A White Christmas in Florida

No, not snow – white sand beaches! But if you squint just right it does look a little like snow. Lol. 

So let’s get you caught up on what we’ve been up to. On Saturday, we hit a local farmers market and stocked up on homemade baked goods. Dessert for Christmas dinner. Check. :) Since it was the day before Christmas, there weren’t a ton of vendors. But you gotta love a guy who does his wood carving wearing a parrot on his head. Lol.

Cool carvings and the parrot is a plus. Lol. 

In the afternoon, we paddled the kayak over to Shell Island. I’d like to speak to the marketing department, please. Where are the shells on Shell Island??? Lol. It is beautiful though. The island is approximately 7-miles long and sits between the Gulf of Mexico and St. Andrews Bay.  The western portion of the island is part of St. Andrews State Park and the eastern portion belongs to Tindall Airforce Base. It is totally undeveloped with pristine white sand beaches surrounded by clear turquoise and emerald waters. But it was a bust for shells.  Rog did a little snorkeling, while I walked the beach. (I’m waiting on the wet suits!)

Beautiful beaches, but "Shell Island", not so much. Lol.

Surf's up!

Mr. Crabby was sporting just one claw.

Happy Campers together.

On the way back to the mainland we saw two pods of dolphins! That was exciting!  They were fishing the channel, so hopefully we will see them again. We’d lose sight and then we’d hear them blowing water before we saw them. It sounded like Rog clearing his snorkel. Lol.  Apparently this is a great place to see bottlenose dolphins and we’re hoping to get close in the kayak. They are so sleek and fast in the water, they’ll have to come to us, we certainly can’t paddle fast enough to catch them!

Dolphins! Yeah!

We had one final adventure before we made it back to our campsite. Some (insert your choice of adjectives here) campers had left several fishing lines unattended and snagged a gull. No one was around and the gull was unable to get free of the line. We paddled over and Rog grabbed the gull while I tried to untangle him. He was trussed up good and proper and was not the least bit cooperative. All we got were angry eyes and Rog got stabbed several times with that wicked beak. We had no knife and were trying to cut the line with a key. By then, we had drifted close to an occupied campsite so I asked for something to cut the line and they brought me a pair of scissors. We finally managed to get him free and he flew off without a backward glance or word of thanks. Sheesh. Lol. 

A cousin to the ungrateful wench we rescued. Note the sharp beak, Rog was on the receiving end. Ouch.

Christmas morning we had a fresh, hot loaf of cinnamon bread (you do not mess with some traditions!) and then opened our presents. Yes, Santa delivered. Lol.  

Sunrise on Christmas morning.

Cinnamon Bread. A family tradition that tastes great!

We decided to get our steps in walking the beach here in the state park – we were surprised by the number of people on the beach Christmas day. We’ve always been homebodies on the holiday, but it looks like lots of folks head to the beach here. We did get a kick out of the hang-gliding Santa and his elf. They went up and down the beach waving to the kids.

Pier at St. Andrews State Park.

A visit from Santa and his elf - no reindeer needed. :)

We were sitting outside the RV in the late afternoon when there was a huge splash not 40 feet from where we were sitting. It was a dolphin! He must have been chasing a fish and nearly landed on our patio. Lol. He rejoined his buddies and swam off, but what a fun Christmas surprise.

For Christmas dinner, Rog did a rack of pork on the Traeger. It was fantastic. And since we bought the meat at Costco, there is enough for four meals. Lol. We also made several holiday phone calls, checking in with the girls and family. It was a nice quiet day, but I’m glad to put this one in the books.  I think it’ll be a long time before we travel over the holidays again.

This gal is decorated for Christmas - Florida style. 

On Monday, 12/26, we took the kayak out again, but opted not to cross the channel. It was windy and choppy on the open water, but perfect along the more protected shore. We did some beach combing and I found several awesome shells, unfortunately they were all still “owner occupied”. All the best real estate was already taken. Lol. We spent a couple hours paddling and wading and then headed back to camp.

Anemone. 

Pretty cowrie shell, but this one was occupied!

Sponge crabs - very cool!

Star fishy.

Our wetsuits are supposed to be delivered tomorrow, so with a little luck we’ll get them in time to do some snorkeling. If not, we can always try chasing the dolphins!