Things started off a little chilly this morning so we ran the heater for a little while and had coffee and tea. Deepak Chopra has got one of his free 21 day meditation series going on right now and we have been doing our best to use that as the way to begin our day. PJ did a load of laundry while I got the bikes down and cleaned them up a bit.

We packed a lunch, hooked the pups up with some air conditioning then rode our bikes out the driveway to the gulf. There was a little beach right at the entrance to the park so we checked that out and took a few pictures. 

The western beaches were new to us, so we pointed our tires in that direction and pedaled down to see what we could see. There was a cool public fishing pier that jutted out into the water. We wandered around on it for a while thinking to eat our lunch, but the fishermen had used all of the benches to clean fish so they were covered with scales and guts.

We rode on looking for a picnic spot. The casino had RV spots across from the beach and most were empty, so we sat at a table and enjoyed our sandwiches and chips. A large eagle swooped down from a treetop and did a loop out over the water and returned to his perch. It flew directly over our heads and we could see every feather. Every so often, he would repeat his pattern and give us another display of his majestic soaring.

After lunch, we continued on past the casino to ride over to the old fishing docks. On our side, it looked like a junk yard for old boats. We could see newer docks across the water with a few people out fishing. One woman was using a cast net to try to corral the smaller fish that were teeming around the piling of the piers.

One area along the water was covered with the yellow flowering weeds that are a favorite of the orange butterflies that are ubiquitous along this stretch of coastline. PJ rode out to the end of a short dock and was surrounded by fluttering wings of the colorful insects.

The tractor from the casino has just finished pulling its rakes through the sand grooming the beach into a fluffy texture that proved soft on the feet. We parked our bikes in some sea oats and went for a dip in the cool gulf water. The sea here is shallow for a long distance from shore so we walked out a ways and quickly immersed ourselves before returning to the beach to lie on our towels and dry off. Read my book while Pam walked the beach picking up shells and exploring the shore line. So many different types of water fowl. Great herons in whites and grays with many of their smaller cousins searching for fish along the rocks. Seagulls, plovers and sandpipers work the waters edge hoping to luck into an easy meal.

Nearly four hours had passed since leaving the campground, so we figured it was time to get back to the dogs. Lots to see in Waveland MS. A few more campers are showing up for the weekend, but we still have tons of space between us and the nearest neighbor. Buccaneer State Park hasn’t let us down. Nice facilities, green grass, no stickers or burrs in the dog’s feet and the few people we have met have been really friendly.