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| Water Life & Reflections |
| Hermit Climbing |
| One Clown |
| Triumphant Nudi |
| Star Lightning |
| Star Squirt |
| Hermit Reflectin' |
Picture of the first Manatee I ever saw on the emerald coast.
My cousins from Vermont and I had just had a wonderful lunch/dinner at the Angler's Restaurant at the base
of the Okaloosa Island Pier and we were walking out to the end of the pier watching them pull in lots of fish of
all kinds. Then my cousin Polly says to me, "Mike, what is that out there?"
I looked and coming towards us is this big black/brown spot in the water. At first I couldn't make it out and
thought that maybe it was a big Manna Ray, but as it got closer you could tell that it was longer that it was
wide, so it couldn't be a ray.
Then Polly says, "It is a manatee!!"
I said, "No there aren't any manatees up here, it is too far north."
But in a second as it came coming towards us, there was just no denying it.
"Oh my G*!!! It is a manatee!!"
And so it was, and here is the proof for all of the rest of you Emerald Coast Natives. The manatee was
swimming from Pensacola towards Destin. We watched him until he was out of sight.
In my 51 years here on the Gulf coast I had never seen a manatee in the wild, and on their first walk on the
pier here comes one. I said they had to be good luck, and they would have to come more often.
Janet and I both got pictures of it as it went under the pier. She got one of it surfacing for air, I got this one
of it just as it passed under the pier, for contrast. I sent a copy of it to the paper, but they didn't publish it.
The word in the title "Shoots" refers to a term that surfers around here use when they ride (or try to ride) a
wave through the pier pilings. Not recommended.
My cousins from Vermont and I had just had a wonderful lunch/dinner at the Angler's Restaurant at the base
of the Okaloosa Island Pier and we were walking out to the end of the pier watching them pull in lots of fish of
all kinds. Then my cousin Polly says to me, "Mike, what is that out there?"
I looked and coming towards us is this big black/brown spot in the water. At first I couldn't make it out and
thought that maybe it was a big Manna Ray, but as it got closer you could tell that it was longer that it was
wide, so it couldn't be a ray.
Then Polly says, "It is a manatee!!"
I said, "No there aren't any manatees up here, it is too far north."
But in a second as it came coming towards us, there was just no denying it.
"Oh my G*!!! It is a manatee!!"
And so it was, and here is the proof for all of the rest of you Emerald Coast Natives. The manatee was
swimming from Pensacola towards Destin. We watched him until he was out of sight.
In my 51 years here on the Gulf coast I had never seen a manatee in the wild, and on their first walk on the
pier here comes one. I said they had to be good luck, and they would have to come more often.
Janet and I both got pictures of it as it went under the pier. She got one of it surfacing for air, I got this one
of it just as it passed under the pier, for contrast. I sent a copy of it to the paper, but they didn't publish it.
The word in the title "Shoots" refers to a term that surfers around here use when they ride (or try to ride) a
wave through the pier pilings. Not recommended.
| Reflections |
| Rippling Blue |
| Fall in the Bayou |
| Thanksgiving Sunset Puppy |
| Venus Below |
| Before the Dawn Grass |
| Comin' in Ink |
| Tropical Reflections |
| Sky Bubble |
Sometimes we me the beauty at our feet.
A close-up of some bubbles in the water at my feet during the sun rise of "Stepin' into Bayous
of Gold," (see: Beach People page) July 2006, Cape San Blas, Florida.
A close-up of some bubbles in the water at my feet during the sun rise of "Stepin' into Bayous
of Gold," (see: Beach People page) July 2006, Cape San Blas, Florida.
This a reflection of the water at Black's Island. The picture is actually upside-down, notice the bubble on the water and the
grass bottom above the palm trees.
grass bottom above the palm trees.
Early morning at Boggy Bayou, Valpariso, Florida, Fall, 2005.
© 2007 Michael John Gallery. All rights reserved.
| Hermit Drill |
| Hermit Who? |
| Hermit Out |