This is something I've been meaning to do for a month but somehow I've never been able to quite do it - the danger is too immediate. I first visited this area just over three years ago and have lived in Tallahassee for almost two years now. In that time I've fallen in love with the local coast. It's the first time in my life I've ever lived close to the ocean and it is amazing. And now, so terribly at risk
Now I'm inspired by outstanding diaries authored by Kristina40 and gulfgal98. So here is my humble offering. I am leaving the country for two weeks tomorrow and who knows what this will look like when I get back.
I'm going to go west to east and skim over some of the same areas of that Kristina40 and gulfgal98 did. And then I will spend a bit more time on the far northeast part of the Gulf, what is known as the 'Nature Coast'. This magnificent wild area is threatened by the oil just like the very similar habitat in Louisiana.
Here's a picture of the Emerald Coast - a view of the beach at St. Andrew's State Park in Panama City so vividly shown by Kristina40.
A ghost crab in the sand
One of the gators that may have fallen victim to teenagers. We tend to think of gators as freshwater animals but they can occur quite close or even in salt water.
And a snowy egret walking in the lagoon behind the beach
Moving to the east we reach St. Joe Peninsula and Bay. This areas marks the boundary between the more exposed coast of Panama City to the west and Apalachee Bay to the east.
St. Joe has miles of wilderness beach with very large dunes
Here it is in less clement weather
The peninsula is a long narrow spit that helps form the immense shallow St. Joe bay. I've yet to go snorkelling there - it supposedly is a fascinating area where you can see wonderful invertebrates in the sea grass beds.
Here are a pair of horseshoe crabs in the bay - taken from a kayak.
In her diary gulfgal98 mentions St. Vincent NWR. This is a barrier island that is only accessible by boat. As it so happens I was kayaking there on Saturday.
Here is a view of the back side of the island
This salt loving plant was growing there. The succulence is an adaptation to living with saline water.
And the deserted beach on the gulf side
In the interests of space and the fact that I have relatively few pictures I'm going to (very unjustly) skip over St. George and move on to Bald Point - the most easterly area of sandy coast in the region. And here I'm just going to show you a picture of a lizard
This is just to remind you that the beach and dunes are habitat for many plants and animals that are not tied to the ocean but thrive in the open, sunny environment there.
At this point the marshes become more common and the beach disappears. The town of Panacea sits astride this point. It is home to Gulf Specimens, a private aquarium and biological supply company. Here is a picture of their main room
This local business is only possible because of an expensive supply of clean salt water which they can pump directly out of the bay. This company has supplied marine specimens to large numbers of universities for decades and may go out of business in the next few months.
Here is a batfish in one of their tanks coming up to check me out.
And finally - St. Marks NWR and the Nature Coast.
From Panacea around the big bend and a fair portion of the way south to St. Petersburg the beach disappears except for tiny isolated bits. Salt marsh dominates. If you look on a map of Florida you will notice an almost complete absence of towns and roads along the coast here. It is the wildest place left in Florida on salt water with the possible exception of the Everglades.
St. Marks NWR is the easiest place to experience this area without a boat. It protects a great swathe of marsh and the pine and hardwood hammocks bordering it.
Lots of creatures live in the marsh, some big
and some small
and some fantastically abundant
If you're not sure what those are here's a closer look
The marshes are a nursery from a multitude of marine organisms, a buffer against hurricanes, and a winter home for a vast array of birds.
Including these Whooping Cranes being led to the refuge by ultralight in an attempt to establish a new migratory population. All whooping cranes winter either on the Gulf Coast or not that far away.
And just to remind you that this region is much bigger than St Marks, here's a picture of Econfina State Park, right at the junction of the Panhandle and the Peninsula and miles and miles from anywhere else.