Ah, an easy Weekly Photo Challenge!

I’ve taken hundreds of beach photos over many years, mostly of our favorite beach, Cape San Blas, Florida, a place so special I almost hate to reveal it here.

Beaches at the Cape are a departure from others along the Alabama coast and the Panhandle of Florida. The Cape boasts no high-rises and no street lights, few restaurants and shops. This is not the place to go if you like fancy food and nightlife (although tiny Apalachicola, about thirty miles away, has terrific restaurants). Sea turtles nest on these beaches, and the beach patrol comes by every morning, identifies new nests, and marks them off with yellow tape. Moonless nights are the darkest dark you can imagine. You can look out to sea and see the lights of shrimp boats trolling. You can look up and really see the stars. You can sleep with the windows open and hear the sound of the surf. Every day brings a spectacular sunset.

Summer before last, we found blue crabs in abundance. We caught a bucket full, cooked them, picked out the meat, and feasted on fresh crabcakes.

And the birds . . . And the shells . . . I could go on, but I won’t. I’ll let the Cape speak for itself.

First, a walk on the beach at sunset. Then a bucket of blue crabs, almost—I say almost—too beautiful to eat!

Sunset, Cape San Blas, Florida

Blue crabs in a bucket