A Day At the Beach

(Destin, FL)  Hi 84 Lo 74 – According to the weather reports rain will be moving in late this afternoon or evening and may continue through tomorrow. The white sandy beaches have been calling to us since we arrived here, so late this morning we packed a couple of our portable chairs and headed for Okaloosa Island about three miles from our RV park. Eglin AFB operates a nice beach area that’s open only to those with a military ID, with nice pavilions for shade.



The beach is wide and very clean except for a little seaweed left from high tide.


And the water? Just magnificent!


We like the Gulf coast a lot better than the Atlantic coast because of the whiteness of the sand. It has to be seen to be believed. And it’s very soft between your toes, it also squeaks when you walk on it.



We didn’t think we’d want to go in the water so we didn’t wear our swim suits. Crazy, huh? Well, I couldn’t resist. I emptied my pockets and went in anyway, street shorts and all.



The water temperature felt like it was in the mid-80’s, so warm!
We asked a passerby to take our picture.



Dee insisted I include these two pictures… We had our chairs set up right at the water line so we could feel the water on our toes.



But after my swim when I sat back down, the front slant of the ground and the softness of the sand conspired against me.



Anything to make me look goofy. :)

The beach wasn’t very crowded at all. We enjoyed just sitting together watching all the boats and parasailers.



We also saw a school of dolphins frolicking about a quarter mile from shore, too far and too sporadic to get a photo.

After a couple of hours we were feeling the effects of the sun and humidity. We forgot to bring some water (mistake number 2… mistake number 1 was not bringing our swim suits). So we gathered everything up and headed back. There's an inlet between Okaloosa Island to the west and Destin to the east. We wanted to get a photo looking across the inlet toward Destin, so we stopped at this small beach on the bay at the west end of the bridge.



Here’s a view of the inlet as we were crossing the bridge,


When we left we could see the sky getting blacker in the west. We got home and used the water bib from the empty site next to us to rinse off our chairs. Then, after showers we relaxed in our recliners. Dee is working with her new laptop and I’m watching football and racing. I’m thinking a nap might be in my future. Ahh, this retired life is tough!