Beach Conditions

[luvthebeach57]

I just brought my 18 month old up from the beach for a nap. Yellow and Purple flags. I have yet to see any jellies and the June grass is not what I would call bad at all. Yea there is a little bit but just walk 10 or 15 yards in either direction and it's clear as a bell. We are splitting our time between ocean, lake outflow (kids chasing some nice blue crabs), and the pool. The lake has about another 20 feet to go. This place is awesome and there is nobody here. Last night we were the only people in the Beach Club pool. Amazing. I only saw one canopy and I'm not sure why it was ther b/c there were plenty of Watersound beach chairs/umbrellas empty. I'll try to post more as the week goes by. Is this place a secret or somthing. I feel a little guilty letting the cat out of the bag.

I guess you have probably already returned from your trip. We will be staying at Watersound the week of Aug. 2-9. I'm not familiar with June grass. They have red drift algae on the southwest gulf coast which is awful during the summer. It was piled up 2 feet deep on Siesta Key beach last June. I'll be very disappointed if there is a lot of grass or jellyfish.

 

[luvthebeach57]

Yellow and Purple flags today. Water was much calmer and no real noticable June grass. I would classify the water conditions this week as good. Had a 3 or 4foot shark swim between me and my wife and neice today. We saw it a little before it was on us. A little excitement! Oh, and I would say about 80% of our party had some sort of jelly sting. The camp creek outflow sure is awesome. It's like a hot tub of sun tea.

Well, if there is a single jellyfish out there, my 15-year-old daughter will not even put her toes in the water. She was stung by a box jellyfish (sea wasp) in the Virgin Islands when she was very little. It sent her to the ER in terrible pain. They had to administer demerol. If the jellies don't clear up, I guess we won't be going in the water. Is it too hot to just sit on the beach and not go in? Will there be a decent breeze to keep us cool? Do we have to worry about jellies in the creek?

 

[cpete]

luvthebeach57

I would have to say overall our last trip here was the best one to date! Our family has been coming to the beach for the last 10 years, the last seven in SOWAL and the most recent two in Watersound. We love the place! I am a father of two boys, 5 and 18 months. The five year old spent the majority of his beach time swimming in the Camp Creek outflow. I especially like the outflow b/c it gives us an additional option on the beach if there are jellies or the surf is too rough. The outflow does have a small population of blue crabs with each one having probably been caught multiple times by boys and girls with nets. It was fun to see and I don't think the crabs were any worse for the wear. No jellies in the creek. As far as the June grass it was not bad at all. Most days I didn't even see any. I am sorry to hear about your daughter. The jelly stings that we we received were probably much milder in comparison. We did have a small 3 or 4 foot shark swim between my wife and I about 15 yards from shore. My wife and niece were a little spooked but I thought it was somewhat exciting. It just meant, time to go back to the camp creek outflow. You all will have an awesome time! As I sit here at my desk writing this I am thinking that a year is a little too long to wait until our next trip. I think I may act on Smiling Joe's warning and come back during alligator season in October...

 

[luvthebeach57]

CPete,

Thanks for the info about the beach conditions at Watersound. We will keep our fingers crossed and hope for the best. There are no guarantees when we are dealing with mother nature.

 

[bamabeachbum]

Last week

We did a dive at St. Andrew and the water was pretty clear, later when we got to the condo at Seagrove it was not ,but didnt bother us we sat at the beach and loved it.

Later as the cane hit the gulf it churned up the water and cleared it up nicely. Another great week at Seagrove. Sure hated to come back.

 

[nodilberthere]

I would have to say overall our last trip here was the best one to date! Our family has been coming to the beach for the last 10 years, the last seven in SOWAL and the most recent two in Watersound. We love the place! I am a father of two boys, 5 and 18 months. The five year old spent the majority of his beach time swimming in the Camp Creek outflow. I especially like the outflow b/c it gives us an additional option on the beach if there are jellies or the surf is too rough. The outflow does have a small population of blue crabs with each one having probably been caught multiple times by boys and girls with nets. It was fun to see and I don't think the crabs were any worse for the wear. No jellies in the creek. As far as the June grass it was not bad at all. Most days I didn't even see any. I am sorry to hear about your daughter. The jelly stings that we we received were probably much milder in comparison. We did have a small 3 or 4 foot shark swim between my wife and I about 15 yards from shore. My wife and niece were a little spooked but I thought it was somewhat exciting. It just meant, time to go back to the camp creek outflow. You all will have an awesome time! As I sit here at my desk writing this I am thinking that a year is a little too long to wait until our next trip. I think I may act on Smiling Joe's warning and come back during alligator season in October...

It really sounds like you had a great vacation. Thanks so much for signing on and giving updates, I really enjoyed reading your posts. Working just fills up time between vacations ;-)

 

[jakenned]

Thinking about going down this weekend...so it sounds much improved?? Thanks for the updates.

 

[ShallowsNole]

Meanwhile, to our east...

haven't heard about anything in Walton County yet, but according to WJHG, PCB had 22 rescue calls today, and 2 visitors lost their life. And double red flags were flying.

 

[scooterbug44]

Red and purple flags are currently flying in Sowal.

 

[TreeFrog]

Red and purple flags are currently flying in Sowal.

I'm sure there will be a number of folks in the water today, eager to once again confirm Darwinism. OK, that's a little disrespectful to those who perished yesterday and the grief their survivors are experiencing. But for my money, it looks too rough.