Salt Run Rendevous

My faithful steed resting beneath the windswept oaks of Anastasia State Park in St. Augustine. Back before the park service began closing the park at sunset, that spot was quite the lover's lane, ... what was I saying? I lost my train of thought for a second ... oh yes... here we go ...

There's a sliver of ocean in St. Augustine that slips in behind the dunes and busy beach. It's called Salt Run and we used to spend a lot of time together, but I had not seen her for awhile, so I arranged a rendevous yesterday ... around sunset.

She's still got flower-filled meadows in the lee of her dunes. That's Gaillardia and Horsemint above.

The usual crew was hanging out at Salt Run.

On the other side of those dunes is a branch of the Gulf of Florida called the Atlantic Ocean ... you might have heard of it. Over the hill, there's great waves, sunbathers, and lots of playing humans having a great time. Later, after sunset at this time of year, when the humans have gone home to rest, Loggerhead seaturtles will clamber up that sloping strand and lay their treasures just beyond the high tide line.

The egret thinks the quiet Salt Run side of the beach is just fine. The falling tide has concentrated the killifish and finger mullet he's after, which makes feeding time more efficient.

Time is money after all ... no, wait ... it's not, if you are an egret.

It's just time.
How sweet is that?

A little closer view of the egret tiptoeing.

"Pay no attention to the woodstork behind the curtain!"

What movie inspired that? Hmmm?

Eventually, like the tide, I had to leave also, but it was good to visit the place where everything from teenage parking, flounder gigging , and my first stingray sting happened.

Love, pain, food ... you can find it all in a saltmarsh.