Pensacola Beach Blogger

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!

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.

Did you see the beach today??

With green flags flying, the beach couldn’t have been more beautiful. Calm and crystal clear, we spent an hour swimming out in the water with goggles. Saw a few small fish and a few jellyfish, but I’m still waiting to swim with the dolphins!

There have been some awesome summer clouds over Pensacola Beach the last few days.  In the summer I usually walk around taking pictures with a plastic grocery bag wadded up in my pocket just in case it downpours (need to protect the camera!), but lately I’ve been forgetting it, making these walks a little  nerve-wracking!

Yesterday was a beautiful cloud day:

Rain in the distance:

I saw this one later in the day, from the Pensacola Beach Pier:

One thing is certain. Big cumulus clouds like this always make for interesting sunsets!

I smile every time I walk out to the beach now that they’ve fixed our neighborhood walkway. Erosion from the passing of Gustav caused the dune under the walkway to wash out, and the SRIA boarded it up. Well, as of a few weeks ago, it is finally fixed. Thanks SRIA!

But what was even more surprising, was the fact that I have not one, but TWO sea turtle nests within a stone’s throw away!

I’m not sure how I missed these the last few days, as they couldn’t be any closer to my house. Last year, one day on the beach, Barrier Island Girl told me what the numbers and letters on the posts represent, but my memory is spotty now. Hopefully she can chime in and remind us all what’s going on here. I’m guessing the first few numbers represent when they were found (6-03 and 6-15). How can we calculate when they are going to be hatched?

I do know this: the eggs are very fragile, and should be left alone. It is unfortunate that we see what appear to be children’s footprints and drawings over the nests. This can put the baby turtles at great risk. Parents, please keep kids and pets out of the nests!

I got up early today, so I ran out to get a few shots of the sunrise. It looks like another Red Flag day on Pensacola Beach! Enjoy your day!

Each new day is a blank page in the diary of your life. The secret of success is in turning that diary into the best story you possibly can.
— Douglas Pagels

Today sure was a great day for February!

A perfect day for a walk on the beach…

…or a bike ride down Via De Luna…

…But swimming? Today? Yes indeed:

I was up early on Thursday morning of this week and captured the sun peeking through the clouds. The lighting was surreal, so I ran back to the house to grab my camera. Made it back just in time before the clouds covered up the sun for the rest of the morning.

Sometimes you’ve just gotta be in the right place at the right time. Turning west, I could see nothing but overcast skies approaching:

You heard it here first! I’m getting married on Pensacola Beach to my lovely girlfriend (now fiance) of 2 years, Lydia! We met in Grand Rapids, Michigan and moved down here about a year and a half ago.

We are having our September wedding right here on the island, at Our Lady of the Assumption and our reception will be held at Skopelos on the Bay, just over the bridge in Pensacola. If you haven’t been to Skopelos, I highly recommend it. Excellent food and service that can’t be beat.

I know this isn’t really Pensacola Beach related, but I felt that I just had to break the news!

Beautiful day today for January. I’m pretty sure it was in the 60s this afternoon. There were plenty of folks out enjoying the beach today when I got home. Click to enlarge the picture!