Walking through a shower

On May 6, 2026May 6, 2026 By dinajohnstonIn bird photography8 Comments

We were getting a lot of fog in the mornings in early January. I made a trip to the nearby Oldsmar pier for a quick walk. I felt like I was walking in a cold shower as I walked out on the pier.

Land looked a little blurry from the end of the pier.

The very end of the pier was still fenced off since the hurricanes took out the tip of it. I have heard that the city recently repaired it and the end is open again so I’ll have to check it out soon. Looking out over the water I couldn’t see land across the inlet.

The sun tried to peak out but then it got foggier.

Birds all lined up in the fog as I stopped at a store on the way home.

A hot humid walk

On January 7, 2026December 26, 2025 By dinajohnstonIn Tampa bay sights9 Comments

It was a hot calm morning in late August when I was out walking along the waterfront. Not a puff of wind and not a ripple on the water. The humidity was high and it felt like I was walking in a shower. You could see the humidity in the clouds.

It’s been interesting to watch the pier being rebuilt. On this morning most of the posts had been put in and by now the walkway is done and they are finishing the end. I miss seeing the manatees at the end of the pier. Hopefully they will show up again when it’s finished.

I made a quick stop at the Oldsmar fishing pier before heading home. The end of the pier here is closed due to the hurricanes but you can walk about 3/4 th of the way down.

Some hot summer walks

On December 27, 2025January 3, 2026 By dinajohnstonIn bird photography4 Comments

I started my early walk in September at Philippe Park. I was still climbing the stairs to the Indian Mound, trying to get in shape for my trip to Italy. The flaming torch bromeliads were blooming along the stairs.

I have been seeing this crab trapper out in the upper Tampa bay for at least 10 years. He must have just started out this morning because when he starts pulling up the crab traps and dumping them in his storage bin the pelicans start to follow him.

I stopped by the Oldsmar pier before heading home and it was high tide. My timing was perfect because a dolphin came right up to the pier as I walked out. He circled around the area for a short time and then headed out to the deeper area of the bay.

The next morning I walked at the Dunedin causeway and stopped to enjoy the sunrise before it got too hot.

I could see a blue crab along the sea wall. He better watch out for those traps because this is what the crab trapper pulls up during the crab season.

A laughing gull takes a break in front of my car.

Dolphins and a manatee in the calm water

On December 1, 2025January 3, 2026 By dinajohnstonIn Tampa bay sights1 Comment

It was a calm morning on the water in late July. Not a hint of wind as I walked at the Safety Harbor waterfront.

Far out in the bay I could see dolphins cruising by.

I stopped at the Oldsmar pier before heading home and noticed that they had opened the pier almost to the end. It was still closed about a third of the way from the end and I could see the damage from last fall’s hurricanes. The end was missing and a great blue heron was enjoying the railing all to himself. It’s taking a long time to fix damaged piers and docks and some are just now getting fixed.

A few days later I was walking on the Dunedin causeway and watching the summer clouds roll in. I was hoping for some rain but that wouldn’t happen until the end of the day.

An osprey sits on top of the drawbridge arm. He has a great view up there.

The next morning I had a quick walk at the Dunedin marina. I could see a snout of a manatee coming up for air (in the 2nd shot). I waited a while hoping he would come closer but he was heading out into the open water.

A snowy egret showing off his yellow legs.

Linking to Wordless Wednesday (on Tuesday) at Image-In-Ing.

Foggy season was starting

On February 10, 2025March 7, 2025 By dinajohnstonIn bird photography, Tampa bay sights4 Comments

I woke up early one morning on Thanksgiving weekend and it was super foggy outside. I got ready and headed out for a walk hoping to get some fog shots. It was a slow drive through the fog but when I got to the Dunedin marina there was hardly any fog.

The sun had broken through and I could just see a little fog across the water over towards Clearwater beach.

I was driving home after my walk and 10 minutes later I hit the fog again so I stopped at the Oldsmar pier. I could barely see the end of the pier.

The fog on land was starting to lift but it still looked creepy with the crows flying towards me.

White ibis were busy feeding in the grass along the water.

The sun was starting to peak through and the tide was far out. I love foggy mornings in the winter. It makes it feel like winter here. I like going for walks in the fog but driving around on a busy street in heavy fog is not fun.

Linking to A Stroll Thru Life.

Summer storms

On October 26, 2024December 6, 2024 By dinajohnstonIn bird photography3 Comments

It was the morning of August 4th. Tropical storm Debby was heading our way and by the time it got here it was a hurricane. We didn’t get a direct hit but it skirted by and caused flooding along the coast. I was out for a morning walk at the causeway nearby, enjoying the cooler breezy weather before the storm.

By the time my walk was almost finished the dark clouds and rain were moving in.

The tide was super low. I was able to walk under the bridge which is rare.

An interesting thing to see on the causeway. Is it art or junk?

I also took a quick walk at the marina.

Early the next morning after the storm had come through I drove over to the nearby Oldsmar pier. The tide was higher than usual and I could tell it had come up over the pier.

The pier was lined with dead baitfish that had been stranded up on the pier when the tide went back down.

The tide was up through the mangroves and into the grass but stopped short of the parking lot.

The surprise was seeing frigatebirds cruising along the shoreline. This was the first time I had seen them this far north of St. Pete. I only see them down at Fort Desoto Park at the southern most point of St. Pete. There were at least 6 and I took the above video with my phone. You can hear the wind blasting. I noticed they were getting closer to the pier and was glad I had put my camera in the car.

The sky was dark gray but they stood out pretty well.

A few flew close to the piers.

Other fly-bys included a great egret, an osprey and a black tern.

Hurricane Debby was the first of three hurricanes to hit the west coast of Florida this season. Debby made landfall early on August 5th near Steinhatchee (in Florida’s Big Bend region) as a category 1. Less than 2 months later Hurricane Helene would make landfall in Perry, just 40 miles north of Steinhatchee as a category 4. You can read my post about Helene here.

There’s an old Florida saying – “Floridians favorite day of the year is not Christmas, Thanksgiving or 4th of July. It’s 11/30, the end of hurricane season.”

So much destruction and not even a direct hit.

On September 30, 2024November 14, 2024 By dinajohnstonIn Tampa bay sights13 Comments

I can’t believe I am posting this picture again. So soon after Hurricane Ian, Idalia and Debby. This is just devasting. The Tampa bay area got so much damage from Hurricane Helene this past week mostly coming from storm surge. Pinellas County has water on 3 sides (the gulf leading into the bay) and no house near the water was spared. So much flooding. The hurricane wasn’t even a direct hit but the storm surge was the highest on record.

Brett and I moved 3 years ago from a house on the water (in the bay) to farther inland. We were so blessed to only have tons of yard debris. Above is a 3rd of our debris pile in the driveway and more across the street. We are still cleaning up. We did not get any flooding in our neighborhood.

Over the weekend I was out running errands and stopped by my favorite walking places. The Dunedin marina was my first stop and the pier there was destroyed. The marina was blocked off so we couldn’t get close. It’s interesting the dolphin statue on top of the concrete base was still standing. The hotel next door was flooded and they were trying to get the sand out of the rooms and were pulling out carpet and furniture.

Lots of debris and damaged docks in the marina. Many of the boats were missing. Some got pulled out onto trailers the day before but some were found stranded farther down near Clearwater Beach.

The tall condo building next to the marina lost both of their docks.

My next stop was the Safety Harbor marina and fishing pier. They had minimal damage with only a small portion of the dock damaged.

The beloved fishing pier where the manatees hang out was gone. It had recently been closed due to minimal damage from Hurricane Debby in August.

The next morning I stopped by the Oldsmar pier, 10 minutes from my house. The pier was still there but was closed. It had a lot of missing planks and the end had come off. All of the houses in the neighborhoods nearby were flooded out.

This fun boat was a decoration in front of a seafood restaurant. The restaurant was badly damaged and I saw the boat much farther down the street.

The front yard the night after the hurricane.

All of this damage above is insignificant to what happened to the coastal areas. The beach areas have been closed for days but the videos and news coverage is heartbreaking. All of the beach areas, Davis Islands, Harbor Islands and neighborhoods along the bay were damaged. As you drive through neighborhoods all of the houses have furniture, rugs, carpet, cabinets, dry wall, etc piled high on the curbs.

Pictures of the beach from Bay News 9 here.

The Seaside Seabird Sanctuary is a wild bird rescue that is on the beach. They rescue and rehabilitate thousands of birds every year. Their facility took a big hit. I swiped the below shot from their facebook page. They could really use donations to rebuild and can be made here.

Sadly this storm did not end with us and continued to reek havoc north into North Carolina. Brett’s nephew and his girlfriend live in Ashville and we did not have contact with them until yesterday morning. They are safe but downtown Ashville has been wiped out. And, there’s another storm brewing in the gulf again.

Summer mornings in Dunedin

On November 6, 2023April 11, 2024 By dinajohnstonIn Tampa bay sights3 Comments

It was a stagnant morning in late July. Not even a slight breeze or ripple on the water. I stopped at the pier at Weaver Park to see if I could spot any dolphins but the tide was so low that they would be far out anyway so I didn’t stay long. It was too hot to be out so after my quick walk I headed home.

A few days later it was cloudy when I went out for a walk at the Dunedin marina. There was at least a breeze and a chance of rain.

The tide was low and the water was clear around the pier and I noticed someone must have dumped some fish bones in the water. I’ve never seen this before. The tiny bait fish were picking the bones clean.

A little farther down the pier I could see coral growing on the oyster beds.

The usual great egret was there, trying to catch some tiny fish.

I had heard there were some fun eclectic mailboxes on a few of the streets just off Main street so I took some back roads to get home.

These are just a small sample of some of the ones I saw. All snapped with my phone.

When I got almost home I could see some rain clouds out in the bay. I took a detour and stopped at the Oldsmar pier hoping to see some rain headed our way. I started to walk out on the pier and heard some thunder so I ducked under a picnic shelter and caught the above lightning across the bay. We did get a short storm at home but we are still in severe drought conditions. Through September this is the driest year on record for Pinellas county.

🎵 “Raindrops are falling on my head” 🎵

On October 26, 2023October 20, 2023 By dinajohnstonIn Tampa bay sights4 Comments

It was mid-July and we were expecting rain. We hadn’t had much in months so I was not holding my breath. It sure looked like rain was coming even though the sun kept peeking out so I went to the Dunedin marina to walk around and see if there were any rainbows or lightning. It started to rain so I made it back to my car.

I drove over to the Safety Harbor fishing pier where I could see pouring rain out in the bay. No rainbows or lightning though, not that I could see from the pier. But the weather had cooled off so it was nice being outside.

There’s a new statue in the park at the fishing pier.

I headed over to the Oldsmar pier, much closer to home and I could still see the rain out in the bay. We got a quick shower at home but not nearly as much as we needed. The ponds in my neighborhood were still almost empty at this point.

Big skies on the causeway.

On August 24, 2023August 17, 2023 By dinajohnstonIn Tampa bay sights4 Comments

It was the end of May and still not much rain which meant it was beautiful out on the Dunedin causeway. I pulled over for a quick walk and then pulled out my beach chair and tried to read a book but I was too distracted by the view.

Eventually clouds started move in and I could see it raining far out past Honeymoon Island.

Heading home I could see that they finally finished painting another turtle on the other side of the water tower.

The clouds right before I got home looked interesting so I stopped at the Oldsmar pier.

I could see rain in the direction of my home (we did get a quick shower).

There was a big storm far out in the bay coming from Tampa and heading towards Clearwater. I was hoping for a rainbow and waited a while until hunger won out and I headed home for lunch.