Tides go up and down

It was mid-December and a bad storm was coming later in the night. I went out that morning for a walk in Dunedin and took the above at the Weaver Park fishing pier. The tide was super low with the impending storm. The small floating dock at the end of the pier was almost on the ground. I walked down the steep ramp and it felt weird looking up at the poles next to the dock.

The sun was trying to peek out but it never did make an appearance.

The storm came through in the middle of the night and brought a lot of flooding and downed trees. The next morning I headed out to the Safety Harbor fishing pier and found that the parking lot was under water. I parked farther away and went for a walk along the waterfront. The fishing pier was closed so the city could inspect it for damage just in case. While it opened later that morning I have recently heard they are going to tear down the old pier and build a new one some time this year.

The tide was up pretty high, almost to the sidewalk.

When I was walking along the nearby mangrove boardwalk I found a night heron hiding in the mangroves, away from the wind.

This wasn’t the highest the water has been but I’m sure it gave the people who live nearby a little scare. I love stormy days in the winter since it makes it feel like winter here but not the flooding they sometimes cause.

SkyWatch Friday

Debby in my backyard

A wet green heron was sitting on the dock. It was dark and gloomy all weekend.

Wet blue jay on my feeder.

Wet house sparrow eating.

Looking down the channel, you can’t see our neighbor’s dock. Everything was under water. The water was just starting to creep up into his yard.

Now our dock is under water and water was everywhere.

On Tuesday morning, I looked out the window while I was getting ready for work. This duck family had just climbed on the dock and was taking a nap. They looked tired. The water was just at the top of the dock and by the time I left the water had crept up onto the dock. I don’t know if the family had moved to higher ground yet.

We were all very lucky in our neighborhood. Other than the tide bringing the water levels up, we didn’t really have any damage. A tornado hit in south St. Petersburg and there was significant damage there. It was really just an inconvenience to most people. It rained most of the weekend and on Monday night the tide got so high that several of the bridges were closed. Hubby had to drive the long way around to get home and it took him almost 2 hours since everyone had to go that way. The big Sunshine Skyway Bridge broke a record and was closed for more than 3 days due to high winds. Now it’s August and the summer rains are here so it rains almost every day.

Camera Critters