Relaxing at the beach

A wonderful day in paradise today. This was the best day we’d had weather wise. In the morning we went kayaking again, this time on the Tarpon Bay Commodore Creek trail. We rented a double kayak, so that when we saw bird life, Roger could try and keep the kayak steady, while I took photos, and there was plenty of bird life to be seen - the bird of the week seems to be the Yellow-crowned night heron - we have seen so many this week! You set off from the center, following the edge of the large bay, then turning off down a signed kayak trail through the mangroves (see extra collage). There are up to 60 different species of mangroves worldwide, however in the continental U.S., there are only three species including the Red, Black & White Mangrove. These trees are an important component to the ecosystem in that they provide erosion control, protection from tropical storms & hurricanes, clean estuary waters and provide a habitat and food source for an ample amount of wildlife. When you are amongst them, seeing the complex and tangled root system, you can see why they provide so much protection. We were out on the water for two hours, and the weather was perfect, warm and very still. On our way back to our condo, we stopped for lunch at the Clam shack, which we enjoyed outside in the sunshine, in the afternoon, it was back to the beach, for some reading, shelling and more bird life. Today, we saw three types of terns, the Royal tern, Sandwich tern, and Forster tern. The egret in the top right photo kept us company for about 90 minutes - I took this from my chair! We were also treated to the sight of about half a dozen dolphins out at sea. The book I was reading is American Princess: a novel of First Daughter Alice Roosevelt by Stephanie Marie Thornton, a great read about a remarkable woman.