Oct. 25, 2015--CSCC outing to Blowing Rocks, then to Deerfield to meet up with STL visitors.
I always thought it would be interesting to join a camera club.  Turns out there is one right here in Coral Springs!  CSCC (Coral Springs Camera Club).  So I've been to a couple meetings and last Tues. officially joined (paid the dues.  Once a month the go on an outing, then the next month they submit a picture from the outing.  They meet in a room twice a month.  The 1st Tues. of the month they show the submitted pictures for the month and a judge critiques them.  The 3rd Tues. of the month they have a special speaker.  Last week it was in memory of a member who died 6 months ago who had won some National awards for his Birds in Flight photos.  In Nov. it'll be on Lightroom.  Anyway---today was the first outing since I joined.  Of course it was a sunrise ocean shoot at a beach in Jupiter, Florida--about 1 hour and 10 minutes away.  That meant getting up about 5:15am!---not something I'm use to doing!  Ken volunteered to drive me, so we headed out dark and early.

 We met up with the group at a park just south of Blowing Rocks preserve.  Supposedly we were going to shuttle people to the park since it technically wasn't open until 9 and there was "no parking" until then.  But several cars ended up just going there and parking along the road and figured they'd pay the fine.  Ken dropped me off and stayed with our car.
I was happy to see it wasn't raining, as predicted, and there were clouds.  But it really didn't light up the sky too long.

 The most color was off to the north.  I stayed up on the platform for sunrise, then went down to the rocks later.  Thought this was a rather interesting picture of most of the club members.  It may even be the photo I submit.

 The actual sunrise.

sunrise stopping down the shutter to smooth out the water.

 It was also high tide with a lot of spraying water.  I've read this is a good place to go for snorkeling on a calm day, but that didn't happen to be today.

 sun a little higher.

 looking slightly to the north.

 more slow shutter

 back to fast shutter

 several flocks of pelicans flew over

 another roll in the surf.

 I believe this is an osprey.  There seem to be quite a few of them in South Florida.

 a wild flower along the way out.  Ken even called about 8 to say a policeman was there and was going to start writing tickets in 5 minutes.  I relayed the message and a couple photographers went back then, but most stayed another half hour or so.  Turns out, the policeman didn't give anyone a ticket.

 From there the club went to a little breakfast place called Lazy Logger Head.  I thought it would be nice to sit and fraternize with some club members.  Turned out we ended up by ourselves while lots of others sat together.  There seem to be a lot of friendly people in the club, but it's still hard fitting in---kind of like when I've gone to play volleyball in Tamarac.  More disappointment was the pancakes I ordered were not good!  I only ate half a one.  Then they ran our charge card twice.  At least we have a charge card---our other one got breached Friday and was shut off!

 We waited at Angie's house all day yesterday for our new card only to find out they sent it to Florissant and left it on the porch.  Can't wait to get it and go online and change the number for all the accounts it tied to!  Anyway----we saw a lighthouse on our way to the restaurant so we decided to go back and try and get a picture of it.  Found this neat little park---DuBois Park. 

 As a side note, I realized that leaves do indeed change colors even here in the Fall. 

 This really interested me!  They built an artificial reef.  Reminded me of Lydgate in Kauai.  It was even clear and pretty calm.  I probably would have made Ken stay and snorkel awhile (we did bring our stuff) if we weren't planning to meet up with some friends from St. Louis who happened to be in Deerfield today. 

 At least this guy got to enjoy the protected ponds.

 So we left and headed back towards Deerfield Beach.  Found this strand of  palms interesting.

 Spent a couple hours at Deerfield beach with Sue and Nancy.

 It was fun watching the surfers today. 

 then went to dinner at Flanigan's with them.   They were on a quest to try key lime pie, so we shared a piece of that.

  It was a nice visit.

 We even invited them to stay with us in Orlando tomorrow night before they head back to STL.  We're heading up there for 3 nights to spend some time with the Schneiderjans, and Ken is flying back to STL for while.
On our way home, I couldn't resist taking pictures of the interesting cloud formations.