A 4 park morning

Posted on September 5, 2022 by dinajohnston

It was hot as usual at the end of July. I headed out early one morning for a walk at Fred Howard Park in Tarpon Springs. I hadn’t spent a lot of time here, only driven through. I parked in the shaded area of the park and walked out on the causeway that leads to the beach. I was hoping for a breeze but didn’t get much of a whiff this morning but it was a beaufiful morning and I saw several dolphins far out in the gulf.

After my walk at Howard Park, I stopped at nearby Sunset Beach. It’s a small spit of sand but also a small piece of heaven the morning I was there. I imagine it’s packed on the weekends but early this Wednesday morning it was quiet and I sat on the bench for a while, watching more dolphins go by.

And if you forgot to bring a book with you to read on the beach, there’s a free library in the parking lot.

Another quick stop was the Anclote River Park, just north of Tarpon Springs.

A replica of the Anclote lighthouse was in the parking lot. The actual lighthouse is on Anclote Key, only accessible by boat.

One last stop was the Anclote Gulf Park just a few minutes away. I walked out on the long fishing pier and was hoping for dolphins here but didn’t see any.

A great morning for beautiful birds

Posted on October 18, 2021 by dinajohnston

I headed down to Fort Desoto at the end of August not expecting much. As I headed out to the north beach I was greeted by a few spoonbills. I rarely see them here and in fact it was probably last fall when they were in the same spot. I wonder if these are the same ones that have stopped by for a rest.

I found a few red knots hanging out with one of the resident reddish egrets.

A red knot still in breeding feathers.

The best part of the morning was seeing an uncommon avocet. It wasn’t really a surprise though. I had heard 2 were here but wasn’t counting on actually finding it so it was a bonus to walk up on it. I didn’t see the other one although it may have been hiding in the sanctuary close by. There were 3 that hung out here last fall and I was able to catch those on 2 visits.

A young skimmer fluffing up his feathers.

A dunk and a catch.

Looking over through the sea oats over to Egmont Key in the distance. If you look close in the right hand side, you can see an osprey sitting on a branch on the beach.

The whale watching trip

Posted on December 5, 2019 by dinajohnston

This is exactly how I pictured New England. Sailboats and lighthouses. The big eggs are the Deer Island Sewage Treatment plan.

We took a half day whale watching trip one day and it was sunny and warm when we left the Boston harbor. The farther out we went, the worse the weather got. Dark and foggy and then freezing rain.

I saw my first wild northern gannet. They were pretty far out and would fly off when the boat started to get close. One of the bird rescue sanctuaries in the Tampa area has a few of them that were rescued at some point over years off the coast of Florida but I’ve never seen them flying out in the wild. We saw several during the trip.

An hour and 40 minutes later we found some whales. We had traveled over 40 miles since the whales were moving farther away for the winter. Everyone who had been huddling in the warm cabin came out in the freezing drizzle. There were a lot of whales that were close to the boat but none of them breached and came out head first. Most of the ones we saw were Minke and Fin whales. It was a lot of fun and everyone was really excited. My husband was not that impressed. He said they just look like really big dolphins. He’s not wrong but it was still a fun afternoon.

When we got back to the Boston harbor it was sunny and mild again. Since I have a tendency to get seasick, I had a patch on for the boat trip. I’m glad I did because even though it was sunny and calm in the harbor, it was rough out there away from the harbor and many people were getting sick. They passed out ginger candy as we left but I think many people thought they would be fine since it was calm in the harbor.

Cruising around the harbor.

Posted on November 25, 2019 by dinajohnston

The Boston harbor looked just like I thought it would. Old sailboats and tugboats.

We passed lots of boats as we took our sightseeing tour around the bay.

The view of Long Island. The buildings were a chronic disease hospital during the 40’s and was the inspiration for the movie Shutter Island. The Island has been empty since 2014 due to the bridge being unsafe and closed. 214 acres and no access. Some day someone will buy it, build a new bridge and build expensive homes. They should turn it into a park.

Heading into Salem

Posted on October 31, 2019 by dinajohnston

The ferry ride from Boston harbor to Salem was a lot of fun. Beautiful houses along the shore and you could see the Boston skyline almost all the way there.

We were hoping to see a lot of yellow and red trees on this trip but we were a little early. Only a few yellow trees.

We got to tour an old ship that was being renovated in the Salem harbor.

We found a black squirrel just outside of the cemetery and these pretty dogwood trees were still in bloom.

The dolphin show at Fort Desoto.

Posted on August 16, 2018 by dinajohnston

A baby dolphin was swimming close to Mom above.

The dolphins were swimming right under the fishing pier at Fort Desoto in early June. The water was clear and the sun was hitting the water just perfect so you could see them before they came up for air.

Someone caught a tiny shark.

A beautiful day to be out in a boat.

Over the river and through the woods….

Posted on September 7, 2017 by dinajohnston

to Daytona Beach we go. On the east coast of Florida. This was our first trip and we were staying over for one night to visit friends who were visiting for the week from Georgia.

The view from our room on the 14th floor. I zoomed in with my phone on the last one. Our hotel was next door to a small amusement park.

We met up with our friends who were staying near the Ponce Inlet and spent some time walking around the lighthouse before heading to dinner.

We had dinner at a fun little restaurant next to the lighthouse that was right on the water.

View from our table.

It was a quick short trip to have dinner with our friends. I was traveling light so all of the above were taken with my phone.

Lighthouse Beach at Sanibel Island

Posted on October 20, 2016 by dinajohnston

All of the above were taken at Lighthouse Beach at the end of Sanibel Island. There’s a small beach that wraps around the lighthouse and it was full of large jellyfish that were stranded on shore. We had heard there a lot of them in the water in the area but we did not see any at the beach or in the water at our hotel. You could not go up in the lighthouse but could walk around the grounds.

Another Saturday morning walk at the Fort Desoto fishing pier

Posted on December 17, 2015 by dinajohnston

I caught this kestrel flying over my head.

He flew over to the top of a pine tree.

Then a frigatebird flew close to the pier.

A juvenile hawk. He let me get pretty close.

The young reddish egret is still hanging around the pier. I’m beginning to wonder if this is a hybrid of some sort. Is it an offspring of a reddish egret and a white morph reddish egret?

A cormorant preening on a light post.

The osprey couple that nests near the Fort were hanging around together. If this warm weather keeps up this December, nesting season will be starting much earlier this year.