Beach scenes

"Key West or Bust" - Day 114

There's always plenty to see on the beach.  When you're hiking the woods you're limited to what's nearby -- sometimes just a few feet away.  Everything else is blocked from view.  On the beach you see what's happening with the weather, what's happening ten miles in every direction.

Today I hiked nearly twenty miles of beach, ranging from Patrick Air Force Base where some sort of radar installation stood right on the dune line ...

... to the town of Melbourne Beach.  A major storm had wound up out in the Atlantic. It had raised seas so high that it damaged a brand new state-of-the-art 168,666-ton cruise ship and caused it to return to port - Royal Caribbean's 'Anthem of the Seas'.  And here that storm produced huge swells that had the surfers out in force.  I saw many good demonstrations of surfing talent as I strolled along.

There were places where beach erosion had left virtually no beach at high tide.  The bedrock was showing through in others.

It was a cool crisp day with a steady SW breeze.  Here a cluster of black skimmers and royal terns were all standing facing into the wind.

The sky itself was a changing scene.  Here the clouds help turn a dune covered with flowering giant agaves into a work of art.

Twenty miles of beach - it is going by too fast!


Here is the map of today's walk, with links to more photos:



Cocoa Beach to Melbourne Beach at EveryTrail
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