October at Ponce Inlet Again

Our October beach experience was very different than what we experienced this past May. To begin with, we had a first-floor condo with a larger patio area that made sitting outside nice. Because it was first floor, there was no railing to look over or through; just ocean and sand. When we arrived, it was less than one month from hurricane Irma hitting Florida, so all the effects of the storm were still visible. It seemed like the beach had less damage than we had in Ocala, but there were still lots of telltale signs a strong storm had hit the area. There were some of the typical blue tarps dotting the roofs of some places on the beach and debris piled at the curb waiting to be picked up. One of the biggest changes was the dunes had all but washed away. The surf was very rough and the tides were very high. In fact, at high tide the water reached the bottom step of the walkway owned by the condo. In May you still had at least 20 yards of sand to walk to get to the water’s edge and now there was almost no beach to sit or walk on at high tide. With the current unrest out in the ocean, the beach was awash with seaweed; huge chunks almost too thick to walk through.

Ponce Inlet Beach – Walkway from Atlantica Condo

Digging up turtle nest – found one live hatchling

Seaweed from Hurricane

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The early part of the month was filled with high winds and cloudy skies. The winds were consistently at 22-25 mph and it felt like gusts were much higher. One of those days we decided to go for a short bike ride. Peninsular Drive is the second road off the beach and there were enough tall buildings to block the wind so we were able to ride without too much trouble. The only rough part was coming back into the garage because we had to ride directly into the wind. It was like riding up a high bridge, each push on the pedal requiring all your strength.

Carol came for a visit and was able to spend a whole week with us. We really enjoy her company.

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