A Month of Beach Sunrises—31 in a row: The week three Extravaganza

Sunrise of April 11th at the Sea View fishing pier

This fourth installment in the "month of sunrises" project found me hiking the dawn beach in the presence of some awe-inspiring displays. If you want to catch up on what came before, here are the links to the first three posts in this series:

Introduction and the first three sunrises of the thirty-one (March 25-27).

Week One—March 28^th through April 3^rd

Week Two—The sunrises of April 4-10

Now, without much further ado, here come the rest of the Week Three sunrises:

Pre-sunrise sun pillar on April 12th.  This phenomenon is caused by flat ice crystals that are falling through the air.  The air flow around each crystal causes it to spend most of its time oriented parallel to the ground.  You can observe this behavior yourself by dropping a piece of paper or a flat leaf. 

On April 13th, with the help of high thin clouds and a few thicker ones, the sun seemed to be imitating the planet Jupiter with its stormy bands.

The sunrise of April 14.  This is one of my favorite shots of the month, with the gull and the billowing and towering cumulus clouds out over the warm waters of the Gulf Stream.

Close encounter.  Before sunrise on April 14th I came across this UFO—a jellyfish saucer—that had landed on the beach.

Ragged clouds and a red-rubber-ball sun made for a spectacular wide shot on April 15th

Earlier on April 15, I came across this beach castle.  Is this where the jellyfish-saucer Aliens live?

Another 'red-rubber-ball sunrise' happened on April 16th.  When it's very hazy the sun rises dimly, sometimes barely visible when it first appears, and gets bright only very slowly as it lifts above the haze.

Final day of the week, April 17th found the waning crescent moon perched high in the sky as the first pale light of sunrise was developing.  This view also features Sea View Fishing Pier.

Another of my favorite shots, the sunrise of April 17th.

Weather was wonderful this week.  Temperatures were in the 60's F.  While wind on the beach can make a day in the 60's feel downright cold, there was very little wind this week.  It was a pleasure to be out there as the new day unveiled itself.  I almost don't want this month to be over.