I had to turn around and head back the other direction. You can see just barely see Portofino in the distance:

I’m not sure if this is re-opened now or not… please comment if you know otherwise!

This is a perfect example of the sea oats doing their job. You can see where the surf ate away at the dune until it reached the sea oats:

See these blocks of wood in the sand? There used to be 4 foot high fences on those. The sea oats certainly outperformed the sand fences.

Other than the beach erosion, Pensacola Beach held up fine. I didn’t see any damage on my walk this morning. Fort Pickens Road is washed over, and still closed, but that’s about it!

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!

We walked out to the beach this morning. The waves were coming in from the east, which is kind of unusual. The storms and wind were starting to show up!

This poor little guy got washed up by the strong surf:

At least the surfers can take advantage of the waves before the rain comes in:

Now is the time to make any last minute preparations for hurricane season if you haven’t already: Candles, drinking water, emergency radios, extra batteries, and flashlights should all be stocked up on if you live out on the island! And most importantly, remember not to lose your head (like this guy) when the storms come rolling in!

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:

But water rushing down the street is never a good sign:

Looks like the Gulf is coming over the dunes! Not a good thing for our expected turtle hatchlings on Pensacola Beach.

In fact, I found this screen covering used to keep crabs out of the turtle nests. I’ll be sure to let Barrier Island Girl and Traveling Turtle Girl know.

The Santa Rosa sound is rising:

And it is causing plenty of problems for my neighbors on the sound-side of the island:

I took many more pictures down at the pier this morning… I’ll have them up shortly!

Many of my neighbors have kept their windows borded up and the hurricane shutters closed since taking action for Hurricane Gustav. Let’s hope we can open up our windows again soon!

You can see some damage to the sand fences (or whatever those are called):

But the good news is that the sun is shining, at least for now. There are still a few storms rolling through though. I snapped this picture around noon today:

Check out how high the tide is! The waves are probably 12 feet tall.

You can see that it is really chewing up the dunes. If it starts to flow over, we are leaving the island.

I just feel fortunate to still have power and internet. We might take a drive to see if there is any major damage on the island. Check back later today for an update!

Yum Yum! Hurricake!