Turning it up a Notch

Ethan and Jackson Discovering a Nine-Legged Starfish

The arrival of grandsons to coincide with the start of my last week of vacation has been like adding spice to a recipe. Days on the beach have taken on added dimensions as the discoveries of turtles, yes we found another loggerhead turtle hatchling yesterday, shells, ghost crabs, and even a nine armed starfish have sparked questions and generated enthusiasm.

Ethan Getting Air

Watching Ethan try to get as much air a possible while jumping off a sand dune into the ocean kept my attention much longer than watching a ghost crab try to determine whether I was watching it or not--I was, by the way watching it. It was fun to see them having fun. Much like the missing ingredient in a recipe.

The day was beautiful--for the first day in over a week there was no rain and the temperatures remained mild. There were two separate trips to the beach--while visiting three beaches provided hours of enjoyment and discovery.

There was also a snorkeling expedition into the calm waters of the inter-coastal  to familiarize everyone with their gear in non-swimming pool conditions.

Jax and Ethan Heading out to Boogie

But there was also a boogie boarding for some fun in the not so huge afternoon waves.

But the best part of all of it? It was Friday and I wasn't at work! On top of that, it was a great transition into my last week of vacation.

Whoo hoo!

Did I mention Happy Hour on the beach? It's always five o'clock somewhere, right?

-- Bob Doan, writing from Jupiter, FL

Bird of the Day - Ruddy Turnstone

Ruddy Turnstone on Jupiter Island Beach

Found this bird on the beach yesterday. It is a fairly common looking bird, but I haven't seen one before. It is also more commonly known as a sandpiper. OK, Chris won that one after I found the real name.

I have not seen many of these birds on the beaches we frequent here in Jupiter and so it was worthy of a few pictures.

-- Bob Doan, writing from Jupiter, FL

Endless Summer Vineyard and Winery -- Review

Endless Summer Vineyard and Winery Entrance

Yes, I found a winery in Florida that actually grows grapes and makes wine. That, of course, deserved a visit to check out the wines and help drive away the blues of a rainy day.

The Endless Summer Vineyard and Winery in Fort Pierce, Florida is roughly a 45 minute drive from Jupiter. The winery is just a short two miles off the interstate and has a nice tasting room adorned with a beach theme. The winery is striving to develop serious Florida wines that will appeal to many people.

Palms and Grapes

Entering the tasting room provides a great introduction to the winery. Surf boards and beach items adorn the walls. We were met be a very nice and wine savvy hostess who helped us to understand the wines and the grapes used to make the wine for this vineyard. The tasting room has been open for only a year and the vines are only four years old--so they are using juice from other vineyards to make their wine. But, next year they are expecting to produce  their first home grown vintage.

The winery provided my first introduction to the muscadine grape, which is the only one that will grow in this part of Florida. I was amazed to find that there are over 300 varieties of muscadine grape. The grape is very light and sweet. I found that it smells a lot like the niagara grape grown in upstate NY. Likewise, the wines made from this grape smell like grapes and not berries like those made from the other wine making grapes. The grape nose is in every wine that the winery offered. Some of the wines are blended with merlot and chardonnay sourced from, of all places, Arkansas. One wine blended with a mango wine.

Endless Summer Vineyards

The wines that Endless Summer wines have very creative names: I found Marlin Monroe and Rated Arrr to be the best. All of the wines are on the sweeter side and all have the pronounced grape nose. These wines are good for drinking around the pool. This winery represents the furthest south in Florida that grapes are grown for the purpose of making wines. There is another winery further south, but they do not make wine from grapes.

Driving by the vineyards, it is clear the the vines are very young--but that does not dampen my enthusiasm for this winery. I am very impressed with the location, the concept, and the idea that they are going to produce the best possible wines from the grapes they can grow.

RECOMMENDATION: A must visit if you are in this part of Florida. The whites are the best and the reds are light, summery offerings.

-- Bob Doan, writing from Jupiter, FL

Bird of the Day - Egret on the Beach

Egret, probable juvenile

Chris and I have been taking many, many, many (read over three hundred) pictures of birds while on vacation.

So we have decided to publish a few of the better ones--OK, we are getting one better one per 300 images taken. Thank goodness for digital imagery!

-- Bob Doan, writing from Jupiter, FL

The Lone Ranger - A Review

I had the opportunity to view The Lone Ranger the other day.

Despite the poor attendance and dismal reviews, I liked this movie. It was far deeper and more complex than I imagined it would be. The interaction between Johnny Depp (the Ranger) and Armie Hammer (Tonto) was complex, funny and serious.

The story is set in the late 1800's but told as a narrative by Tonto to a young boy named Will during a fair in San Francisco during the 1930's. This narrative setting worked well and Johnny Depp's portrayal of Tonto is fantastic. The story is about how the Lone Ranger came to be "Lone" and I admit that I never knew the back story behind the larger than life hero portrayed by Clayton Moore for so many years on television. The relationship between The Lone Ranger and Tonto was an portrayed in the movie uneasy one which developed over time. I had expected a campy, corny, fun movie and saw instead movie about genocide, treachery, murder, and human trafficking to in the pursuit of greed and fortune. There are many very difficult scenes to watch in the movie which, in retrospect, I am not sure really needed to be part of the plot or story line.

The movie is a serious endeavor with humor often juxtaposed to help the audience overcome the depth of the tragedy just witnessed. The plot if deep with many twists and turns. The acting is very good, although there are no Oscar worthy performances. The villains are villainous, and the heroes are larger than life. I especially enjoyed the antics of the white horse--which eventually was named Silver in keeping with the history of the story. At one point Tonto utters that there is something not quite right about that horse. It is fun to watch the horse. It was also fun to watch the interplay between Depp and Hammer--they reminded me of the the interaction between Jude Law and Robert Downey Jr in Sherlock Holmes. I admit though, for the closing scenes hearing the familiar Lone Ranger Theme (William Tell Overture) was a blast from the past and provided the spectacular movie ending that I had come in search of--but it remained a serious ending to a difficult movie because of its tough and often graphic reality.

I read a fair and even review of the movie that carefully lays out the positives and negatives of the film in   The Nerdist. I found it to be very accurate and I generally agree with it.

RECOMMENDATION: I liked the movie. The movie is not suitable for the pre-teen group due to its graphic nature and difficult subject matter which includes inferences of prostitution based in a western setting in addition to a particularly disturbing murder scene. One reviewer suggested that it was the most generous PG-13 rating in a long time. I agree! Based upon the violence and the subject matter an R rating might be more applicable.

-- Bob Doan, writing from Jupiter, FL

Leatherback Turtles: Saving Hatchlings

Leatherback Turtle Hatchling on Jupiter Island Beach

Another rainy day is in store and Chris and I headed off to the beach earlier than normal to try to grab some beach time before the afternoon rains become oppressive.

I attempted snorkeling in the too rough waters, only to realize after about 15 minutes that my attempts to see or do anything meaningful were futile. So I wandered the beach, which we had all to ourselves, looking for shells and taking pictures, until the battery on the camera expired, of birds and critters.

Second Leatherback Hatchling of the Day

We relaxed on the beach for a few hours before another couple appeared on the beach. They appeared intently interested in something on the beach and we considered the possibility of a turtle nest eruption, whereby a couple of dozen turtle hatchlings make the mad dash for the ocean and begin swimming for the deep water to begin their lives, providing they do not become a snack for some predator.

As we wandered over, it was apparent that something was indeed happening. Chris was in the lead and upon arriving at their location she began emphatically motioning for me to hurry.

Arriving at the scene, it was not an eruption underway, but rather one lone straggler that had become entangled in fishing line on the beach and unable to make its way to the surf with its nest mates. AND, it was a leatherback. The first leatherback that either Chris or I had seen in the wild. For a hatchling, it was big compared to the green turtles and loggerhead turtles that we had watched make their way into the ocean on other occasions.

Leatherback Turtles are the fourth largest modern reptiles. And interesting fact that I didn't know until I did some research for this article. I know that they are rare in the wild and I have never seen an adult leatherback. Their food of choice is jellyfish--which helps to keep the jellyfish population under control.

This hatchling needed help. Chris knew what to do. I proposed carrying it into the surf to let it get on its way. That turned out to be a bad idea as we learned later its probability of survival was near zero. The better idea was to take it to the Loggerhead Marine Wildlife Center--a few miles down the road. And so converting a dive mask container into a turtle transport device we headed off. The staff at the Center was elated to receive the leatherback hatchling.

Chris was rewarded with a nice certificate for her efforts and we learned that we should not transport the hatchlings in sand covered with water, but rather, just damp sand.  That was important because we decided to return to the beach and scour the debris to see if any other leatherback hatchlings were similarly entangled.

As it turns out, upon returning to the beach and scouring the other debris we indeed found another ensnared hatchling which appeared to have given up hope of making it to the sea. We scoured the area thoroughly and were reasonably convinced that no other hatchlings remained on the beach. I counted 20 sets of tracks that ended at the waters edge--and with these two, the nest produced about 22 turtles. I am not sure how many of the other 20 will survive, but I know these two have a great chance of making it because they both arrived at the rescue center where they will be boated out to the deep water and will skip the feeding frenzy off the beach that the other 20 had to endure to make it to the relative safety of the deeper water.

Chris is a hero--at least for these two turtles, well, and of course to me.

-- Bob Doan, writing from Jupiter, FL

Faces of the Sea

Rough Seas and Blue Skies

Stuck in the house due to the torrential rains that blew in from the Bahamas, I was thinking about the many faces of the ocean that I have seen during the roughly week and a half that I have been in Florida.

Calm Seas and Dark Skies

Chris and I spent parts of both Monday and Tuesday mornings chasing the sun, visiting multiple beaches per day as the storms descended. We were actually chased off one due to the crash of thunder occurring within moments of the flash of light from the lightening. Ugh! I mean, we get wet on a beach so a little bit of rain isn't a problem. Torrential rain, however, is a different story. And throw in lightening within less than a second's worth of distance (roughly 1,126 feet) and that is too close. When that happens it is time to race off the beach and into the car.

Wild Seas under Gray Skies

The different seas we have experienced this week are dramatic. From rough to wild to smooth.

Wow. As for snorkeling--only twice. Ugh!

Rough seas, water with too much junk in them, thunder storms, chasing the sun to find a beach. What a couple of weeks it has been.

It should only get better.

I hope. I have a lot more snorkeling to do.

Let the sun shine.

--Bob Doan, writing from Jupiter, FL

Out to the Sea

Morning Sky heading out to the Ocean

Fishing the ocean in a small boat on a rough day with storms not only on the horizon, but nearly on top of the intrepid fishermen may seem crazy--but, it was a great way to spend the better part of the day.

Leaving before dawn from a park near Stuart, Florida, to be on the water as the sun arose provided a fantastic start to the day. Dawn is one of my favorite times of the day, and I was not disappointed even though the clouds were heavy with rain.

Turtle Tracks along an Abandoned Boat

It was a beautiful morning though, trolling along the coast for tarpon or other big fish. Sadly, we didn't see any. But, it was enjoyable trolling along the long sandy beach seeing the turtle tracks from the egg laying during the night before. It is reassuring to see so many turtles crawling up the beach to continue their species.

My First Snook

But, there were fish to be had. Deciding that the big tarpon were not in the area despite an abundance of potential breakfast food (read bait fish) we headed to another area to fish for snook--which although out of season to keep are a lot of fun to catch and release. We caught a few of these fairly significant fish and it was nice to see them up close and personal. I did smell like fish for the rest of the day, though. I'm not sure what I was thinking about to have such a serious look on my face--I really didn't want to hurt the fish anymore than hooking it had already done.

Francis and the Snook

Francis also landed two snook during our expedition--here he is holding the second one of the day--we kinda dropped the first one back into the water before I could snap the picture which was good for the fish, but not so good for posterity.

Bill, the owner and captain of the boat can be seen in the background of both pictures. He clearly knew not only where to go for fish but when to be there for the best opportunity of success. I learned a lot about fishing and fish and while I had a lot of nibbles on my bait--I didn't land too many more.

It was a great morning of fishing despite foreboding weather which never materialized.

-- Bob Doan, writing from Jupiter, FL

Monday Musings - July 15, 2013

1. If I stayed on vacation forever then it wouldn't be a vacation, right? It might be considered retired though!

2. Onto the ocean in a small boat chasing big fish--it is right up there with some of the best ways to spend a day. Catching a big fish and then releasing it is also right up there on the list!

3. How to spend a day when it is raining is one of the great questions I have been wrestling with lately. What a good problem to have.

4. I enjoyed celebrating Bastille Day yesterday. It is, after all, my second favorite foreign holiday. Everyone then asks me what my favorite foreign holiday is, and it is Cinco deMayo of course! Check out the linked Wikipedia article on Bastille Day. There reportedly is a celebration in Baltimore that I have, for some strange reason, never attended.

5. It is amazing how quickly important issues fall from the consciousness of the populace--take the Federal government sequester for instance. A lot of people are suffering simply because our elected representatives cannot do their jobs. The same thing happened over student loan rates when they could not act to precent a rate doubling.

6. It is the MLB All Star Break. The Orioles are hanging tough playing 10 games over .500 and only 1.5 games out of the wild card with the division clearly in their sights for the second almost half of the season. Home Run Derby tonight--will Chris Davis become the fourth Orioles player (Ripken, Anderson, Tejada) to win? Actually, I hope not, it could hurt him during the second part of the season.

7. Regarding the Zimmerman acquittal verdict--the jury has spoken. It appears that we are forgetting that in this country people are innocent until proven guilty of crimes and that the standard of proof is set high to preclude innocent people from being wrongly convicted and imprisoned. Despite all of the issues surrounding the cased which tried to cloud the issues, the jury still rendered its verdict and the system still works despite what any of us would believe otherwise.

8. With two weeks remaining on vacation, I am amazed at how much time has already passed. I was asked, what has been the highlight of the vacation? After thinking for a minute of all of the great things I have done, I think the highlight is getting up every day, assessing the weather and asking--so what do I want to do today with no preconditions or plans already made.

-- Bob Doan, writing from Jupiter, FL

Flying into the Clouds

The flight of pelicans seemed on a journey into the clouds the other day as Chris snapped this image. Almost as if they were flying into the Twilight Zone.

I love the way the pelicans patrol the beach, keeping all in order.

They soar together--seeking food and companionship.

They also provide something to watch and marvel at on beach days.

-- Bob Doan, writing from Jupiter, FL