St Augustine sand bars

Here I am, anchored in St Augustine, a quarter mile north of the Bridge of Lions. 

I fly to CA on May 1. On May 30 I fly to Boston and Cape Cod where I'll work our boats and walk beaches until I return here at the end of June. So....on to current events:

I can never resist a tidal sandbar. Monty, of course, enjoys being off-leash and racing about; chasing birds, sniffing weird things, and then returning to exuberantly nip my hand. But I've loved these intertidal zones since childhood.

Some are full of hidden life, others are far more visible. And they are SO varied! On this one, for example, I've found many gastropods of two species I've seen nowhere else (one with no shell!)

I've also seen (for the first time) starfish dragging themselves across the sand.

And some burrowing critter has left piles of sand poo at the entrance of their burrows. 

On more familiar ground, I found a buried horseshoe crab

and a pair of blue crabs trying to hide in a tide pool (the female has hidden herself, but the male on top kind of gives the whole thing away).

And, of course, there are loads of oysters. 

Anyway, I sure love this stuff! AND I saw a gal sitting in an eroded niche of the old fort here, watching turtles and reveling in life: nice to see people sharing delight in this world.

And Monty had several people fall in love with him in town today.

On the darker side, many of the fighting conch seem to be dying and Monty and I found a dying fish washing ashore:

Is there some toxin in the water? That idea makes me want to leave the crowded coast here and set sail to the transparent waters of the Bahamas or north to the rich, clean, cold waters of Maine where I can see old friends, buy lobsters from friends on fishing boats, and pick gooseberries.

Stay well, my friends.