Welcome to our Secrets of Panama City Beach series, showing you things about the beach, you’ve never dreamed of.
Well the New Year is sure off to a chilly start! Don’t let the cool weather stop you from heading to the beaches. Some of the best times to be had at the beach are when it’s cooler and calmer.
I looked out in the back yard this morning, and to my surprise, I found beautiful icicles hanging from one of the trees. As I walked into my garage and got into my car, I noticed the temperature gauge was at a brisk 50 degrees, but when I started driving down Back Beach Road, I watched as the temperature gauge dropped digit by digit until finally coming to a rest at 33 degrees. Burrrr.
It’s good to be back after the holidays. Hope everyone has a wonderful and prosperous new year.
Wild life is abundant in the lagoons and bayous surrounding PCB. This photo shows a Great Egret on the prowl in the salt grass marshes close to Bay Point. Great egrets are plentiful in Grand Lagoon, especially in the shallow flats on either side of the main boating channel.
Take it slow the next time you’re headed out to the Gulf and observe the beauty above the water.
Teddy
Pelicans and gulls were circling the jetties feasting on bait fish as the sun sets in the background.
Teddy
Locals know this to be a fact, but many outsiders have a hard time believing the sand on our beaches is really this white. This is an untouched photo of a sand dune on Shell Island. The contrast of the blue sky, deep blue gulf and the sugar white sand creates a strong image. The sand here is so pure and clean that it actually squeaks when you walk on it. Visit Shell and Crooked Islands when in PCB to see the “untouched” side of our beaches.
See more nature photos of PCB at Sand between Your Toes
Teddy
This is a photo of an authentic and dying part of the Emerald Coast. Homemade shrimping and oyster boats are all but a thing of the past along the coastal bayous and bays of the panhandle. During their hayday, you could see dozens of these boats trolling St. Andrews, Port St Joe and Apalach Bays. Now it is rare to even glimpse a single vessel of this granduer (in my humble opinion).
This shot was taken just off Hwy 30-A on the road to Cape San Blas. Many of you know 30-A as the road to Seaside to the west of PCB. I had a “lifetime local” tell me that wasn’t 30-A, but according to the sign and all maps it’s FL Hwy 30-A just east of Port St Joe off of Hwy 98.
Description: This is one of my favorite photos. The “homemade” shrimp boat was sitting in a quiet bayou near Cape San Blas. As the sun rose it created a beautiful mirror image of the vessel. Note the bright red hand-painted boat number.
**Click on the image to see a closeup of the details in the photo.
Visit my photo blog Sand between Your Toes .
Teddy
As the saying goes, “Red sky in the morning… sailor take warning. Red sky at night… sailor’s delight”. Guess this night was a great time for the boys on the boats. Off shore or in the bay and bayous, fishing is excellent in and around PCB this time of year.
Found this really cool tool from Slide.com via my 16 year old (Myspace obsessed) daughter. Best of all it’s free. This is a collage of some of my favorite nature shots from PCB and the surrounding area. Click here to check out my slideshow. Enjoy.
Teddy
PS Kudos to all the nature photographers who are submitting your shots to PCB Daily. Really love the sunsets as evidenced by this post. Great thing about photography is that there are no winners and losers…. anyone and everyone can view and enjoy nature’s beauty.
I realize this is not a “nature photo” per se, but it certainly speaks to the pure joy and exhilaration children have when hunting for shells on our beautiful beach.
Good friends of our’s came down from Oklahoma for the weekend with their children. We took them to visit Shell Island where I did a serious of action shots featuring these two bundles of energy. The north wind had knocked the waves down on the Gulf side of Shell Island giving us an extremely calm day to frolic in the surf.
Not much is more fun as a photographer than watching a two and three year old hunting for shells. These two were literally in constant motion running back and forth to their Mom with each new shell find. Little did it matter to them wither the shells were broken or in perfect condition… it was a true treasure in either case.
We could all learn something from these two. This beach is a treasure that we locals all too often take for granted. Visit my blog to see more of these photos.
Teddy
I happened upon this scene one day while exploring Shell Island with the kids. Sea Urchin “shells” are the extremely fragile exoskeleton of the spiny urchins that remain after the urchin dies. These break easily with the slightest pressure. To have so many washed up unbroken and in horizontal line was simply amazing.
Photo Description: Interwoven with seagrass, the urchins shells aligned along the bayside shore of Shell Island.
Visit my photoblog Sand between Your Toes to see more nature photos of Panama City Beach and the Emerald coast.
Teddy Meeks
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