The beach is back

Finally! I have my beaches back!

My first weekend with room to actually roam, and I had Crystal Beach and parts of the National Seashore all to myself. There are still a few stragglers, but the beaches in Destin and Fort Walton were gloriously sparse. The seagulls were even slightly less vermin-y.

There is a small stretch of shoreline along Choctawhatchee Bay on Okaloosa Island near Fort Walton Beach that is part of the National Park system, so because of the US government shutdown, it was, well… shutdown.. A gate blocked entrance into the cove where kite surfers like to play. The gate didn’t deter the adventurers. They simply parked along the highway, walked over the gate and into the park. Civil disobedience, dudes!

The public access on the Gulf side is nestled between sections of the Air Force reservation, and there was no barrier to the beach… so I schlepped around there taking pix for a while. I felt kind of rebellious. Consider it me kicking sand in the eye of Congress.

You can click on any image to see a larger photo, or the series as a slideshow.

(Photos shot with a Nikon D60, using an 18-55mm, 55-200mm, 20mm f/2.8 wide-angle, 50mm f/1.8 prime lens, and/or iPhone4)

For more photos, please visit my Flickr photostream