Today's topic . . . Red Tide

Red tide, you ask? The day was beautiful - southeasterly winds, bright sunshine, a few fluffy clouds - perfect, except for the red tide. According to infomation on the Fish and Wildlife Research Institute site . . . "A bloom of Karenia brevis, the Florida red tide organism, is currently occurring in northwest Florida with greatest impacts in Bay County." Guess where we are?? Yep, you guessed it - Bay County!

Gary and I attempted to spend time on the beach today. The morning was beautiful - we took a morning walk and noticed that the water even looked clearer than yesterday. After the morning walk, we took a drive down the beach. On the way back, we coughed a few times, but didn't think much of it.

Well, we headed out to the beach and noticed the dead fish rolling in on the waves and found we could barely breathe without coughing. Fortunately for Gary, he didn't appear to suffer as much as I did, but he was still uncomfortable. I returned to the room for lunch, put drops in my eyes and took a Benadryl. Armed with newfound determination, I returned to the beach, but, alas, to no avail. We ended up coming up early today to enjoy the view from the room.

The aggravating thing is - there are other people out there and I don't see anybody else suffering like I did. Maybe you have to be predisposed to allergies to notice a problem. And, for the last several years, I have developed multiple allergies I never had before.

The bright side is - the sunset is still gorgeous, the company is still great, we had a delicious supper at Chinatown and tomorrow will be better. And, if it isn't, we will find something else to do. After all, it takes a lot more than red tide to ruin a vacation!!

And, while we are in Florida, look at what Grant is up to - his ears in pumpkins!

See you tomorrow!