Last summer I wrote about the beauty of living on the beach. And in October I talked about the fall  – saying that, in my humble opinion, we actually have four seasons also here in Florida. So now I’m going to tell you a little bit about the winter on the beach.

Last weekend and early this week, we had a few real winter days. No snow of course, the sky was mostly blue, but there was no mistaking that the elusive winter season was here. The day-time high temperature did not reach beyond 42F/6C and at night the temperature fell close to the freezing mark. Combine that with cold 20-30m/h northerly winds and 2-3 foot waves…and it’s winter!

Last Sunday I took a walk on the beach in proper winter attire usually reserved for my travels in the north, but still couldn’t stay for long before I felt chilled to the bone. On these winter days, which admittedly are few and far between, the ocean takes on a more blue-grayish color. Winter-silvery, kind of.  The sun can come out but is not able to warm up the chilly air mass, and sand is often blowing around in the hard wind. The sand chips will sting you like small needles if you are not properly covered.

The beach was almost deserted and for once I didn’t meet anyone jogging around bare foot wearing shorts and sleeveless t-shirt! I could only find one brave sea-gull who defied the chill looking for something to eat at the water’s edge, while the large variety of birds normally “living” on the beach were nowhere to be seen!

I didn’t find any kids playing in the sand that day either, but there were still some reminders of art that had been created a few days earlier when the temperatures hovered around comfortable 63F/17C.

This morning, however, the winter temperatures had left us for now and it was really comfortable again. The ocean had returned to its blue color, a sailing school class was gathering a bit out from the shore, hundreds of little white dots covering the horizon. One young person in each small sail boat, hopeful to soon master the wind on the water.

And the birds were back in abundance, sea gulls, pelicans, blue heron, you name it! They had survived the cold days and were back in force, all kinds of meetings going on, high pitch discussions and lots of diving for fish. The beach was lively again.

This big fellow was carefully monitoring a fisherman’s luck, hoping to get his fair share of the catch. He may have learned that patience and persistence will be rewarded, sooner or later.

Walking home I noticed that the drier and cooler winter weather had produced some brilliant colors along our board walk back from the beach. Very little of that in the fall, much more now in the winter.

And in our garden, the yellow hibiscus flowers spread their delightful cheer also in the winter season. From my tiny point of view, I would say that we do have fours seasons, although winter is very short and a bit touch and go. Which is just fine with me. Hope you enjoyed the relatively “wintry” beach walks.

Have a good weekend everyone whether you enjoy it in real winter conditions, in the heat of the summer in the Southern Hemisphere or somewhere in between, like me.