Monday November 29th 2021

Another cold front passed through the area last night. The front brought some light rain during the night that lead to a bright sunny day today. The temperature was cool for the season. It peaked in the low to mid sixties. Tonight is forecast to be the coolest night of the season so far. It won’t be my coldest night of the fall. It was cooler too the north in the Jacksonville area last week. As the week goes by it is forecast to warm up. By Saturday it might be in the eighties.

My focus for the day was getting settled in and exploring any changes to the Jetty Park campground. I stay here at least once or twice every winter in Florida. This year it seems a little different, but I can’t put my finger on the specifics. The only substantial difference I’ve identified is the departure of the food vendor at the beach. The concession stand is empty. In the park this morning there were many empty sites, but new arrivals during the afternoon solved that issue. Last year at this time management was still limiting occupancy due to the pandemic, but it seemed busier than it looked this morning.

It was too cold and windy to walk on the beach this morning. I only saw a few well bundled up people walking the beach. I was fine in the sheltered areas out of the wind, but the beach was out for me today. The beach and much of the park were filled with birds. I saw everything from an Osprey to ordinary Seagulls. In the channel to the port there were many small jumping fish along with a few dolphins exploring the inlet. The dolphins may have been the cause of the jumping fish, but I didn’t see them in the same areas.

The port wasn’t busy during the middle of the day. There was evidence that a couple of changes took place overnight. Two new cruise ships and a freighter arrived. The cruise ships departed just before sunset tonight. Once again there didn’t seem to be as much activity on deck as I’ve see in the past. The Disney Dream did give all of the people on shore a horn serenade. They played a piece of the melody for “When you Wish Upon a Star”, “It’s a Small World”, and two or three others that I could identify but not name. The departing Royal Caribbean Independence of the Seas that followed the Dream to sea only gave us a few earth rumbling blasts of her horn.