In the jungle, the mighty jungle . . .

Home in the Jungle

So what woke me up at 8:00 this morning?  The lovely sound of a, wait, yes, a LEAF BLOWER! There is no sound I hate worse than the high-pitched whining of that infernal contraption!  I looked out the bedroom window and sure enough, the neighbor lady is using it to clear sand from the big mat at the entrance to her RV. Jeff took one look at my face and started laughing.  He KNOWS I hate those things.  He doesn't even use ours when I'm at home - he waits till I'm out somewhere. He said it did make sense though, it's a perfect device for getting the sand swept aside.  But really, at 8:00 a.m.?  That and her middle school age boys running around.  Not my favorite age of boys - I deal with too many of them during the year and they are all the same - crazy and obnoxious!

Yes.  They are as big as they look and they are EVERYWHERE!

Lots of these little guys too!

So we are in St. Augustine, Florida just south of Jacksonville. The place we are staying is on a barrier island just outside of St. Augustine and it's like a jungle here.  The little lizards are everywhere as are these awful spiders.  They are actually really pretty, sort of reddish in spots.  They make these giant webs and they are literally everywhere in the trees.  We have one right at the entrance to our spot and when we came back from the beach this afternoon we noticed it was busily adding to it's already huge web.  I'm hoping it's not planning on capturing us!

It's warm even when it's cloudy.  The Atlantic Ocean.

We've had some wild weather the last two days - mostly in the late afternoon - storm clouds moving in and lots of rain, thunder and lightning.  We love it!  It even knocked our power out briefly yesterday.  But the beach is within walking distance, hardly any people, and the water is warm.  Today has been spectacular.  Sunshine and about 85 degrees.  Both days we've been in the water around 1 pm and seen pods of dolphins swim by.  The first time I saw the fins I freaked out.  I was on the beach and the girls were in the water.  I'm yelling at them to get out of the water and Jeff said, "They are only dolphins!".  I asked if he was sure and of course he said, "I think so!"  They must chose this time for lunch or something.  They are about 7-8 of them all swimming together and today we even saw them flipping around, tails in the air.  Pretty awesome!

Can't believe there isn't anyone here.  You can see the sticks
and caution tape in this picture - protecting a sea turtle nest.

There are thousands of shells on the beach and the sand it a lot coarser than what is on the gulf beaches we go to in Texas.  There is also no seaweed - nice!  It's a shell collectors paradise.  Also, no garbage.

Walk on the beach after dinner - beautiful.

There is a sign at the entrance of the beach about not taking motorized vehicles on beach between 7:30 p.m. and 8:00 a.m.  They are protecting the nesting turtles.  They must have someone come out at night and watch for them laying the eggs because they put up sticks and caution tape that are marked with the date and a warning sign to leave the turtle eggs alone.  I'm wondering if we could go out there at night and see if we see any.  There was one marked with yesterday's date and you could see the track that the mama turtle made going back into the ocean.  Amazing!

Selfie - out kayaking on Tolomato River (yes,
mom, I put on sunscreen and I'm wearing a
life jacket!)

So since the crazy leaf-blower lady woke me up with that horrid noise I decided to take out the kayak.  We are on a barrier island, the inside side is an intracoastal zone and part of the Tolomato River. I'm not brave enough to tackle the open ocean and this seemed like a good choice. It was.  I saw so many sea birds. Cranes and egrets and best of all, the Roseate Spoon Bill.  They are this pale pink color and have that funny shaped beak.  A few flew overhead and another I watched catching it's breakfast in one of the little inlets that flows into the river.  I guess I have to thank the leaf-blower lady for waking me up after all.  The birds are out and feeding early but by my return trip, most of them had gone.  Kayaking on the ocean is a lot more strenuous than on a lake and I happened to be working against the tide on my way back.  Plus at each little tributary, the water gets real funky the way it feeds into the main river so it was an interesting trip.  I had a hard time drinking my morning cup of tea because I kept having to paddle and keep myself going in the right direction.  Not to mention watching out for the wakes of other bigger boats going by.  I couldn't do this all without Jeff's help though.  He loads and unloads the kayak for me (I'm too short to reach it on the rack on the car not to mention lifting it over my head!) and then we both carry it to and from the water.  I said to him this a.m. that I get all the fun and he gets all the work!  He said, "as long as your happy dear!"  Just what I love about him - lol!  And what were the girls doing this whole time?  Yes, you guessed.  Sleeping!  But we roused them and hit the beach for a few hours this afternoon and they play like two little puppies in the surf.  So good for them and I'm so grateful we gave them swimming lessons when they were little.  They are fearless in the water.  Also makes me less nervous knowing they can handle it. Until I see another fin!!!  

We are staying here through Saturday night and then heading due west, back home.  The girls asked us the other night what we missed about home.  Jade said her privacy, Mya said her big bed and her comforter, and I said absolutely nothing!  Since we are all living in such close quarters, I'll let you guess what Jeff is missing - lol!

(P.S.  The leaf-blower and her family left this a.m. only to replaced by another "leaf-blower" family across from us - REALLY?  Can I offer to sweep their damn mats for them.  I'm watching her from our RV window right now - can I kill her NOW! Not to mention the "mat" is like a carpet covering the entire RV spot - ACK!!!!! It's toddy time for goodness sake!  SHUT UP!)