We Be "Jammin''

   Kayaking is one of the biggest recreational sports on St. George Island and all around the area. So, it seemed like a good place to try and break the Guinness book of world records, for the biggest kayak raft. A raft, meaning that every kayak had to be connected to another. Well, we didn't break the record, but everybody had a great time trying.

Everybody meets at the park

   Approximately 350 people, from all over, came for the event. Paddlers from as far as Colorado and Montana came, just to be a part of the spectacle. Some people brought their own kayaks, others rented one when they got here. There weren't quite the 2,100 kayaks that were needed to break the record, but for the first year of having the event, it was a great turn out.

Heading out to the Bay

   The idea came from a pastor on the island. Organize a full weekend of fun and paddling, with the theme being "paddle to love, and love to paddle", and try to break a world record in the process. So, on Saturday, about a dozen vendors set up in Apalachicola at a park under the bridge that connects Apalachicola with Eastpoint. 
   The paddlers took to the water about noon and paddled out into the bay, to a small island about a mile out

"Paddles up"

   It took about an hour for everyone to get out to the island. When we started bunching up to make the raft, we were instructed to put our paddles up in the air, so we could  get close enough to hold on to each other's kayak without someone getting hit in the head with the paddle.

"Back to the Bridge everybody"

   When everyone finally got a hold of each other, it felt like a real accomplishment. Planes flew overhead, taking aerial photographs of the spectacle.  

On Sunday, you could stand up and paddle, or sit down and peddle!

  Then on Sunday,the fun moved over to St. George Island, for Stand Up Paddleboard Day. There was a morning service on the beach, looking out onto the bay, followed by a stand up paddleboard race, a kayak race, yoga on the beach, food, music, and free paddle board lessons for anyone wanting to learn.

And of course, dogs were welcome to ride along.

   With the help of the Coast Guard, St. George Island Rescue, and several privately owned support boats, the weekend was a huge success, with proceeds from the weekend, going to "at risk" children, youth, and families, of the Apalachicola-St. George Island Cooperative Parrish.
   In the next week or two, a meeting will take place to review this year's "Paddle Jam"  and start planning for next year. And if things go as planned, in a few years, the "Forgotten Coast" will be "remembered" for making the biggest kayak raft in the world!

The Osprey by the Bridge

    Last year, about this time, I was keeping my eye on two different herons, nesting on the west end of the island. Unfortunately, around the time the eggs were due to hatch, one of the nests was vandalized. But, the other one was a success, with two chicks, growing up to be healthy young herons.
   This year, I've been watching some Ospreys nesting on a pylon, by the bridge going to St. George Island. The nests are made out of sticks and usually built out in open spaces. But they're built strong enough to survived the likes of storms like Debbie, and Isaac, that came through here a couple years ago. 

They're the only large raptor with an unmarked white belly

The flowers are a nice touch!

   Ospreys, also known as sea hawks, fish eagles, and fish hawks, are in this area, all year around. And you'll always find them near the water.They're by the salt marshes, rivers, and the bay. It's common to see their nests on telephone poles, channel markers, water towers, and even man made platforms.
    The number of Osprey crashed, starting in the 1950's. For example, from the 1950's until the 1970's, between New York City and Boston, 90% of the breeding pairs, disappeared. But when many pesticides were banned, mainly DDT, they made a tremendous comeback. And although they are still rare in some places, Ospreys exist on every continent except Antarctica.

They do well in populated areas

   Fish make up 99% of the Osprey's diet. They've been known to eat 80 different species of fish, both from salt, and fresh water. And as long as they're around water, they'll never go hungry. They'll catch a fish on 1 out of every 4 dives. Sometimes even having a 70% success rate. Like a pelican, an osprey will dive for fish from 30 to 100 feet up. 
   Even though Ospreys are here all year around, they're a migrating bird. And if they live out their full life, of 15 to 20 years, they can log over 160,000 miles in a lifetime, with some of their migrating paths being from the east coast, to South America.

The "aerial sky-dance" with a needle fish 

   During the breeding season, the males are very protective, and possessive, of their nesting area. They will do what's called an "aerial sky-dance". Or,as it's sometimes called a fish-flight, where they'll dangle their legs, often clasping a fish, or nesting material, and alternates hovering, with shallow swoops, sometimes 600 ft. above the nesting sight.
   The nesting period for Ospreys is 50 to 55 days. This pair didn't have a lot of work to do, with the nest already being there. But, after the male finds the nesting sight, there's always stick repair, and remodeling to be done. 

The proud parents

   Three eggs is the average number that's laid, and this pair was no exception. The eggs don't hatch all at once, but sometimes, up to 5 days apart. And it's not uncommon for the oldest chick to keep food from the youngest, causing it to starve to death. This was also true with this pair. But, the two surviving chicks didn't live long. 

   When I thought the time was getting close for the chicks to hatch, I stopped and checked on the nest. Sure enough, the male and female were both sitting on the nest, with two chicks. The chicks were just born, so I decided not to bother them, and didn't stop for several days. Then I noticed what I thought to be the female, flying just above the nest, with several sea gulls flying close by. I decided to stop, and what I saw, made me very sad. There were two dead chicks, with a plastic bag wrapped around them. There's a good chance they were suffocated by someone that was careless with their trash. Whether it was tossed out, or blew out on it's own, doesn't really matter. And who knows where the garbage might have originated. One thing's for sure, it didn't belong in this Osprey's nest.

A sad ending

   This is not the ending I would liked to have written for this post, but, I'm hopeful it will make a difference. Maybe people will think twice about what they do with their trash. And with as many nests that were occupied this season on and around St. George Island, I feel certain we'll have plenty of young Ospreys taking to the sky very soon.

Fly So Free

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Jaws

   Usually, the afternoon walk on the beach is quiet, peaceful, and uneventful. But yesterday was different. 

The fight had just begun

It took two guys to bring it in

   On the night of the "Chili CookOff" I met some hardcore shark fishermen, Ronie and Nic, that were camping out on the beach with all their shark fishing gear. They kayaked the lines out a good ways into the gulf, secured the poles, and waited. I was anxious to get back the next morning to see if they'd had any luck. Unfortunately, no hungry sharks were biting that night. But they were yesterday.
   After watching the Derby, I went to the beach, only to find my friends were back, and they'd hooked the big one. They'd been reeling it in for the pas two hours. 

This is one big shark!

   They'd, gotten to the beach about noon, (Obviously, catching a shark took precedence over watching the most exciting 2 minutes in sports!), and at 5:30, it hit. A tiger shark, almost 12 feet long! Definitely the catch of the day.  It was around 7:30 when I got to the beach, so they had already been fighting with this fish for a couple hours. I didn't want to miss the action, but figured I had enough time to throw the ball awhile, for the dogs. As it turned out, I had time to go home and eat dinner! I took a few pictures of them pulling in their catch, and went on home.
  I left my phone number with them, and told them to call me when they got the fish close enough to see it, and I'd take some pictures for them. There's a sandbar not too far from shore, and it seemed every time they got that shark to the sandbar, it would run out another 300 yards. After about a half hour, I could see this was going to take some time. But they weren't going to give up.

Pulling it in.

"Open wide"

  I finally went back to check on them around 10:30 p.m., figuring they'd forgotten to call me. But there they were, still fighting to get the shark in. So once again, I said, "call me". 
   So I waited. Finally, around midnight, I got the call. The shark was in sight. I rushed down to the beach, with my camera, just in time to see about 10 people pulling  the shark to shore. I'd never seen such a fish caught off of the beach. And it was definitely the biggest shark the "shark slayer" had ever caught.
  After they got the measurements, 11 feet, 7 inches long, and 62 inches around the girth, and pictures were taken, the shark was pulled back out to sea. Ronie was pleased that the shark survived the ordeal. He wants the thrill of catching it again. And no matter how long it takes, don't doubt the will of a serious fisherman. Or, the will of a fish that doesn't want to be caught either.

"Ouch" But not life threatening. It was returned to the Gulf, alive and well.

            I think I'll keep a closer eye on the dogs when I throw the ball into the water!






   

Chili and Ribs

   Spring officially arrived on St. George Island, with the 39th annual Chili CookOff. And across the bridge in Eastpoint, the 13th annual Rib CookOff, took place just a couple weeks later.

     The weather was beautiful on the panhandle , the first couple of weeks in March, so, the turn out for both events was great. The last couple years, the weather was well suited for eating ribs and chili. just not outside!

 

There's parrots everywhere!

  The money that's raised, goes to the volunteer fire departments of St George Island, and Eastpoint, and some of the money comes from the auctions that take place. The one at the Rib CookOff is silent. The one on St. George Island is a live auction that lasts for most of the day. 

    Things up for auction range from fishing trips, donated by local charters, crafts done by local artists, and tickets to major events such as the Daytona 500 always bring a good price.

"Mr. Hot Sauce"

      
   As always, your social companions are welcome, and there's definitely no dress code! The only rules are to have a good time, and eat lots of food! There's never been a problem with either one of those rules.
          In the chili competition, there's two different categories. The international competition, for the  serious chili cookers, that travel the country with their recipes. And the "Crock Pot Chili" category. This is chili cooked by "the locals", in their own crock pots.

Now, that's some hot chili!

"We want hot dogs"!

   My husband, John, was asked to be one of the four judges for the "Crock Pot Chili" competition this year. And with 23 entries, it was no easy task 

.  Color, consistency, aroma, taste, and after taste, are the criteria the judges use to pick a winner. And it appeared the judges made a good call. When the eating began, the winning chili was gone in no time. When the chili's gone, which this year took less that 2 hours, it's time to  move on to the shrimp kabobs, bar-b-q sandwiches, fried oysters, hot dogs, and funnel cakes. 

Judging was no easy task

   Then there's the crowning of Miss Chili Pepper, and Mr. Hot Sauce,and that was a "huge" event this year! 

1st Place Crock Pot Chili

   And as an added bonus, a 23 ft. boat was auctioned off. Tickets for the boat had been for sale for months at $100 a piece.  And the boat sat in Apalachicola, across from the Tin Shed Nautical Store, through the winter, for people to go look at. Well, as fate would have it, the man that owns the Tin Shed, and looked at the boat every day, won it! 

"See you next year"

   The Chili CookOff is the bigger of the two events, but they're both for a  good cause. And when it's all said and done, nobody goes away hungry! So if you find yourself on Florida's panhandle,  the first couple weeks in March, looking for good food and fun, come to the "CookOffs". It doesn't get much better than this!  
   

The Eagle has Landed!

   What an unbelievable sight. When you see a bald eagle sitting on the nest, it's hard to look away. A friend told me about an active nest at Indian Pass, about 20 miles east of St. George Island, and I couldn't wait to go see it.

A beautiful sight

"Chow time"

   The Bald Eagle, or Sea Eagle, as it's also known, has been our national emblem since 1782. But it's survival has been shaky. Because of the dwindling numbers, in 1940, the Bald Eagle Protection Act was introduced in order to make people aware of the decline of this magnificent bird. The numbers increased, but with the widespread use of the pesticide DDT, they were still dying in large numbers. The DDT would cause the egg shells to be so thin, they'd get crushed during the incubation period. And the ones that didn't get crushed, did not survive. Hence, in 1967, the bald eagle was declared endangered. 
   The Endangered Act was created in 1973, coincidentally, the same year DDT was officially outlawed. And on July 4th, 1976, it became official. The bald eagle was put on the endangered list in 43 states. Since then, the numbers have increased significantly.  In 1995, it was upgraded to threatened, and in 2007, it was taken off of every endangered list.
   

Job well done

     Eagles like to nest at about 75 feet up, and I have no doubt, this nest was at least 75 feet in the air. The male and the female both contribute in building the nest. Then, when the construction is finished, the male will add sprigs of conifer branches. No one's sure what the conifers are for, but it's speculated, they might be to deodorize the nest, or to shade the chicks after they're born.   
     When I first saw this nest, it took my breath away. The sheer size of it was unbelievable. Eagles will use the same nest for up to 5 years, adding on to it every year. Some nests can get up to nine feet in diameter and weigh up to 2 tons. The largest nest found in Florida is 10 feet wide and 20 feet deep. With eggs the size of goose eggs, they need a big nest. The only bird of prey that's larger than the eagle, is the California Condor. 
   Usually, the eagle will lay 1 to 3 eggs, days apart. And she'll lay her eggs anywhere from 5 to 10 days after copulation. During incubation, there's a parent on the nest 98% of the time. Then, in about 35 days, the chicks will hatch in the order they were laid.

"Hello world"

   In about two weeks, when the chicks can lift their heads to eat, they'll gain 1 pound every four to five days. The father brings most of the food back to the nest. With the chicks growing as fast as they do, it's a full time job.  At 6 weeks, the chicks will be as large as the parents. And at 10 to 13 weeks after hatching, the chicks will take flight.
   Unfortunately, 40% of them don't survive that first flight. And up to 1/2 will die in their first winter, due to poor hunting skills. But, if a young eagle can survive these early obstacles, they can live up to 30 years, in the wild.

A juvenile bald eagle. Their heads won't be completely white until they're 5 yrs. old

   Some pairs don't breed every year, depending on the weather, food, and the availability of nesting sights. This year, at least six breeding pairs, came to

Franklin County, to nest. That includes St. George Island. to Eagles are believed to nest for life, and will choose another mate only when one dies. So, some of these pairs were returning to existing nests.

Surveying his kingdom

   We're so fortunate to be able to see these birds everyday. And I can only hope that this area will  remain eco friendly, so they'll return to nest, year after year.

   











  

The Mardi Gras Parade

Introductions before the Parade. Pirate meets the Beach Bum.

   What fun! The fourth annual Mardi Gras Parade in Apalachicola was last Friday, and a good time was had by man and beast alike.
    Mardi Gras, in Apalachicola is a two day celebration that starts with the parade on Friday, and continues Saturday night, with music, food, and dancing. But my participation, and main interest was with the parade. That's because it was featuring our canine friends and it was going to be Ray's day to shine.  He wasn't about to miss it. All his friends would be there.

The Humane Society's Float

    The parade was complete with a king, and a grand marshal. All proceeds from the parade, and social events, go to the Habitat For Humanity. They're currently working on their fifth house in Franklin County.
   This is a post where pictures are going to tell you the story, so enjoy the parade!

The Grand Marshal making sure everyone has plenty of beads.

The King

Dogs of all shapes and sizes enjoyed themselves

Ray had a great time, and was looking forward to trying out his new swim trunks at the beach afterwards.

"Please don't make me walk with the big dogs"!

"I'll walk with the big dogs"!

"This parade stuff wears me out. But I can't wait until next year".

Winter Tides

Low tide at the estuary

   I went to the island estuary the other day and there was no doubt, the winter tides were finally happening.  This means the tides are extremely low, and the treasures that have been under water all summer, are finally revealed.

Tupelo trees on the river at low tide

   Put simply, tides are the rise and fall of sea levels. They're the result of the gravitational pull exerted by the moon and the sun, combined with the rotation of the earth. But, there are other factors. The shape of the coastline, and the wind can also effect the tides. All factors, occurring over a period of time, in a certain area, are called tidal constituents. The tidal constituents around St. George Island, in the winter, result in very low water levels. 

   I've asked a lot of the "old salts" in the area, why the tides are so much lower in the winter than any other time of the year.

No fishing today!

They've told me it's because of the direction and strength of the wind. In the winter, the winds blow mainly out of the north. They're strong winds that pull the water out away from the shore. Whatever the cause, being a devout beachcomber, I love this time of year. And since living here will be a constant  learning process, anyone with more knowledge as to the cause of the extreme low winter tides, please let me know.
   Typically, there are two high tides and two low tides, every day. And more than likely, they're not going to be the same. In other words, the afternoon high tide may be higher than the morning high tide. Or the low tide in the morning will be lower than the one in the afternoon.
   In the summer, there's never a time you can't walk out on the dock and look down into the water. In the winter, that's not the case. Some mornings, when you look out to the bay, it looks like somebody pulled the plug!

Low tide and boats can be a little tricky

   Obviously, the tides are something the fishermen have to keep a close eye on. This is true all year around, but more so in the winter. Apalachicola Bay can be very difficult to navigate. Along with the ever changing sand bars, and oyster bars, there are pieces of unmarked sunken debris, all sitting just below the surface, out of sight. These things can make it really tricky getting from one place to another, even with a high tide. And as I've found, from experience, the tides can change very quickly.

   I had taken the boat over to Little St. George to go shelling. When I left the main island, in the morning, it was high tide. Low tide wasn't happening until later in the afternoon. So, as the day went on, I would periodically check on the boat to make sure it stayed well anchored on shore. But, I didn't realize that in less than an hour, the boat would go from sitting in the water, to being completely beached. Not wanting to sit and wait for the next high tide, I radioed  a friend with a bigger boat to pull me back out to the water. It was a lesson well learned and now I watch the tides a little more closely when I go out on the boat.
   But, another reason to keep a close eye on the tides, is because  the lower the tides, the more treasures you'll find on the beaches. Unfortunately, some of the best shelling is on beaches that you can only get to by boat, and when the tide is that low, you can't get there.

Cypress roots are exposed on the river.

   Every coastline offers up something different. Not only shells,but driftwood, artifacts from world war two, old bottles, and even arrowheads can be found, when the water recedes.  So, even without a boat, there's no shortage of shoreline on St. George, to discover what the Gulf of Mexico, Apalachicola Bay,  and even the rivers, have been hiding.
   I don't think I'll ever grow tired of seeing what the sea has to offer. Things that have traveled hundreds of miles and survived hundreds of years under the water. These are things you'll discover during the winter tides.                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                     
 
 
* Hopefully, all the computer issues are resolved and I'm back in the blogging business. I hope you've hung in there and will be back to visit St. George Island again. " Island Life". The Mardi Gras parade post is coming soon. Welcome Back!