Down At The End

There were so many people at Siesta Beach this evening, I had to do something to get out of the crowds and wait for the sunset. So I just started walking. I walked and walked and walked, until I reached the end of the beach. Well, the beach doesn't really end, but someone did build a house out on the point, and that's pretty much the end of the public beach. But if you hop up on the seawall surrounding the house at low tide, you can get around to the other side, and there I found something that I had not seen in Florida before. The end of the beach is called Point of Rocks, and among those rocks are a series of tidal pools. I thought those were a California only thing, but there it was. Lots of little shallow areas among the rocks, with all sorts of little critters in there.

As you can see, the rocks go on for quite a ways. The further you go, the more life you find because curious tourists haven't walked all that way and pulled all the critters out of their homes.

Some searching yielded this mollusk and sea urchin together. There were plenty of both all around, but this was the only pair I found together. I think these guys are enemies, so they don't hang out together too much.

Probably the top predator in these waters is the great blue heron. This guy was keeping his eye on a small trickle of water draining from one of the larger pools. Anything hoping to make it out to the open water had to get past him first. I was pretty surprised to find this area, and I hope to get back when the light is better. I also need to find a closer place to park so that I don't have to walk more than a mile down the beach each way. Time to break out Google Earth!