Fort Pickens, Post-Gustav

We were very lucky to avoid most of Hurricane Gustav this past week, but he did leave a few signs of his passage in his wake...



For those of you familiar with our bird nesting areas, you know these signs stand about 5 feet high. With all the sand Gustav pushed around, this is now less than 2 feet off the ground. That's quite a few sand grains re-arranged!



There were breaches in three areas that I could identify, but the water has receded enough that I had no trouble accessing the western point of the island on ATV.



The two remaining turtle nests on Fort Pickens are doing well...



The dunes around them were a little worse for wear. It looks as if there was a breach just west of nest 7111 (the nest in photo above).



The pre-Ivan road was very evident for about a mile-and-a-half.



Drainage ditches were appearing randomly at the west end as well -- the island has to shed the water somewhere!



The marsh looks really good though! The buildings fared well also. Can't wait to have them back in business for visitors sometime soon!

Perdido Key Meditation

The sun this morning lit the still Gulf of Mexico just like the full moon will tonight. It's strange to see that silvery light in the morning!



Perdido Key is one of my favorite areas of Gulf Islands National Seashore, but that's not saying much since I love all of it! The Gulf of Mexico was like a very large lake today, still, warm and blue.



The sunlight was flat and gray. There was actually enough chill in the air to make a jacket necessary.



These fishermen had exactly the right idea, floating around on the calm bay, fishing for dinner. What a peaceful start to the day.



On the south shore, the remnants of a crazy loggerhead (Caretta caretta) crawl meandered down the beach. I wonder what made the turtle make so many abrupt turns on the dark night beach.



At the end of my turtle patrol, I turned the corner to find this delightful field of purple flowers along the north shore. I'll find a field guide soon to identify them.



This crawl on the north shore was a little confusing. It's only about a foot wide. Anyone know what species it is?



The sea oats (Uniola paniculata) the Boy Scouts planted a few months ago are really doing well. Those gold, seed-laden heads catch lots of sand to help the dunes grow. I wish people would learn not to walk through them. Their roots function to keep the barrier island strong -- they are definitely worth preserving!