BEACH: Washington Oaks Gardens State Park

Check out these charming gardens, beach and river on Florida's east coast. Page 6.

We lugged our photo gear up into the middle of the action and enjoyed a cool clear Florida winter afternoon while exploring the nooks and crannies of this rock field with our cameras.

Within minutes we were both like kids in the candy store, each fully immersed in our search for the next promising shot. This beach is really a photographer's paradise, as there is an endless supply of new forms, angles, lights and shadows to investigate.

Kathy took the still shots you see here, and she made my job as web site photo editor a real headache. She got so many fun shots it was sweet agony trying to choose the best ones for the web site.

I crawled the rocks with a video camera and tried to capture the interaction between sea and stone. Sometimes I'd take the camera off the tripod and lower it by hand down into a 3 foot deep opening in the rocks. I'd flip the viewfinder around so I could still see it and then explore these little caves with the camera. I'd have the camera down into a cavern via one hole, sunlight would be entering the cavern through another opening, and the ocean would be splashing up into this rocky subway maze from another direction. It was fun.

We took these pictures in the middle of the afternoon, which really isn't an ideal time of day for photographing outdoors. I'm really looking forward to returning to this beach at sunrise sometime to go again.

Actually, getting on this beach at sunrise may be problematic given that Florida's State Parks don't open until 8 a.m. One solution to this may be to use our recreation pass, the type of state park annual pass that allows you entrance to some state park during off hours.

I'm guessing that won't work here however, because Washington Oaks Gardens doesn't have camping. So, what we (or you) could do is drive about 2 miles north on A1A to Marineland. They have this same kind of rock beach there, and I believe we may be able to get on that beach any time of day.

Actually, Marineland is an interesting story we'll have to look into for another article. New owners have torn down the old beachfront hotels and returned the area to a more natural state. This turning back of the clock is certainly not an everyday event here in Florida, so we'll have to investigate, learn more, and tell you what we find.

A park service brochure speculates that the ocean has been weathering these rocks for at least 5,000 years.