Gone to the Birds

Sunday, December 23
Pelican Roost RV Park — NS Mayport, Florida
Temps: Lo 43 / Hi 60 (6C / 16C)

After two nights of slide-topper-flapping winds, last night was a welcome change as quiet once again reigned and we slept peacefully.

(Photo to the right is of Christmas decorations at one of the sites down the road from us.)

Mui and I went our separate ways today.

He was bound and determined to wash the coach; I wanted to go out and play with my new camera — the recently released Canon Powershot SX50 HS. So, once Mui was safely down from the roof of the Phaeton, I hopped in the car for the short ride to the beach, where I found plenty of opportunities to put the camera through its paces.

I wasn’t really in the market for another camera, but a couple of things played a role in changing my mind — an intermittent smudge that’s been marring my G12 photos; a B&H gift card I received from DCS as a retirement gift; and an $80 off + free overnight shipping offer from B&H, our preferred source for camera gear. What’s a gal to do in the face of such incentives ;-)

I’ll let the photos from my beach outing speak for the camera — it will never replace my DSLR equipment, but with its 50x zoom (equivalent to 1200 mm), I’m going to enjoy using the SX50 HS as a walk-around camera.

Fewer jelly fish on the beach today; this was the biggest one I saw.

Juvenile ring-billed gull

From this at the wide end of the lens …

… to this at near full zoom.

Fascinated with the way this crab was feeding, I sat with it for a while;
good opportunity to test the full HD video capability of the SX50 HS.
[the clip is 14 seconds long and worth a watch, if I do say so myself; edited by Mui]

Sanderling (I believe; correct me if I am wrong.)

Watch out for the tsunami heading your way!

Royal Tern

Black Skimmers in flight.

Black Skimmers

No trip to the beach would be complete without sea shells.

Osprey resting with its catch secured by sharp talons.

Having run out of space on the memory card — and also because my butt was frozen from sitting on wet sand for several hours — I returned …

… home to the Phaeton, which was sitting pretty thanks to Mui’s hard work.

I wasn’t quite ready to call it a day, however. After a hot shower to warm up, I dressed in comfy layers and footwear appropriate to go jetty hopping at the turning basin to see what I might find to photograph there.

Left: Royal terns and a ring-billed gull; I think the small bird is a tern chick.
Right: Great Blue Heron

Left: Double-Crested Cormorant
Right: Great Egret

A fishing cat? Not really, but I found the scene hilarious and had to take a snapshot.

Since Mui had worked hard all day on beautifying the coach, we decided to go out for dinner. Our first choice was a seafood market/restaurant not far from the ferry terminal in Mayport Village. It turns out that they’re closed on Sundays.

So, we asked Ms Garmin for some suggestions. From the list she presented, we picked another seafood restaurant 7 miles away. Well, it turns out that restaurant was a billiards pub in Jacksonville Beach.

Not ready to give up, we drove along the main strip where we found several restaurants doing brisk business. We settled on the Campeche Bay Cantina. It turns out that was the perfect choice. Third time’s the charm, I guess.

I really enjoyed the California Burrito I ordered (flour tortilla stuffed with shredded beef, beans, guacamole, and sour cream; topped with chili con queso and chopped tomatoes), and Mui was equally satisfied with his Seafood Campechanga (two small chimichangas stuffed with a mixture of herb cream cheese, shrimp, and Alaskan king crab; topped with chili con queso, guacamole and sour cream). A couple of cold beers washed the food down quite satisfactorily. Pleasantly stuffed, we brought dessert home for later consumption — Margarita Pie (pretzel crust filled with tequila, fresh lime juice, triple sec, and cream; topped with a raspberry sauce and a dollop of whipped cream) … yummy!

Sorry no photos; I forgot to replace the memory card in the camera after I uploaded the pictures to the computer. But I’ll just say that Campeche Bay gets a thumbs up from us and leave you with …

The End!