Another beautiful sunset at the beach in Florida. The sunsets are so great even the wildlife watches.
“We won’t be traveling. Would you like to use our time share?” my friends asked. Since it was only a short car drive away, the answer was yes. Longboat Key, near Sarasota turned out to be a great break from the pandemic.
The Ugly
The community here is well to do. The average car in the grocery store parking lot is a Mercedes or BMW. Standouts included an Aston Martin, a Bentley and a Lamborghini.
One of many closed stores in upscale St. Armand’s Circle, near Sarasota. It was a shock to see so many stores probably close forever.
Nearby St. Armand’s Circle shops reflect this upscale community. Walking only a quarter of the circle I spotted a dozen stores closed, probably forever. This was both a shock and evidence of the economic impact of Covid 19. I winced as I came across each store.
One retail store still open with a sense of humor.
The Bad
Safety precautions required me to buy my own food at the grocery store and fix my own meals. Since I knew how hard it was for businesses, I regretted not being able to eat out at some of my favorite restaurants.
Public parking was closed to the general public. That meant fewer people on the beaches, creating a peaceful getaway at the beach.
Some people seemed oblivious to taking precautions of any kind. One large family gathering at a motel on the beach involved plenty of close interaction without masks or any evidence of hand sanitizers.
The Good
One family from Oklahoma came to the beach when they realized the quarantine requirements were the same here as at home. They religiously followed all safety and precaution measures. I noticed them because they appeared to steer clear of others. They were more concerned about keeping others safe while having some time at the beach.
Two great blue herons fished the easy way. By placing themselves near fishers, they received almost all rejects or all from catch-and-release fishers.
Safety precautions meant that public beach access was closed. The only way to reach the beach was to be staying at a place beside it. My morning walks along the beach were often devoid of people. Just a lovely, quiet time with nature.
A pod of dolphins shared the beach with me on two mornings. One morning they were busy feeding, but on the second morning they were cavorting only fifty feet away from me. These were magical minutes.
Sea Turtle Patrol – the Best
One of the sea turtle patrol volunteers, walking a mile of beach to check on nesting sites.
Florida is one of the largest and most important nesting areas for sea turtles. All around the state various organizations have taken ongoing yearly efforts to help sea turtles.
On another morning two other sea turtle patrol volunteers, pointed out hatchling tracks heading to the water. These five hatched a day later than their siblings and were noted in the records. At certain points hatchling tracks overlap. The hatchlings and their tracks are so small one could easily walk right past them without noticing.
Mote Aquarium covers 36 miles of beaches with daily patrols. Every morning a pool of over 300 volunteers walk the beaches to monitor sea turtle nesting activity. Mote worked on a waiver to ensure their volunteers could continue patrolling the beaches during the most restrictive times of the pandemic.
One of the rarely-seen beach birds
Mote’s volunteers rescued and returned over 500 hatchlings by mid-August this year. That’s a lot of dedicated work to help ensure turtles in the future.
Pelicans, patrolling for fish
