Ike dumped a lot of rain on Siesta Key the past two days.  We stayed in the house and just listened to it pound on the roof.  And it was windy but not windy enough to knock down the trash cans or blow the recycling onto the ground.  Some of the streets on the north end of the Key that normally flood, did and even more so this time.  Some were still flooded today.  But the sun was out, the wind was still blowing and it was a beautiful day.

So I took my usual walk before dinner to check out the beach.  There are road detours at beach access parking lot #5 so I took the detour to Beach Road N and parked at access #4 and walked to the public beach and back.  Glad I did because there is now a lagoon at the #5 access.  Once that parking lot opens I don’t know if anyone will be using it because you can’t get through unless you walk through the lagoon.  Its about mid-calf deep and as long as the birds hang out, I wouldn’t walk through it.  The beach ends in a little hill that slopes down to form the lagoon.  My bet is that its there for a while.

Accesses 7-8 were also blocked from what I could tell.  The usual lagoon has been narrowed but lengthened.  The grasses, though not all, have been covered with sand and the beach is widened. 

The waves were fierce, coming in closely behind each other.  There was a double red flag, rip currents present and the life guard stands were shut, but there were still a lot of people in the water.  Now, if your a surfer (and I’m assuming surfers no how to swim) I expect you to be out there catching waves.  It’s your thing.  But I also saw parents with young children (smaller than mine) way out there in the waves.  Again, double-red flag and rip currents present; would you risk your child in that surf?  My husband didn’t even go to the beach with me because his common sense said “too risky” and he’s a big, strong guy.  Parents…please think about what you’re doing. 

Ok, I’m off my soap box.  What I saw on the beach was too cool.  Jelly fish.  Tons of them and I’m not exaggerating…ok maybe a little.  They were huge!  I actually measured the biggest ones I saw and their diameter was mostly the length of my leg from my ankle to my knee.  Yeah!  Roughly the size of a large pizza…like a 16″ pizza.  I’m not exaggerating.  I did see a few little ones maybe the size of a tennis ball.  On my trek back to the car I was walking in the water until a huge one floated by in front of me.  I kept to the sand the rest of the way. 

Ike is heading toward Houston.  I spent summer 2007 living there on the far NW corner.  Traffic was awful 24/7.  I couldn’t imagine having to evacuate that city or even part of it.  Hopefully Galveston’s sea walls can withstand the raging sea.  We’ll wait and watch and meanwhile pray for the people who live there.