Back and Forth Across the Pond

We arrived yesterday around 6:30 p.m. - in time for a stroll on the beach at sunset. Our resort is right on the Gulf, and our balcony overlooks the beach, so we're in a great spot to enjoy the sun and sand. Observations: The beach is insanely white. It's so white it almost glows in the dark (which is pretty complete, since it's turtle season and no lights are allowed at night). The beach sand is really coarse. That's because it's actually crushed shells. It's not as coarse as the crushed "sand" on Mickler Beach, but not as fine as the sand on Fernandina Beach. Most of the shells are stark white, like the beach. At least those that were washed up near the high tide line. Low tide isn't until later. Maybe there will be more color. But except for a splash of pink or purple from the calico scallops, the shells are white. The beach is really flat. Steve says it's probably because there aren't massive waves breaking on shore and stirring things u...

Steve's working a half day tomorrow and then we're setting off for Marco Island for a short vacation and belated celebration of our tenth anniversary. I was in England for our actual anniversary and more interested in just being home when I first came back, so we're finally getting around to just getting away. I've never been to Marco Island. It's part of the Ten Thousand Islands area of Florida, south of Naples. As a barrier island, it has good shelling (though not as good as that at Sanibel and Captiva islands), and that's the main draw. I seem to have been bitten by the shelling bug lately, so I'm looking forward to a couple of days in an area boasting a better selection than what we have here on the First Coast. Our resort is right on the beach. And it being the Gulf, there's not a lot of wave action, so we can do a bit of snorkeling. I came across an optical mask in Sports Authority over the weekend. It's only about half my eyeglass prescription...