St. Augustine Beach Preview

As we gaze out on, as we gaze out on

As we gaze out on, as we gaze out on

Saint Dominic's Preview

Saint Dominic's Preview

Saint Dominic's Preview.

Hi Blog! Friday, January 24, 2015, was our first full day in St. Augustine Beach, just four miles south of St. Augustine. Winter Storm Iola was bearing down on us. The weatherman said we'd have a couple hours Friday morning before the torrential rain and thunderstorms came barreling through. We figured we would have just enough time for a walk to the beach.

Our campground is right across the street from Anastasia State Park. With more than 1,600 acres, including four miles of rustic beach, a tidal salt marsh and a maritime forest, there will be plenty for us to explore. There is also an archaeological site where coquina rock was mined to create the nearby fortress, Castillo de San Marcos, which is now a national monument. We definitely will be spending some time in the park, but with the rain coming, it won't be today. Here is our first look at St. Augustine Beach.

We learned that this section of the beach, where the sea oats meet the other vegetation, is home to the little Anastasia Island Beach Mouse:

These cute critters are about 5.5 inches long.  They eat small insects and coastal plants such as beach grasses and sea oats. They gather seeds which have separated from the plant and blown to the ground. Every night, they leave their burrows to gather the sea oat seeds which have blown to the ground, then return them to their burrows for storage.

The winds were pretty strong this afternoon, which kicked up the surf. We were surprised we didn't see any surfer dudes.

There were a few other hearty souls getting their beach walk in. We managed to rustle up a flock of pigeons.

We noticed a pier and decided to walk down and see if we could venture out for a better look up and down the beach.



Welcome to St. Johns County Ocean and Fishing Pier. If you want to go fishing for the day, it is $3.00. Tourists pay $1.00, which is used to help maintain the pier. While in the visitors center, we took the opportunity to fill our pockets with more tourist brochures.

St. Augustine Beach is located on Anastasia Island just east of the historic city of St. Augustine. St. Augustine Beach receives an estimated 5 million visitors per year. However, today we only counted about five. One advantage of going to the beach when bad weather is predicted, is that you have the place pretty much to yourself.

The locals don't seem to mind the wind. They just hang tight and lean into it.

The beach consists of two types of sand. The soft white stuff that blows around near the dunes and the courser, darker reddish gravely type near the water. In some section, the drop off between the soft sand and course sand was several feet. Someone left a branch marking the spot where they climbed up to the beach. We like the way this photo shows the different textures and colors of shell, sand and sky.

The clouds kept getting darker, so we beat a hasty retreat. We did make one stop on the way back to pick up some fresh shrimps, crab cakes and whole Golden Tile fish. The crab cakes never made it past lunch. The shrimp were eaten for dinner. However, we are saving the tile fish to put on the barbecue grill when the sun comes back out.

Since today was sort of a preview of St. Augustine Beach, it brought to mind Van Morrison's album Saint Dominic's Preview. Here is the title track.

"Saint Dominic's Preview" by Van Morrison

Shammy cleaning all the windows,
Singing songs about Edith Piaf's soul.
And I hear blue strains of "no regredior"
Across the street from Cathedral Notre Dame.

Meanwhile back in San Francisco
We're trying hard to make this whole thing blend,
As we sit upon this jagged
Storey block, with you my friend.

And it's a long way to Buffalo.
It's a long way to Belfast city too.
And I'm hoping the choice won't blow the hoist
'cos this town, they bit off more than they can chew.

As we gaze out on, as we gaze out on
As we gaze out on, as we gaze out on
Saint Dominic's Preview
Saint Dominic's Preview
Saint Dominic's Preview

All the orange boxes are scattered.
Against the Safeway's supermarket in the rain.
And everybody feels so determined
Not to feel anyone else's pain.

(You know that) No one's making no commitments
To anybody but themselves,
Hidin' behind closed doorways,
Tryin' to get outside, outside of empty shells

And for every cross-cuttin' country corner,
For every Hank Williams railroad train that cried,
And all the chains, badges, flags and emblems
And every strain on every brain and every eye [?]

As we gaze out on, as we gaze out on
As we gaze out on, as we gaze out on
Saint Dominic's Preview
Saint Dominic's Preview
Saint Dominic's Preview.

And the restaurant tables are completely covered.
The record company has paid out for the wine.
You got everything in the world you ever wanted
Right about now your face should wear a smile.

That's the way it all should happen
When you're in, when you're in the state you're in;
You've got your pen and notebook ready,
I think it's about time, time for us to begin.

And we're over in a 52nd Street apartment,
Socializing with the wino few,
Just to be hip and get wet with the jet set.
But they're flying too high to see my point of view.

As we gaze out on, as we gaze out on
As we gaze out on, as we gaze out on
Saint Dominic's Preview
Saint Dominic's Preview
Saint Dominic's Preview.

See them freedom marching,
Out on the street, freedom marching.
Saint Dominic's Preview.