Pelican beach

After all the running around, we decided a relaxing day at the beach was in order.  The fun part was that the little bay was full of diving pelicans.  You can bet I spent hours searching for the right picture.  

And perfect for Christmas time, they had santa hats

SO, I have way too many pictures of pelicans here, but I couldn't decide.  And this truly is pared down

They weren't the only ones fishing

So, they would circle above the water, and then tilt their heads just so.  Ah, fish sighted!

and down

down they would dive

Splash!

After a dive, they would circle again.  Sometimes coming super close (and we just barely missed a good dive bombing this particular pass)

So I decided I wanted a picture of them just as they entered the water

Dive

Splash

Dive

so close, but splash!

Oh fish

Dive

Splash

And then finally, the perfect sequence

you can even see his toes in the splash

Such pretty birds

Oh wait, another one

I love this dive

Part of the joy of tropical beaches is fresh coconut

Nancy sure enjoyed adorably

I considered the idea of climbing the tree, but ouch

Coconuts transport by water.  I had to take this picture for teaching

Some pretty tropical beach scenes

And back to the pelicans in the evening light

but now they were in pairs

even harder to get the picture now

so many of them

and then!  

I had so much fun watching pelicans!