Connie and I drove over to St. George Island yesterday, and miraculously we didn't get rain there. Kind of disappointed in the beach as it was pretty much covered with matts of unsightly brown and ratty looking seaweed. And we could see more coming in with every wave. The junk was literally everywhere. Would not have been very much fun trying to swim in those waters with all that junk in there.
I've been watching the beach lately just to see if that oil spill is having any effect, and I'm not sure I believe all the hype I read about everything being just honky dory. For one thing, this time if year I think the Gulf waters should be teeming with schools of small fish. Nothing. In areas where the ebbing tide was leaving pools of water on the beach, normally they would have small fish trapped there, but I saw NONE at all. Normally we would see zillions of coquinas digging down into the sand after being disturbed by every incoming wave. I saw NONE. Even sand crabs were not to be seen, but I did see a few of their burrows, so SOME must still be there. Birds were there on the beach, but nothing at all like I remember seeing in the past. No fish jumping in the water, and we only saw one spot where it appeared that birds were feasting on a small school of fish out past the sand bar.
Otherwise the water looks fine. Smells fine. No odor of oil or other chemicals that were used as dispersants that I could tell. But honestly, it just is not the same. Walking the beach I got the feeling of being at a funeral wake and not the Gulf of Mexico that should be teeming with life bursting at the seams this time of year. Heck, now that I think of it, we did not see one single solitary dead fish laying on the beach. Normally there should be some, but there were absolutely NONE anywhere. In my opinion, SOMETHING is going on, and I don't believe it is good at all.
Sigh......
Oh, there was one notable bright spot that day. In all the years Connie and I have been going to St. George Island, we have NEVER, EVER found a petrified shark's tooth. Until this trip. I was astonished! I've found plenty of them at Manasota Key Beach, Englewood, and Venice Beach, but NEVER found one in this area. And it is a pretty darn nice one, to boot.
But on the other hand, kind of sad that the highlight of the walk on the beach was finding something from an animal that has been dead for millions of years.