My husband went to his weekly poker game last Tuesday, so my daughter and I went to the shore. It was early evening, but the light was good and the shore was well used. I've taken pictures at this location before and on previous visits I saw many seagulls. They were largely absent last Tuesday.
I did see a row of gulls perched on the handrail of a pier.
After a few minutes though, most of the gulls had flown off and only one was left.
The absence of gulls was compensated by the number of people, people of all stripes, who were enjoying the setting. There were children.
And elderly people.
There were bathers. Water temperature was 58 degrees!
There were many fishermen. The recreation area/beach is on the shore of Oyster Bay Harbor. I looked up fishing, and there is apparently a weekly bulletin describing prospects for fishing in the Harbor.
One person fished from his perch on rocks.
Oyster Bay Harbor is part of the Oyster Bay/Cold Spring Harbor complex and is on the North Shore of Long Island, New York (USA). New York State has designated this part of the coast an 'Outstanding Natural Coastal Area'. I think you can see from these pictures that most people who use the park, the Theodore Roosevelt Memorial Park, would agree with that assessment.
Two men were fishing from positions on the promenade. One had a blue chair. He was standing to get a better vantage.
There was another man, in a red chair, who seemed to be taking the easy way out. I don't know if that rod was engaged or if he was just thinking about fishing.
There were young people huddled on the edge of a pier.
Boating is popular in the harbor. There is actually a marina at this park. Oyster Bay Harbor opens to the Long Island Sound, which leads to the Atlantic Ocean.
Here is one very large boat, I think it's a yacht, that was anchored off shore.
There was a smaller motorboat tied to a pier.
There were recreational boaters. They didn't seem to be fishing but just enjoying the sea. Here is one man who was peacefully looking out at the water.
There was one couple that was kayaking. They were using an inflatable craft. We asked the couple how they liked their inflatable. They said it was fine. They have to blow it up whenever they use it but it is easy to transport. I blurred their faces for the sake of privacy.
There were not only people of every stripe, but also four-legged companions. One dog was sitting on the beach with its human. Here is a series of shots I took of that animal.
The dog didn't move very much. I tried to catch it in different poses, but I didn't want to intrude. The animal seemed aware of me, but its human did not.
Dogs aren't allowed at the park, unless they are service animals. Who knows? This might have been a service animal.
The dog was certainly docile and quite attached to its human.
Why were we all there? What attracted us to this place? Everything. There were remarkable trees. The oddly contorted tree in the picture below this paragraph is in early bloom. I found a few sites that suggest the odd shapes of this, and the second tree shown here, were influenced by the wind. Wind certainly gets fierce along this beach.
Here is another, strangely, beautifully shaped, tree with less foliage.
There was the sea, of course, but also striking land formations. A small mound, almost an island, for example, attracted young people, and not-so-young people. Note the group sitting on chairs, left side of picture. People will sit just about anywhere they want in this park. One man hung a hammock between two trees that lined the promenade. I couldn't get a picture of that without invading his space.
A close look at the island revealed purple flowers in bloom. They look like violets, though I can't find violets listed on the website that describes the park's flora.
Just off shore there was an island of sea grass. Quite beautiful, though simple.
Finally, we saw a sign that asked the public to report sightings of tagged horseshoe crabs. These, if found, would be part of a horseshoe crab tracking program that originates in Maryland (USA). Apparently, horseshoe crabs play an important role in medicine. Their blood clots when exposed to 'bacterial agents', so researchers use the blood of the horseshoe crab to test the sterility of various medical interventions.
We didn't see any horseshoe crabs, tagged or untagged that day.
These pictures give readers an idea of what it was like that early evening at the shore. We live not too far from the park. There is no fee to enter, and it is accessed by both pedestrians and vehicles. The park is a gem. I'm sure I'll be posting more pictures that show the ever-changing scene by the sea.
Hope you enjoyed this blog. Thank you for reading. Health and peace to all.
A note about the pictures:
A couple of years I had taken just a few pictures in my entire life. Then, the LMAC community started the LIL Gallery,` so I bought a small camera. The one used for these shots, the Nikon Coolpix B500, is my second camera. All the shots were taken with that camera and soon these will be posted in the LIL Gallery as public domain images. Once in the gallery, the pictures will be available for everyone on Hive to use.