More Gulf Shores, 11/6/2015

When I stepped out of my room at 5:45 a.m. to go to the beach, I encountered really thick fog and decided that I'd skip trying to get there in time to greet the sun at 6:08. Visibility at 6:30 was not a great deal better, but I was eager to get on over to Gulf State Park. For park info see http://www.alapark.com/gulf-state-park.

(larger views may be available for some photos by clicking on them)

Pretty clear by 7:00, but the condos and hotels down the beach were still wearing a blanket of fog. 

Obviously, the fishing pier is a great place to fish, but it is also a great spot for making photos. It is 1540 feet long, extending out into the Gulf for more than a quarter of a mile, and according to the website, is the second longest pier on the Gulf of Mexico. More info here:  http://www.gulfshores.com/details/gulf-state-park-pier/17165/ 

A shot from the pier looking out to sea.

And looking toward shore. 

My gear is ready to be hauled down to the beach. I'm traveling as light as possible and don't want to make multiple trips back and forth, so I only take the bare necessities.  I do not tan well, so the ever-present sunscreen and a source of shade, my celestial print umbrella, are a must.  

My nest for the day will require reconfiguring as the sun moves across the sky.

Sun. Warm weather. No crowds. Very nice. Good for several hours.

 

Beach Photos

Finally!

They aren't great, but I had fun taking them. We were at Orange Beach, AL for a few days. No jellyfish, no seaweed, no algae. Just about right for playing in the water. I found it difficult to make good beach photos with the digital camera. The intense light made it hard to see what was in the viewing screen. The old SLR's have me spoiled. I should have taken my old Canon, but there are certainly advantages to the digital cameras. Click on the photos for larger views.








I kept trying to get photos of the gulls and terns diving for fish. This is about the best one. You can see a couple of them if you click to enlarge it.



Tide coming in










Some things that washed up in the tide









Some of the colorful umbrellas on the beach






and some of the folks enjoying the surf















Dunes near the condo





Area across the highway

Beach?

Well, it looks like Hanna isn't going to be much of a problem at Cape Canaveral. Ike, on the other hand, could result in the meetings being postponed. As of last night's weather report, Ike was really turning into a meanie. By the way, I was checking out my two brightly colored wind speed charts on the previous post and it occurred to me that it looked like I'd posted the same one twice. They are small enough that I couldn't read the print. When I checked the originals, they do look just about the same. Your best bet is to go to NOAA and check (http://www.noaa.gov/). There could be some changes now since the storms have moved.

And it looks like going down for the launch on Oct. 8, probably won't work due to the possibility of launch cancellations for whatever reasons. Phooey. I was just hoping for a little beach time. Oh, well.