St Andrews State Park Beach Part 1

                Tuesday 2/25/2014

The day after we arrived at St Andrews State Park in Panama City Beach, we decided we needed to get out and see what there was to see, before the bad weather that was predicted for the next 2 days. As we headed toward the beach, we went past this fresh water lake,

and saw a parking area across the street from the lake. We got out and walked a boardwalk to another fresh water lake.

We saw a sign that tells us that this is Gator Lake.There is also a trail you can do if you want more exercise.

From a platform, we can see some birds on the other side of the lake.

They look like Great Egrets, and lots of them at that.

Close to us from the platform were these, which I  think are Purple Gallinule.

A gentleman told us we could see a baby gator down by the water edge. He was about 3 feet long. At the Gulf State Park, we were told alligators grow about a foot a year, so this one must be about 3 years old.

He has a good set of teeth for a three year old.

We walked the Mossy Oak Tree trail to see if we could see any other gators or birds, but none were to be seen.

We got back to our car and drove to the beach. As we walked up a boardwalk to the beach we could see a pavilion on the other end of the parking area.

We end up there later on our exploration of the beach.

It was a beautiful day to be at the beach! No dogs allowed here or anywhere near that we could tell.

It was high tide and the beach was pretty narrow.

A few small broken shells, but nothing worth picking up.

We walked down to the jetty where there were fisherman on it.

A look back down the beach from  the jetty.

We followed the jetty in the other direction, and found a cove area with a man watching some raccoons.

All of a sudden, something startled them, and off they went toward the jetty rocks.

I watched them as they played in and out of the rocks.

Here come the little one, running from the bigger one.

Wrestling again on the rocks.

A good shot of the bigger one.

Ever heard of a ice cream boat? Me neither! First time for us to ever see a ice cream boat.

After being entertained by the raccoons and the ice cream boat we continued are walk back on the other side of the point on the peninsula.

Out in the cove, I saw this rock island full of Cormorants.

The water in the cove is very shallow,

making it a great place to take little kids to wade into.

We walked to the pavilion and looked out to the cove.

Last look to the right of the cove toward the jetty. You can also see Shell Island beyond the jetty. In prime season, you can take a shuttle to Shell Island, which is suppose to have more shells than this beach had. To be continued: