Released! 1/25/18

Henderson Beach State Park, Destin, Florida

Update: Blaine’s mom sent me this wander-lust story about Blaine from his young years. 😊

Just wanted to tell you about Blaine’s traveling experience. One morning Brian and next door neighbor went to Bible School. Blaine wanted to go but he was only 3 and had to wait till next year. So Blaine and Dougie, also 3 were outside playing. Doris and I looked out and they were nowhere to be seen. We each took off going around the corner opposite ways. I found them 2 streets up heading to Newton street pushing their little toy popcorn poppers. I called and they stopped and I hugged both of them and asked where they were going and Blaine said Bible School. Not the least bit afraid! So you can see this wandering spirit began at a very early age. Since he can’t remember this just thought I would add it in for traveling memories.

This morning, I didn’t wake up until 7am! Blaine, on the other hand had a bad night again. He said he couldn’t believe I slept through all the construction noise. He said it was so bad at one point, whatever they were doing actually shook the coach! I think he slept a little better than he thinks, though. He didn’t look as wrung out this morning as he did the other day. 😊

He’s checking out other campgrounds in the area today, which is a bummer because we really like this place. But how much can you really enjoy it if you’re not sleeping?

Now for the good stuff!

We attended a turtle release this morning! There were nine being released today. Seven were ‘cold-stunned’ that had been rescued a few weeks ago when they had those two really cold snaps. The other two were injury rescues they did surgery on (I think they said in November). Eight were Green Sea Turtles, the other was a Loggerhead – and they’d all been given names. : )

We were astonished by the number of people who showed up for this!

A seemingly never ending line of people headed to the beach. The large parking lot was almost full!

Oh my!!
At this point, Blaine said I got really negative.
He doesn’t like it when I do that. . . .

Blaine did a quick count of those across from us and I can tell you – – – there were over 500 people in attendance!! Being on the short side, I didn’t see much, but Blaine took some great pictures! I mostly took pictures of the crowd. 😊

You also need to thank him for biting the bullet and taking one for the team as he ventured into the 58 degree water to capture some of these! Actually, he said it wasn’t so bad in the water. It was after he got out. The air was only 54 and the wind was blowing about 10mph. We had to go home and warm him up with dry clothes, a heater and a microwaved bean bag. Was it worth it? You betcha!!!

There’s more where this came from . . .
Keep reading!

They were supposed to release at 10am, but so many people kept coming in, they delayed. I’m not sure, but I think they started about 10:30. Just before 10, someone began talking (through a portable loudspeaker) about how they came to have these turtles, etc. There have been more than 1,000 rescued from St. Joseph’s Bay (about 90 miles southeast of here)! Most of them were juveniles.

Green Sea Turtles are an endangered species, due to hunting (for their meat and eggs), propeller accidents, fishnet drownings and human encroachment on their nesting grounds. They grow to be about 5 feet long and 700 pounds and can live 80 years or more in the wild.

We started out at our place near the beginning of the release – the point where they took them out of the crates they were in.

These are volunteers brought in for “crowd control” it seemed, although most of those crossing the line didn’t pay much attention to them. : )

This guy is a local news camera guy. Blaine found his footage online. It was awful to say the least!
30 minutes of out-of-focus commentary and water and sky.
I hope he still has a job . . .

Here they come!

Next, there were two and the girls walked down one on each side, so people could see them closer.

This one was anxious to get going!
He was flailing his flippers all around. : )

Here’s the one on our side.

And another set of two. They kept getting smaller each time. : )

At this point, Blaine headed down to the water and since I really couldn’t see anyway, I followed hoping for a better view. I didn’t get one, but since he did, it was fine. I met a nice couple from Illinois and took Blaine’s picture in the water. : )

That’s him on the end, brave soul.

A few pictures from my vantage point.

I could tell when something was happening by the number of arms up in the air. : )

Here’s what Blaine saw!

This lady in white kept stepping out in front of him.
The pink arrow indicates the turtle in the water, so you’ll know what to look for in the next pictures.

There are two in this picture. Can you spot them?

If you happen to have an innate desire to see more, you can check out the ABC news feed, WEAR from Pensacola, Florida. You’ll catch a glimpse of Blaine’s blue hat in the crowd. : )

We did learn that if we ever run across something like this again, we want to be there very early and grab a spot near the water.

You can tell how cold he is! Look at his clenched fists!

How do you follow up an exciting morning like that??? After lunch, we walked the other side of the beach. It’s nice the State Park takes up so much room and prohibits buildings, but at least here, the hotels, etc. look nice. We turned around when the beach started getting “crowded”. 😊

We think this is a Sea Cucumber. They were all over this end of the beach in various forms of deceased.

A sandbar that has appeared. We couldn’t see it the other days we came down.

Pigeons???

A study in contrasts.
Take a look at what people are wearing!
Swimsuits and a winter coat. Haha!

That’s me. Wandering off.

Next up: The Park’s Nature Trail. Hmmmm . . . . interesting. It was unusual to walk a State Park nature trail with highrises within view. Much of it was soft, deep sand and a bit difficult to walk on and it was up and down dunes, so our legs got a bit of a workout.