Seeing some cool things at the beaches... (Jacksonville, Atlantic Beach: living, beach)

[GadgetRick]

Ok, moved down here from NJ about 9 months ago. We live near the beaches and go (pretty much) every weekend with our boys (and sometimes more often). We've been seeing some really cool things at the beaches lately. Here's what we've seen in the last month:

-Little white crab (at dusk). My 8 year old son spotted it (not sure how as it was dusk) on the beach. Was running all over the place. Very cool.
-Lots of little bait fish swimming around in the shallows. Obviously, this always happens but the boys love it.
-Hermit crabs--you can find them sometimes.
-Dolphins swimming within about 30 feet of me. We were at Atlantic Beach a couple of weeks ago. We'd seen some dolphins out farther (2-3 pods) and, next thing you know, they're within 30ish feet of us! They actually wound up making it into the surf to feed! I'm talking the SHALLOW surf!
-LOTS of dolphins! Was at Hanna Park yesterday and there had to be 20-30 dolphins all over the place feeding. They were coming out of the water and smacking their tails. Was really cool.
-Bait fish jumping out of the water right beside us. Again, yesterday, out about waist deep and little bait fish (about 8") jumping out of the water. I presume to get away from the dolphins which showed up next.
-Pelicans all over the place. Been seeing lots of pelicans lately. Watching the feed yesterday. Was a lot of fun.

There's even more happening at the beaches but these are the high lites lately. Not gonna see this much at the Jersey Shore!

[JBtwinz]

We have been here for ten years, living a block off the beach, we have been to the beach more in the last year and a half than the the last ten years we have lived here. Our twins are 2 1/2 and it is amazing to see their excitement over the things you mentioned. I guess it proves the fact that sometimes you do not realize what you have around you until someone points it out.

[GadgetRick]

More importantly, people new to the area really should check out the beaches around here. They're excellent beaches. There may be better beaches here in FL but the ones here are still great beaches with a lot to offer.

We go (almost) every weekend and many times we head over after dinner for a little walk in the water. The boys love it as they chase each other all over the place...always getting a little too wet for mommy. It's nice and relaxing and (many times) cooler than the hot part of the day. We meet people on the beaches all of the time...just passing encounters but always pleasant.

I grew up going to the Jersey Shore. NJ has underrated beaches but they're nothing at all like the beaches down here. Certainly not as accessible and the people are nowhere near as nice (overall) as they are down here. We've also seen some neat wildlife up there but (again) nothing like we see down here almost every time we go.

[wb3690]

We've seen alot of dolphins lately. It's fun to watch them play out there.....

[madcapmagishion]

Seeing a lot of dolphins means that there's a lot of bait fish, menhaden shad (pogie) in the water. If there's a lot of bait fish in the water, it means that the waters ecosystem off Jacksonville beaches is in great shape. Which is good news because, at next months Greater Jax Kingfish Tournament most of the angelers rely on pogies to use as bait for the king mackerel, or kingfish. (scomberomorous cavalla) Without bait the angelers will have a hard time catching the 5000-10,000 pounds of kingfish caught every year during the tournament. This is a big money maker for the city of Jax and the beaches as annually 800-1000 boats are entered in the tournament,(lately slightly fewer due to the economy).