This Floridian island is a tropical paradise in the Gulf of Mexico. Sandy white beaches, golden shimmering sunsets, emerald green waters, and pink sunrises make these beaches the most beautiful in the U.S. The lush green vegetation is home to geckos and lizards of various colors, darting rapidly from fuchsia-flowered bushes behind sizzling rocks and Palmetto trees, like a miniature army of velociraptors.
White cotton cumulus clouds dot the azure blue sky. The intense sun casts my shadow on the bottom of the ocean; darting fish glitter like silver lightning through the crystal-clear waves.
Almost every day, the clouds discharge a quick rain shower, quenching temporarily the thirsty sand and the hot asphalt. Sand dunes absorb moisture and feed the many grasses that grow wild and prevent beach erosion.
The island feels deserted for this time of the year. The tourists are scarce and the traffic is very light. Some locals go about their daily chores. Many businesses are shuttered or look completely abandoned which is unusual for the oven hot month of August when tourism normally hops.
The housing areas are a strange mixture of multi-million dollar homes, empty seasonal beach rentals, and doublewide simple bungalows. Many fronts advertise short sales, bank owned, especially of larger homes. The depressed economy seemed to have spared no one.
There are even a few closed banks and stores although grocery stores are the only ones making a quick business. The few town museums are empty judging by the equally empty parking lots. The beautiful gulf promenade has a few British tourists admiring the vistas and taking in the salty wind.
Today is a typical morning with glowing pink sunrise, seashells, pelicans feeding, a solitaire brave swimmer, a lone clam digger, beached marine life with a strange purple blob of a jellyfish and the raging thunder of heavy waves crashing against the rock pier.
By 10 a.m., there is 85 degrees of liquid sunshine, not a cloud in the sky, balmy calm water, lazy waves, hungry pelicans flying low, salty sand dunes, sand grasses swaying in the breeze, shells crunching underfoot, and a blowing sea mist cooling the skin.
In the crystal-clear, skimming waves, shiny schools of fish feed in the balmy ocean while seagulls dive for silvery morsels with the accuracy of sharp shooters. The sun is blazing, not a cloud in the baby blue sky today. A lone egret is preening in the breaking surf. The tiny foamy waves carry to sea any broken shells or green algae. Perfect day at the beach, there is no undertow.
It is easy to let yourself be carried by the beauty of the moment, enjoy life, and forget all the worries in the world, forget the terrible economy and every day drudgery. God created this beauty to behold and to marvel in its majesty. The ocean has a way of cleaning itself from oil spills. The sea renews my spirit like no other vistas in the world.
The vast body of water appears dark, dangerous, and menacing in the distance – after all, how long can we survive floating or treading water even in 89 degrees temperatures. It is a hostile environment to humans. At the same time, it holds the key to life in so many wondrous and renewable forms and the key to our mental and physical survival.
Dr. Ileana Johnson Paugh, Ileana Writes is a freelance writer, author, radio commentator, and speaker. Her books, “Echoes of Communism”, “Liberty on Life Support” and “U.N. Agenda 21: Environmental Piracy,” “Communism 2.0: 25 Years Later” are available at Amazon in paperback and Kindle.
This Floridian island is a tropical paradise in the Gulf of Mexico. Sandy white beaches, golden shimmering sunsets, emerald green waters, and pink sunrises make these beaches the most beautiful in the U.S. The lush green vegetation is home to geckos and lizards of various colors, darting rapidly from fuchsia-flowered bushes behind sizzling rocks and Palmetto trees, like a miniature army of velociraptors.
White cotton cumulus clouds dot the azure blue sky. The intense sun casts my shadow on the bottom of the ocean; darting fish glitter like silver lightning through the crystal-clear waves.
Almost every day, the clouds discharge a quick rain shower, quenching temporarily the thirsty sand and the hot asphalt. Sand dunes absorb moisture and feed the many grasses that grow wild and prevent beach erosion.
