Gustav really made a mess of things. I’m glad my walkover doesn’t look like this anymore: