Friday December 9th 2016

The sun finally came out just before sunset. The clouds that dominated the sky for most of the day kept the over night cold in play all day. The temperature barely made it to 60 and the wind was constant out of the north. It was not a short sleeve shirt and shorts day. It was a long pants sweatshirt and windbreaker kind of day.

The flags were out straight in the wind.

This morning I ran some errands and toured the area a little. I was hoping that it would warm up by the time I got back to the campground. It didn’t happen that way. I added a jacket layer to my sweatshirt for my outdoor activities. I went for a walk over to the beach but didn’t walk down the beach. The wind was blowing the sand hard enough that any exposed skin got irritated.  Even the Great Blue Heron was hunched up to keep out of the wind.  I restricted my walking to short walk around the campground.

On a nice day, time to pose for a closeup.

Today, all bunched up against the wind.

Late in the afternoon the sun came out. I bundled up again to watch the cruise ships depart port. While I was waiting for the ships to get underway I watched the bird races. For some reason all of the sea birds were flocked together. It was like Pelican races going by about 20 feet off the ground. They seemed to be coming in off the ocean in waves. I didn’t see any sign that the birds were circling. It looked like every wave of birds was a fresh group.

One wave of Pelicans racing into the port.

The leader of the flock.

One of the cruise ships had difficulty getting away from the pier. The north wind was keeping it pressed to the dock. A tug boat was used to help pull it into the channel. The cruise ships usually don’t need any assistance. I bet that ships captain was annoyed at needing assistance. It was probably as much safety related as maneuverability.

Cruise ship coming down the channel while the Pelicans raced in.

After the cruise ships departed I returned to my RV home for the night. I have new neighbors tonight. The park has filled up a lot for the weekend, but it still isn’t full. In addition to the local area people, there are many rigs from Canada. I think there are more Canadian license plates than states other than Florida. Not a big deal, just a curiosity.