I am not sure why I keep eating the complimentary breakfast when I am in a motel as the food is dismal and the coffee worse most of the time. But I did again this morning before deciding to go back to Merritt Island and drive Black Point again.
The wind was stronger than last night but the rain had stopped. The wildlife drive was wonderful; some waterfowl and shorebirds were sheltering in small groups behind little island vegetation clumps, but for most of the birds, it was just another day of poking, probing, finding food in the harsh wind.
 |
| Reddish Egret - Merritt Island NWR - FL |
The water had whitecaps and changed colors as clouds and sun moved in the sky. Is there more lovely sight than a Roseate Spoonbill flying against a dark cloud and lit by sunshine... One group of birding festival people were in a couple of vans, and I passed them clustered in the wind, jackets pulled tight, exposed hair blowing in the wind. But it was a glorious day to be right there, right then.
 |
| Birders at Merritt Island NWR - FL |
One of the Space Coast Birding venues mentioned was the gull fly-in each evening on Daytona area beaches so I headed north and got a motel on the beach. While not the neatest, cleanest, quietest motel (I switched room as the adjoining room had rambunctious small kids), the town had none of the springtime-summer insanity, even with the people in town for races at the Daytona International Speedway. It was sunny but still windy so I ducked into a new Starbucks. It was the nicest store I've yet seen....expansive, elevated (accessed by stairs) and on the beach with porches and new food selections which are soon to be sold in other Starbucks. Many of the clientele were middle-aged or older, reading books or newspapers, sitting in the sunshine coming in the windows, working on laptops or tablets.
The beaches here are completely smooth with hard-packed sand on which cars are allowed to drive in daylight hours. Is this weird?? While I didn't see many actually doing this, I wondered what is must be like in high season? Cars on this pristine beach! Daytona is like Indianapolis when it comes to cars....it's part of their tradition.
I worked for several hours and then walked half a mile to a restaurant for some seafood pasta and a piece of key lime pie.
By the time I figured the gulls would be flying in, and researched exactly where it happens, it was too late. The sun sets early so the window is short if one isn't paying attention.
While my new room was better, there was a problem with condensation on the sliders, like total wetness which built up and then slid down, pooling on the floor and slider frame so that I couldn't see the ocean without wiping the glass every hour. I, however, was on island time.....
 |
| Avocets and ducks sheltering from the wind - Merritt Island NWR - FL |
No comments:
Post a Comment