Pensacola Beach Blogger

We are starting to feel the effects of hurricane (now tropical storm) Ida. It has been raining for several hours out here on the beach, and we are starting to get some wind. It looks like Pensacola Beach will take a direct hit in this one. Thankfully it has been steadily weakening.

Down at the pier, the local photographers and Weather Channel reporters congregate… I saw Jim Cantore, Stephanie Abrams:

but my favorite sighting was David from Beach Bum Photography.  He and his wife took our wedding photos!

The island authority has been busy removing anything that hangs, swings, or could blow away. I took this from my iPhone this morning while driving. They are taking down the road signs:

Here’s what the radar looks like as of 11am:

Stay tuned for updates. I’m riding the storm out on the island, so I’ll be updating as long as I have power!

The present is the ever moving shadow that divides yesterday from tomorrow. In that lies hope.
–Frank Lloyd Wright

Check out tonights sunset, as viewed from the Pensacola Beach Pier:

Once the sun was gone, I turned around, looking east off the pier. Check out the color of the sky! No photo editing here!

This wasn’t today… I snapped pictures of these surfers a few days ago. But this 3 shot sequence was too good to pass up! Click to enlarge, and be sure to check out the surfer’s face on the 3rd shot.

The last few days have been a bit chilly on the island. The few people out on Casino Beach yesterday were bundled up:

If you click to enlarge this photo, you can see that it is sunny in Navarre! Those buildings lit up by the sun on the right side of this photo are about 11 miles away from where I was: Pensacola Beach Pier.

The color of the water changed when I walked to the end of the pier. Check out the shades of blue… no filters or Photoshop tricks here:

It should be back into the 70s in the next few days, and I really look forward to it!

Have a good Christmas Eve Eve!

Hurricane Ike is out in the gulf, and will be missing Pensacola Beach completely. But we are seeing very high waves, and the Santa Rosa sound is getting pretty high. These are some pictures I took this morning:

Charlie’s Beach doesn’t look like a beach I’d want to be on today:

This is behind the Boardwalk on Pensacola Beach. There is usually a beach behind it:

You can see the water crashing through the dock behind the big stage:

To get that last shot, I had to run out on the dock while timing and dodging the waves shooting up through the wood:

Forget sea-side dining. How about dining IN the sea?

Some of these scenes were amazing, but this flooding is making a mess in some areas:

As with Hurricane Gustav, the flooding has taken over the picnic area on Pensacola Beach:

Well, I’ve never seen this. Waves actually crashing over the Pensacola Beach Pier!

The pictures I took from under the pier ended up looking like scenes out of an Indiana Jones movie. Check this out:

Run for your life!

These are some of the biggest waves I’ve ever seen out here on the beach:

The Pensacola Beach Gulf Pier at Casino Beach is always fun to walk on, but have you been under it lately? Check out the hammock these guys set up under it. What a great idea!

There are plenty of shells under the pier:

He’s going to find the good ones: