January 2, 2016 - Melbourne Beach and Sebastian, FL

The sky was grey not blue. :(  More RVs and campers sleeping in tents were leaving early in the morning. Guess they were trying to get out before it starts to rain if that happens.  

We went to Barrier Island Sanctuary that was closed yesterday. As we were getting ready to step out of the car to go to the center Edith checked her camera and realized she left the battery at “home” that was being charged, so she used Erwin’s IPhone to take pictures.

The building where the Barrier Island Sanctuary is in was once a restaurant with a great view of the ocean, but abandoned years ago.  The footprint of the building was not changed at all and was converted into the educational and management center.  No admission fee, but donation is appreciated.  The area is in the heart of Archie Carr National Wildlife Refuge. The refuge is a major nesting sites for sea turtles (loggerhead, green, leatherback).  The center’s main goal is to educate visitors about the importance of protecting nesting sites and people’s responsibility in taking care of fragile barrier island.  Lots of interpretive information on charts and signs that were very helpful to us to find out information on how to help the turtles survive. One BIG info we learned was to minimize lights and not to shine a flashlight in the turtles' faces or they will return/go back to sea and come back another night.

Male seahorse with pouch and fry (baby seahorses)
When mating, the female seahorse deposits up to 1,500 eggs
in the male's pouch.  The male carries the eggs for 9 to 45 days
until the fry are fully developed. (Source:wiki)

Whale's Jawbone 

We watched some movies, but all were not closed captioned. The receptionist tried to find the settings to turn captions on, but was not successful. 

After looking around inside the center we went on the boardwalk toward the beach.  There was an elderly couple making out.  Nice to see that they are still doing it and in public!  Erwin was tempted to tell them to “Get a room!”

At the beach a guy was surf fishing and caught two whitings, both nice sized.  There was a guy who had body scope to check for shore birds.  It started to mist a bit and we decided not to go on a one mile trail.  We will come visit here another time.

On our way back to the center the elderly couple was still at it!  Either they are married to each other or are having an affair and agreed to meet there to make out? The guy’s left eye glasses lens was fogged up! LOL!

We went back “home” to fix lunch and to put the stuff away that were outside because Erwin heard on the radio that it might rain after midnight.

The sun was finally making its appearance in the mid afternoon, but it did not last long.  It was very windy at the inlet.  Edith went to Inlet Grill on the north side of the jetty to use wifi, but the service was very slow and she was not able to open the blog to upload pictures.

Edith decided to walk up to the end of the fishing pier to watch the action. It was packed with lots of anglers. Some of them were lucky to be catching fish.  One guy was so good at catching mackerel and bluefish, both oily types.  One guy caught a nice sized sheepshead.  One young lady was catching a lot of Lookdown fish. She must have at least 10 in a bucket when Edith stopped by to take pictures of her catch.  She asked the lady if it is a table fare. “Yes, it is good”, she said.  “How do you prepare it?”, Edith asked her.  Her mother chimed in and said “Pan fried”.  Edith did not know that Lockdown can be eaten as she always thought it as a trash fish.

Sebastain Inlet Fishing Pier (northside)

Sheepshead

Lookdown

After Edith got back from the inlet she and Erwin went out for a good long bike ride within the park.  The wind was still blowing hard making it difficult to pedal when it is against you.  We biked to the inlet, parked our bicycles, walked up the pier. A guy caught a beautiful 28” redfish, but had to throw it back in the ocean. You can keep it if it is 18”-27”. Yeah, the fish was 1” over the slot.

Sebastain Inlet Bridge (A1A)

A bucket full of Spanish Mackerels

Very toothy!

Very crowded with fishing carts, coolers, etc  

Sebastain Inlet Fishing Pier (southside)

Stuffed sweet baby peppers has now become our favorite for mid afternoon snack.  Sweet baby peppers, cut in half and seeds removed, are stuffed with Alouette Garlic and Herb cheese spread and baked in 375˚oven for 12-15 minutes.

After supper Edith checked for campsite availability for January 9-11 before we check into Tampa, FL on January 12 for Newmar RV Rally event. We finally finished the cat puzzle after working on it for 4 days. We did not think we were going to finish before checking out tomorrow morning.