Chasing the clouds

Posted on September 15, 2022 by dinajohnston

The clouds started to move in on my early morning walk at the Dunedin marina. The wind had cooled the air down so I wasn’t in a hurry to get home.

I could see it raining far out in the gulf. I decided to head south down the beach to see what storms I could find.

I stopped at Sand Key Park, just south of Clearwater Beach. The sun was out over the beach but a nasty storm was heading inland quickly. I didn’t see any lightning but here that can change in a second so I didn’t stay long. I was a little disappointed that there wasn’t any rainbows.

Heading back over the mainland, the storms stayed right behind me.

I stopped at the Safety Harbor fishing pier on the way home. The clouds were just rolling in here.

Trying to get sunset pictures

Posted on December 31, 2020 by dinajohnston

I ran out after work to try and get some sunset pictures since it was sunny at my house but 15 minutes away and the clouds were out. I thought I would try and work on my long exposure shots but couldn’t seem to get them right. The shots were either too dark and the water didn’t look like silk or they were too blown out. I didn’t really like any of the ones I came home with. Going to try again when the sun it out.

Trying not to step on the horseshoe crabs coming up in the tide.

I do like this shot, taken from the parking lot.

I took this pano with my phone.

Later that week I went out to Sand Key and the sun hid from me again. A cloudy time on the beach is still better than being at home!

Just being out at Sand Key Park

Posted on October 15, 2020 by dinajohnston

A nice warm windy day in late July. The beach wasn’t crowded early in the morning. Plus there was a storm heading our way so most people probably were staying home this morning. The wind was blasting but the sun was out early before the clouds moved in at lunchtime.

Looking across the channel at Clearwater Beach. Most of the tourist were over there.

I walked over to the fishing piers that sit near the bridge and found a few birds waiting for handouts from the people fishing.

A typical scene looking across at Clearwater beach. The pirate ship passed under the bridge but turned around just outside the channel and headed back into the intercoastal waterway. I’m assuming they stayed inside the intercoastal this morning since the water was choppy. There were a few people on it but I’m sure not nearly as crowded as past summers.

This looks like fun but you would need a lot of upper body strength on a windy day like this was. They stayed inside the channel as well.

Surfing USA 🎵

Posted on October 1, 2020 by dinajohnston

I went to Sand Key Park in late July looking for baby birds but all I saw were surfers. There was a storm coming in from the gulf which created rare surf waves so the local surfers took advantage of a few small waves. The waves were pretty small so most of them spent more time falling than actually up on boards but it looked like they were having fun. It’s not often I get the chance to take action surfing shots on the gulf side of the state.

The beach was pretty quiet. I didn’t stay too long. The storm clouds were starting to show up out in the water so I headed home.

SkyWatch Friday http://skyley.blogspot.com/

The last skimmer baby of the year.

Posted on September 21, 2019 by dinajohnston

I stopped by St. Pete beach in mid July thinking that all of the skimmer babies would be almost grown up and starting to fly but there was one little baby still remaining. They were outside the roped off area near the seaweed line. The baby stayed close to Mom.

There was one other baby that was bigger but still staying close to Mom. All of the rest of the older babies were down along the water line practicing their wing flapping.

One of the laughing gulls had gotten a hold of a snack from someone and all of the other gulls were chasing him trying to steal it. Not even a cheese cracker is safe on the beach.

I stopped at Sand Key park on the way home and there were several eastern kingbirds near the beach.

Sand Key Park

Posted on August 15, 2019 by dinajohnston

Least terns were just starting to mate on the beach at Sand Key Park in late June.

A crazed looking juvenile mockingbird was also on the beach.

On osprey was guarding the jetti with his fish.

A small storm was moving in across the beach. The tourist pirate ship started to head out into the gulf but then turned around and came back into the bay. That trip must have gotten cut short. It started to sprinkle as I walked back down the beach to my car but then the sun came out just as fast.

I think it was going to end up being a perfect day after the morning storms moved through. I had stopped by the park to see if the least terns were nesting yet. They were there but none of them were sitting on eggs yet. People were starting to come out to the beach once the sun came out. It was time for me to go home and have lunch.

SkyWatch Friday

Being a tourist in my own town.

Posted on January 31, 2019 by dinajohnston

When you’ve eating too much over Thanksgiving weekend and you have family in town, you head to the beach. Since the actual beach was too crowded and parking was impossible, my sister and I stopped at the Clearwater Beach marina and walked around for while. Looking at the big boats and enjoying the afternoon. I don’t get over to this area often, too crowded and congested. But, it’s fun to stop by once in a blue moon. It reminds me of coming to visit my grandparents as a child with my family.

We also stopped at Sand Key beach for a quick walk and found these above. They are going to submerge them in the gulf so the coral can grow on them.

SkyWatch Friday

Being a tourist on the beach

Posted on February 16, 2017 by dinajohnston

Clearwater Beach sure has changed since we moved down to the area almost 15 years ago. The beach was still mostly Mom & Pop motels and now it’s all high-rise hotels and condos. Traffic and parking are insane so we rarely go over there. On Christmas afternoon we wanted to get out for a walk so we went to Sand Key beach which is just across the bridge from Clearwater beach. It was such a beautiful day that all of the beaches were crowded. All of the above were taken from Sand Key Park looking across at Clearwater beach and downtown Clearwater.