The Mighty Atlantic Ocean

After a long grueling drive....(now Sparky, tell the truth...it was only about 30 miles! chides E.) we managed to get into Sunshine Travel RV Encore Park in Vero Beach with a minimal amount of fuss.
Quite the difference between the last park and this one, like night and day! The only wildlife we will see in this park will be the birds at the bird feeders throughout the park. We will be here for two weeks, taking advantage of our Thousand Trails membership which means it's rock bottom LOW COST...We've already recouped the cost of our Florida zone membership by staying in the Keys, now it's like close to staying free in the rest of any Thousand Trails Parks for the next 60 days. The more you use your membership in the Thousand Trails parks system, the more the average price of a stay per night goes down..Two weeks in the system, one week out.....After the 60 days are used, the price is 3.00 a night in a membership park of which there are over 80 to choose from.

Eldo decided to head out towards the beaches of the Atlantic Ocean.....There was a really stiff wind blowing today...so stiff that the red warning flags were out.....

And so were the signs.....Anybody would be really DUMB to go out in this surf! We even saw an additional sign at Sebastian Inlet State Park that said "RIP TIDE" and "SHARKS"! Even Sparky knows better than to venture out in strong surf with sharks present. Heck, alligators in calm water were enough to spook her from being out in the water!

There were signs about the turtle mating season starting, but it's too early to see them yet...Season starts March 1 and goes through October 31st for the mating season. It would be VERY cool to see some loggerheads!

We checked out a couple different beaches today...the sights are never the same.....At one beach, a young couple was fishing for pompano fish...a very flat fish that you fish from the surf....Now try to look past the young lady in the bikini, guys, to see another interested party.....

It's a good thing Sparky is holding the camera, if Eldy was holding it, all the blog photos today would probably be featuring the young lady fishing! Just kidding, although he freely admits to telling about how when he was in his twenties and had a new camera and went on vacation, he came home with photos of mostly women in bikinis, that was WA-A-A-Y back when bikinis first came out!.....

The heron wasn't the only other interested party, especially after the young man caught a pompano fish....he threw it back, guess it was too little! That little fish was flatter than a pancake!

It was different seeing a great heron in the pounding surf of the Atlantic. We were used to seeing them in calmer waters......Maybe he likes to eat pompano fish, too!

He was sort of like a little kid...When bigger waves started rolling in...he boogied out of the way of the waves......I love that curl of the head feather on top!

He let me get really close to take a closer look, too! He had been through a lot in his life, apparently, or was just getting older...feathers were missing, a little raw skin was showing...he looked a little battle scarred....

It's great to see some different shore birds for a change....these are royal terns, I think! They remind me of Groucho Marx....

We really enjoyed visiting several beaches today...the threat of storm clouds and heavy rain kept us from making an afternoon of being lazy at the beach.....It's supposed to be cloudy and possible rain tomorrow, so we'll see what we come up with......Bye for now.....