A time with friends

This past weekend, Ralph and I drove down to Estero Florida to visit with Chuck and Claudia.  We left early on Thursday morning and arrived about 12 hours later.  The drive went well although we did have some rain for the first part.  Prior to leaving, I checked the forecast and was surprised to see that Myrtle Beach was warmer at 19c than Estero at 16c.  While Myrtle Beach stayed around 20c for the day, Estero got increasingly warmer and settled around 28c.  The temperature was beautiful the entire time we were there. We had such a wonderful visit with our friends.  We enjoyed lovely dinners, golf games and special times together as friends.    It's hard to believe that we have been friends for around 20 years already and have shared many special times together.  Their dog Benson was so cute and we all enjoyed taking him out for walks.  He just loves to be with everyone.

Morning fog

Once again we woke up surrounded by deep fog.  No sunrises today,  I settled into my book by Frank Peretti (Illusion) and waited for Ralph to wake up.  It was going to be a quiet morning with nothing planned.  After breakfast, I decided to do some research on the best way to photograph fog ie. camera settings etc.  As I was watching a Youtube video it dawned on me that we had the perfect setting for fog pictures which was the Pier down the road.  Why didn't I think of that before?  Anyways, Ralph agreed to go with me and we quickly packed up some camera gear and off we went.  By the time we got there, the fog was moving away from the Pier but it was still pretty thick along the beach area.  We'll have to come back here again only earlier in the morning as I think some pretty interesting photo's might be made with the right conditions.

Using a technique that was recommended (over exposing by 1 stop) it added a level of mystery to the picture.  I like how the boardwalk fades away.

The Pier itself didn't have much fog around it when we got there.  I did get an opportunity to speak with someone while I was there and was told that there were many porpoises out playing at the end of the Pier the day before.  I'll have to make sure we come back another day with my zoom lens to see if I can capture any.

Later this afternoon we went to Huntington Beach to watch the low tide come in. We weren't disappointed.  The eagle came and flew directly overhead.  What an exhilarating experience.  We also enjoyed the antics of the birds as they were fishing.  

Foggy days at the beach

The last couple of days have been foggy here at the beach.  It's interesting actually as it forces me to think of ways to keep myself busy.  I've been doing lots of reading and getting plenty of steps in.  I'm averaging between 11,000-15,000 footsteps every day.  I can feel my muscles tightening up and actually notice that I've lost a few pounds.  

Our sunrises for the past while have been hidden by the fog but I did get one nice one.  I love the early hours of the morning relaxing with a coffee and enjoying the beauty at the beach.

We spent some time at Huntington again.  There wasn't a lot to see this time, but we still enjoyed spending a few hours relaxing and watching the birds that came in during the low tide.  I love the ducks.  They are hard to capture on the camera though as they are always ducking under the water.  These are female Mergansers.  

On Sunday we went to church in the morning and then spent the day relaxing.  I took a long walk along the beach photographing the waves and then later on went looking for shells.  A very relaxing afternoon.

This morning it was so foggy and we also had a thunderstorm.  I set up my camera on the balcony to see if I could capture some lightening.  I wasn't successful but as the fog cleared, the camera captured the low lying clouds off in the distance.  I thought they looked like mountains.

Later this afternoon (around 4:30) Ralph commented on the number of birds on the beach.  Since I was planning on going out for a short walk, I took my camera with me.  I was amazed at how many gulls kept arriving.  They were everywhere and there was thousands of them.  It was so awesome to experience walking through the sea of birds.  They definitely were not intimidated by people.

Birds and golf - it doesn't get any better

The last two days have flown by.  Yesterday the majority of the day was spent at Huntington Beach.  We packed a lunch with the plan to make a day of it.  We heard that there are two Owls in the park and we went in search of them but without success.  I'm sure someone will find them and share with us where to look.

We saw the Eagles again, which makes every trip to the park worthwhile.  They are such magnificent birds.  The osprey was out as well.  Heron's are always around, but sometimes you just have to go looking for them.  Egrets and snowies (thats what the locals call the small Egret) were out as well.  It's a very relaxing day sharing stories with other photographers and just simply enjoy the beauty around us.

Today we played in a Golf Tournament at Pawley's Plantation.  This is one of my favourite courses in Myrtle Beach.  I thought it might be cold today as it was only 6c when we woke up but the temperature went up to almost 20.  It was an amazing day.  We played with two really nice men - Bubba and Joel.  We were well suited and complimented each other on strengths needed to play a good round.  We played "bogey free" and shot 8 birdies on our round.  In the end we were tied for first place.  Using a tie breaker hole, we ended up in 2nd place .  We really enjoyed playing together and shared lots of laughs.  Hopefully we will see them again at the next tournament.

After the round, we stopped at Huntington Beach again on our way back to the Condo.  There were very few birds out as the tide was coming back in.  I was lucky to see this Heron catch his dinner which was pretty cool to see.