Taking terns

I stood in the low tide last night watching three terns take turns dive bombing into the water to catch something to eat. They hit the water with a distinctive "plunk" and worked so quickly and skillfully it made me dizzy. Then I nudged a crab with my foot and it chased me for several feet. He was pissed! The hermit crabs were everywhere probably feeling secure in knowing that their small size doesn't make them worth the time and effort for a bird to catch. The sunset was spectacular after a dreary and rainy day.

You want peanut butter with that jelly?

The jellyfish have invaded the deeper waters of the bay. I saw this one and about 50 more while kayaking late this morning. They are really so beautiful, but I guess not if you find yourself swimming next to one. Thank goodness there are none close to shore so I still went for a swim. The bay was pretty smooth today at high tide but lots of rolling wakes from boats. Still no sign of dolphins. Too many green flies on shore. I HATE green flies.

Where have you been?

Go ahead and ask. Where have I been? In a slump. Not caring. Too tired. Then sick for a week. But during all that time, the sun still rose and set in my beautiful bay and the fish swam and the water changed its mind everyday about what it wanted to be. "I'm rough." "I'm like a mirror today." "I send you jelly fish and seaweed today. Deal with it." and "I am clean and sparkly today and your only escape from the heat." My bay had lots of visitors on July 4. Boats and jet skis and beach goers. I am making an announcement right now that I am BANNING jet skis from my bay. I hate them. The 4th was also the day of my beach party. See photos of friends. We kicked every other beach party's ass!

The Longest Day

What better way to spend the end of the first day of summer? I paddled out on my surfboard into the sunset with the 3/4 moon over my left shoulder. Horse shoe crabs scooted around below my board. Herons and seagulls flew home across the horizon. The bay didn't even have a ripple on it.

Fly by

Although it rained last night right before the sunset, nature still gave us a pretty nice evening sky. I got home just in time to take this photo. The gulls were dive bombing for crabs. What a shock that must be for the poor crab, who is just hanging out on the sandy bottom when WHAM, he is picked up by a sea gull and flown a hundred feet in the air.

Not a ripple

I don't think I have ever seen the bay so absolutely smooth as glass as it was this Sunday. The mussel beds are flourishing, the fish are jumping and the birds are all feasting on crabs and shell fish. Grandma Dottie watched a rock-skipping exhibition by her grandson. No spectacular sunsets this weekend but that's what makes them special when they do happen. I have also noticed some barn swallows skooting down the shoreline lately.

Sex in the surf

I have been a lazy blogger. I am including a photo of a spectacular sunset from last weekend and one of the frenzied matings that have been going on in the surf. It reminded me of the scene from “Here to Eternity” with Deborah Kerr and Burt Lancaster, so I am also including that for comparison purposes. The storms and tornados predicted for today did not happen as of almost 8 p.m. It was actually a nice beach day. Yesterday marked my first swim of the season with my trusty surfboard. I LOVE that surfboard. There was a yacht anchored in the bay overnight. It left this afternoon around 1 p.m. I waved but no one invited me aboard for cocktails.