Looking for a breeze

Posted on November 3, 2022 by dinajohnston

It was a perfect day to head down to St. Pete for a walk and hopefully catch a breeze in mid-August. My first stop was Crescent Lake Park. I was hoping to see hummingbirds at the big firebush but all I got was bees.

I happen to look over near the playground and saw this squirrel trying really hard to get in the unattended bag. A lady saw what was happening and ran over. She had donuts in her bag. I don’t blame the squirrel for trying to get those.

I stumbled on an outdoor dog obedience training class. Since I had my longer lens I was able to watch from pretty far away. All of the dogs seemed pretty chilled.

I left the park and headed over to the yacht basin near downtown for a quick walk before it got crazy hot.

From one side of Tampa bay to the other

Posted on December 2, 2021 by dinajohnston

It was a two waterfront kind of day in late October. I went for a walk along the waterfront on the bay in downtown St. Pete early in the morning and then went to the Dunedin marina on the gulf side for a sunset walk.

I got to the marina late in the day right as the moon was coming up.

Fun boat at the marina.

This little spot is one of my favorites to catch a sunset. I think it’s also a lot of other people’s spot as well because it can get pretty crowded on the weekends.

Maybe it’s because watching the sunset here makes you feel like you are on vacation. Until you drive home and have to cook dinner and do the dishes. Then back to work the next morning.

Rain in the bay

Posted on September 2, 2021 by dinajohnston

The rain was moving in but I wasn’t ready to go home. I was hoping for either lightning pictures or at least a rainbow. I got neither but it was still fun being out. I headed over to tiny park on the other side of the St. Pete Pier. I could see the heavy rain out in the bay towards Tampa.

A pano of the Pier (on the left) to the small private airport tower (on the right). Typical Florida summer day, rain on the left, blue sky on the right.

Turning around I could see the downtown St. Pete skyline.

One sailboat was heading out for the bay. I hope they dodged that storm coming in. It was suppose to rain all day so I was surprised to see them going out.

Across the yacht basin, I could see the big model airplane. A tribute to the first commercial airline that started here.

Growing along the trail.

Posted on November 9, 2020 by dinajohnston

Wild things growing on my walk down the trail at Boyd Hill Nature Preserve in south St. Pete in the beginning of September. Not a lot of wildlife then but they have great trails to walk on.

Some areas have a lot of dead trees and some areas looked just like you were standing in the middle of Florida. Lots of moss growing on the trees. There were very few people out on the trails. Not sure if it’s because it was so hot and humid or if people were still just staying at home. This is the place to be if you wanted to get out. The trails are wide and there’s a lot of them.

Cool new statue up in the tree by the nature center.

The view of downtown St. Pete from the trail. Typical morning of clouds moving in before lunch so the skies were overcast when I took this.

A new attraction coming

Posted on September 22, 2020 by dinajohnston

After leaving Crescent Lake Park, I headed over to the bay to see what the new St. Pete Pier was going to look like. Last time I was in the area, it looked like a shell. This was before the big opening back in early July. They were still putting the finishing touches on it but it didn’t look like much from across the Vinoy yacht basin.

Above is an old shot of the original pier that I grew up visiting when we came to visit my grandparents. Several functional piers were built in the early 1900’s but the first “attraction” pier was built in 1926. (Pictured below from the St. Pete. Pier History site). It was demolished in 1967 and the new pyramid pier opened in 1973. I also found a mural in downtown St. Pete of the pyramid pier painted on the side of a building.

Zooming in, far out in the bay near the pier, there’s always a lot of activities going on in the water and you can see the Tampa electric plant.

Taking the Cross Bay Ferry

Posted on February 6, 2020 by dinajohnston

Heading out of St. Petersburg on the Cross Bay Ferry to Tampa.

The Sunshine Skyway Bridge looked like a mirage from the middle of the bay.

A beautiful sunny day on the water in late November.

Coming back from Tampa in the late afternoon.

SkyWatch Friday

Summer storms in the morning.

Posted on September 19, 2019 by dinajohnston

I realized why there wasn’t any little birds around the firebushes early one Saturday morning at Crescent Lake park. A hawk was keeping watch.

You can usually see monk parakeets hanging around the ball park there.

No birds but plenty of moths.

This dog looked bored when I was taking his picture. He was standing guard while his human was fishing.

Starlings are everywhere.

I got all the way across the lake from my car and it started raining. Luckily I had thrown my tiny umbrella in my backpack so I stood under a tree for a few minutes hoping it stop quickly. It was raining on one side of the park and the sun was on the other side. After 15 minutes I just walked back to my car and was soaked from the waist down.Typical Florida weather. By the time I got to my car the rain had stopped so I decided to head over to the North Shore beach park in nearby downtown St. Pete before heading home.

When I got out of the the car there were a few parakeets eating on the ground in front of me. They were chomping on the ground covering.

Meanwhile, this squirrel had found a piece of pizza in the garbage can, probably left over from last night’s picnic. He seemed pleased with himself.

There were still storms out in the bay so I headed home for lunch.

SkyWatch Friday

On the beach near downtown St. Pete.

Posted on August 8, 2019 by dinajohnston

I usually only see reddish egrets on the gulf beaches but I found this one at a park on the bay near downtown St. Pete. I was bummed that the sun wasn’t out to show off his pretty colors but he’s still an amazing bird.

An osprey flew right over my head.

Usual things on the beach. Coconuts (although they look like tree boobs to me) and mangrove crabs.

The view from North Shore Park just north of downtown St. Pete on the bay.

I stopped by the Safety Harbor fishing pier on the way home and just missed the greyhound meet up. I would have liked to have gotten pictures of them all together but they were just leaving to go on a walk around Safety Harbor. The dog in the first picture was wondering why he couldn’t go although he looked pretty happy just chilling by the water.

SkyWatch Friday