Yesterday was Beethoven’s 250th birthday. The beginning of his 9th symphony sure seems to be a lot of wave crashing. Perhaps you’d like to listen to Northwestern’s School of Music’s recording while viewing these images. I’ve posted more than usual.
Growing up near the Florida coast, I’d sometimes find fragments of coquina rock washed up on shore. Coquina is about the only rock you’ll find in Florida. It’s a sedimentary rock of compressed shellfish.
Only two beaches in the state have extensive outcropping of coquina. One is near Jupiter in the southeast part of the state and the other is in the northeast near Palm Coast. We were fortunate last month to stay near this one. The Castillo San Marcos in St. Augustine is built of coquina. It was quite an effective rock to use for a fort at the time because cannon shot would not shatter the soft rock but be absorbed into it.
While we were there, hurricane Eta came across the state twice. First, it crossed the Keys. While nearly 300 miles away, the outskirts of the storm battered the northeast coast as well. Then it boomeranged back after a visit in the Gulf. Plenty of rough surf pounded the coquina and the agitation caused a lot of sea foam.
Overcast skies were constant, though a couple mornings, the run broke through for a brief show.
The next picture is a composite of nine images. Count the pelicans. It’s actually one pelican flying by and captured in 9 frames.
As the tide and waves come and go, the shelves of coquina create and recreate new scenes.
One evening, we were taking a walk on the shore before it got dark. It was quite overcast and an uninteresting sky. I thought about leaving the camera, and not subjecting it to the sea salt spray, but grabbed it at the last minute. After the sun set, the sky began to glow and an amazing light show ended the gloomy day.
