Posted By auntie on February 8, 2018

4.45 miles; Port St. Joe, FL

Some friends came down to Florida to stay with us, and this morning we went for a long beach walk. So interesting! There was a big storm last night, and lots of stuff washed up on the beach, including tons of jellyfish and something called “sea pork.”

Crop Circles in the Sky

My friend asked me what the “crop circles in the sky” were, and I told her I figured they were F-22 fighter jet contrails from Tyndall Air Force Base, which is not quite 30 miles further down the coast from us. We later heard them going overhead.

Not Exactly Hiking Gear

This was a casual stroll, as opposed to my usual forced march on the beach, so I wore my sandals instead of my hiking boots. They were fine.

Moon Snail Egg Collar

I have been seeing these things for a while, ever since I got here actually. They aren’t hard at all, in fact, they’re easily crumbled—they seem to be made of hardened sand. E and I were both quite curious as to what they could be, and so naturally I had my Blog Director of Research, Dr. Harold P. Google, look into it. Turns out they are indeed made of sand held together with snail spit. They are the remains of the egg cases of the Moon Snail, which… oh, let’s go to the experts:

The unusual shape of the egg collar results from the extruded mixture being moulded between the propodium and the shell before it sets into its final sand/jelly state (middle drawing below).  The extrusion and moulding take place under the sand, commence at the start of flood tide, and take 10-14h.

Anyhoo, see the link for more info. Pretty interesting right? Well hold on to your hats…

Sea Pork

This is called Sea Pork. It’s kind of rubbery but not slimy. And big! It was at least 15″ long. We were COMPLETELY baffled by it. Take it away, Dr. Google:

Each blob or globule is a tunicate: an invertebrate animal that can be one individual or a collection of individuals that reproduce to form colonies measuring an inch or more in height. The larvae look a bit like tadpoles until they join to create the colonies, living in water-filled sac-like structures that are rubbery or cartilaginous to the touch.

Yup. This was one huge colony of small animals, or zooids.

Jellyfish

We also saw many, many jellyfish washed up on the beach. They were all sizes and shapes. I thought this one was interesting because of the radial “spokes.”

Where I Play Angry Birds

All sorts of sea birds congregate on the point of the cape, and just because I am perverse, I like to walk all the way to the end. It’s amusing to see how long they all take to vacate. And the cacophony! If I understood bird language, I bet I’d be pretty appalled. Today we saw pelicans, terns, willets, ruddy turnstones, laughing gulls, ring-billed gulls, one black skimmer and what we thought might be hooded merganser ducks. Most exciting were the bald eagles… we saw three of those. And many more that we couldn’t identify. Oh! And did I mention there was a pod of dolphins just offshore? What a great day on the beach!

Eroded Beach

We also got around the point to visit the eroded beach on the east shore of the peninsula. It’s an eerie sight to see stumps in the water by the beach.

Lighthouse Footings

There used to be a lighthouse on this shore, too, but as you can see there isn’t much left here.

Not putting up a map of this hike, since it’s a little too close to “home.” But you can read about Cape San Blas here.

Categories: Florida, Walks and Hikes
Tags: 2–5 miles, FL, Port St. Joe FL