Fun & Interesting Walk on the Beach!

After yesterday's exciting walk, I wonder what awaits me today as I approach the water.

There is no breeze today and it is very cloudy. The sun is trying to peak through the clouds.  Even though it is cloudy this is a beautiful sight.

 The water again today is very clear and calm and at times it looks like glass.

I start to walk along the surf and don't really notice much of anything.  A little disappointed after yesterday's finds.

I continue along and notice a few of the gar fish.  They are back today.  They are not swimming as fast today and sort of just lingering around and circling around.  So I try to get some better pictures than yesterday.

I snap a few more pictures and then move along.  There is a another bunch of people on the beach today.  As I am writing this, I wonder if they were the same bunch as yesterday.  I didn't really pay much attention to them today as all my attention was on the water.

One lady stops to talk to me.  She is the one that stopped yesterday and told me about the gar fish.  She introduces herself and says she also lives here and walks the beach every day.  Without saying anything to her, she said the exact same thing that I have been saying.  Every day at the beach brings something new and different.  No two days are ever the same from what you see.  She just loves it!  I felt like I had turned on a tape recorder and was listening to myself.  We bonded right there!

She asks me if I have seen all the stingrays that are out today.  I get excited at this and tell her no, I just arrived.  She said they are moving very quickly and swimming in large schools.  I'm really excited now and am  anxious to move on.   She tells me her name is Linda.  We say good bye and I start looking for those stingrays.

I go into a power walk because now there is nothing.   The gar fish are not all the way along the shore like yesterday.  They were only up by the pier.

As I walk along the shoreline, I see three stingray swimming along a bit out.   At first, they are just brown blobs.  They ARE moving fast.  I stand in amazement watching them.  Suddenly, they take a turn and are heading right straight at me!  I panic.  I take a step back and then I don't know if I should video them or try to get a picture.  This happened so fast that I only got a picture because that is what the setting the camera was on.  I didn't have time to change it. Not a good picture as they were moving so quickly.

They came and went so fast, they just left me standing in the dust!   Since they are moving too quickly to get a good picture, I put the camera on the video setting so I am ready for the next group.

Here they come.  There are 4 or 5 again moving very quickly.  One breaks away and comes close to me.

These stingrays are just fascinating to watch.

I see another large school of stingrays, about 10,  but they don't get close enough to get a good view.

They break up and a few come closer to the shoreline.  But still not close enough for a good picture.

The stingrays come and go very quickly.  Now they are all gone.  I continue on down the beach looking for more.  I get down to the pavilion and start heading back without seeing any more stingrays.

Walking along I find a live crab nestled in the sand.

I watch him for a minute.  He stays pretty much buried.  I am waiting for him to move but he doesn't.  I bump him with my toe.  He doesn't really move.

I turn the video off.  The next wave in he dashes out in the wave.  I think I scared him.  I think he was playing dead hoping I would leave him alone and then when I touched him that freaked him out!

As I watch the crab run into the surf, something catches my eye.

A Starfish!

 He washed up on the shore.  Before I could get a picture he was back in the water.  I waited for him to wash up again.  He wasn't coming.  It looked like he was moving farther out.  So I put my camera away, hiked up my pants (which were already rolled up)  and went in after him.  I was not letting him get away!

I pulled him out and laid him on the beach.  I didn't put him up far enough and he kept washing away.  Finally, I put him way up and took some pictures of him.

You can see in the pictures he was moving.  He was raising his arms up and down.

He was fascinating to watch.

The sun is starting to come out and the gulf is starting to get the blue/green look of the past few days.

I hear a roar overhead and look up.

It looks like a few of the Blue Angels are flying by.  They were moving really fast too!

One last stingray goes flying by.

Almost back to the pier and there seems to be more of the gar fish than when I got there.  So I snap a few more pictures.

Hadn't seen Stretch all day.  He is waiting for me back at the pier.

I think he is mad at me.  As soon as I approach him, yesterday and today, he walks away.  Doesn't pose for me so I can get some good pics.

Well, it was another fun and exciting morning walk on the beach!