Wednesday, August 12, 2009

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.




21 comments:

roger said...

aaaahhh, tidal marshes.

threecollie said...

Sweet..lovely birds

h said...

I'd prefer the quiet side too. Do I need to find someone else to host the Throwdown?

Caroline said...

It's over 90* here, with humidity at less than 20%, that quiet salt marsh looks mighty nice right now.

Thunder said...

Awesome! I think i've been there before.

Hey I caught the "Bite Me" show last night too, Lightnin and I have been watching it since it started. He's even crazier than you! ;-)

The Florida Blogger said...

Never been stung by a ray, which is a pure blessing with all the wading around in 3ft of salt water in August. How bad was it?

lisa said...

I just love your story telling!! I also love your pictures!

kevin said...

The Anchor, oh yeah......

R.Powers said...

roger,
nothing like it!

3C,
There were more, but I couldn't get them all.

Troll,
I just finished photo'n the required ingredient. Give me another day before you fire me.


Caroline,
Wow! We don't see sweet low humidity like that except on the coldest winter days. Must be nice.


Dave,
Yeah,maybe, but my encounters are reality encounters.


Alan,
Incredibly painful for the first two days, and then it just hurt like a son of a bitch for weeks.
And ... this was a small ray. If you've ever been stung by a catfish, it's waaaaaaay worse.

Lisa,
Thank you so much! Glad you do!

R.Powers said...

Kevin,
Rum and cola Icees from the beach 7-11.

Susan Humeston said...

The movie you referenced was "Wizard of Oz" - "pay no attention to that man behind the curtain".......

Ericka said...

your pictures are great. that is a fabulous tree sheltering your steed!

h said...

I didn't want to fire you. Not at all. Think you'll be a good host.

Bill said...

FC,
Don't tell them about riding the dunes or the submarine races. I used to swim across salt run before I was a teenager from the Chitwood and Baxley houses on Lew Blvd. For some reason that just scares the heck out of me now. I also crashed a boat into Dr. Morris the dentist dock the day he finished the floating portion.
I still live less than a mile from salt run and do not visit it near enough. My kids kayak in it during Church outings.

R.Powers said...

Suze,
Bravo! I don't know why that popped into my head with that pic.

Ericka,
The neat thing is, there is a whole maritime forest bent like that here.

Troll,
Thanks! You are the chef though, so you may have to be the surpreme judge on this one.

Billy,
LOL! Stupid JAWS movie!
I remember jumping in Salt Run from Napiers boat and pushing and kickswimming it back to shore after he didn't bother to check the gas before leaving the dock!
Too funny.

Miz S said...

I love hearing what you guys did when you were teenagers. What a great place to grow up.

R.Powers said...

Miz S,
Kevin, Billy, and I can only share so much ... you understand.

Miz S said...

Yeah, I probably understand better than most *wink*

R.Powers said...

Miz S,
I thought so.

Doug Taron said...

Looks like a beautiful spot. I'm saying that only partly from considering what kinds of insects might be out and about there.

Cathy S. said...

Submarine races. Husband and I tease our boys about watching submarine races and they just wince. We crack up and think we are so funny! Glad to hear someone else does too.