The sentry

A Great Blue Heron stands as a sentry to the old fort atop dunes on the west end of Santa Rosa Island.

Sunday morning

"Live in the sunshine, swim the sea, drink the wild air."

~~ Ralph Waldo Emerson

Saturday sunrise

A beautiful sunrise this morning! If you click to enlarge the photo you can see the sun getting ready to peep over Bob Sikes bridge in the distance.

Needlefish

How would you like to catch one of these!

I'm not sure if you can see the tiny sharp teeth of this needlefish if you enlarge the photo, but it managed to draw blood as my stepdaughter tried to release it.

Turtle patrol

All these blue heron photos make it look like I'm on heron patrol instead of sea turtle patrol, but I can't resist snapping a shot or two of them.

I'm very excited that I'm going to have more patrol opportunities this month due to folks taking vacations. In fact, I'll not only be spending more days at Ft. Pickens, but I'll also be able to substitute in the Santa Rosa area of Gulf Islands National Seashore. The Santa Rosa area begins not far past Park East and extends east to the first houses on Navarre Beach. I'm keeping my fingers crossed that I'll find my own nest. Until now, all I've found are false crawls. {{{sigh}}}

Obviously you'll hear about it if I find one!

Who is that masked man?

Maybe he'll grow into the mask in a couple more years.

Omega 3

Joe's favorite time to fish is around 6:00 a.m. and he never comes home empty handed. I think we've gotten plenty of Omega 3 from redfish the last couple of weeks.

At dawn

"The breeze at dawn has secrets to tell you; Don't go back to sleep..."

~~ Jalal al-Din Muhammad Rumi (1207 - 1273), 13th century Persian poet

Another blue heron

I hope you don't get tired of these photos. Great blue herons are such graceful birds and I enjoy photographing them on my sea turtle patrols. This was taken at Ft. Pickens. The other stretch of beach you see in the background is Perdido Key, just across Pensacola Pass.

More fish!

Looks like we have another redfish dinner in our future. Look at this beauty Sarah caught today.


The whole family enjoys fishing and are out nearly every day while here. Sometimes they go out early in the morning; sometimes they go out late at night. They're hoping to have enough to take back to West Virginia with them next week, but we're not doing very well at saving it.


Derek wanted to pose with his mom's fish before it got filleted!

More swimming lessons

Eleven year old Mariah is turning out to be a very good swimming instructor.


Derek is floating more comfortably.


And now he's starting to paddle around a bit. Mariah is very patient with him. He'll be swimming as good as she does by next year.

A trashy topic

People were very happy when Ft. Pickens reopened to the public and many people have been taking time to visit the old fort, enjoy the beaches, and do a bit of fishing from shore.

Unfortunately, people who do not respect our beautiful island have been given the same access to these pristine areas which have rebounded with wildlife in the years the park has been closed. Now, in addition to the elegant herons, osprey, and playful dolphin, I'm also seeing large amounts of trash.


On the Sunday morning Ft. Pickens patrol there is always more trash than I can possibly pick up in my Mule. Plastic bags are everywhere - some full of trash, others blowing around on the sand until they end up in the Gulf of Mexico or Santa Rosa Sound.


A large percentage of the trash I pick up is plastic bottles.


Oddly, I've been finding a lot of fireworks. At the site of the photo above I picked up around 60 pieces. About half were bottle rockets. The other half were larger displays. Is there any wonder the poor sea turtles are frightened away from shore when they are looking for an area to nest?


Empty packaging of the smaller fireworks are strewn about also.

Some people are wonderful about picking up after themselves and even go out of their way to help when they see trash left behind by others. They are setting a good example for the next generation. Still, it's sad to realize there are other people who have such little regard for our environment.

If you are interested in Ocean Conservancy or would like to learn more about International Coastal Clean-up Day (September 19, 2009), please click HERE. You may also be interested in checking out the website of Emerald Coastkeeper, a local Waterkeeper Alliance Member, by clicking HERE.

My special thanks to those who go out of their way every week to help keep our beaches clean and trash-free.

Tracking turtles - Another False Crawl

Just before 6:00 a.m., about three miles into my patrol, I came across a false crawl of a loggerhead sea turtle. Something must have frightened her away, or perhaps she didn't like the look of the area where she came ashore.


You can tell which way she was going by the tracks of her flippers as they pushed back the sand, slowing pulling her large body back into the water.


It's not uncommon for the tracks to ramble around, but not this one. She left behind a perfect half circle.

Maybe tomorrow a nest will be found!

Osprey

A large osprey in the Ft. Pickens area of GINS takes a break from fishing, but keeps a watchful eye on the Gulf of Mexico.