Out of the wind

Several roads cross over the Indian River to allow easy access to the developed barrier islands and the towns thereon. Closest to me was the Eau Gallie Causeway and the W.J. Creel Bridge, which arcs up to 20 meters (60 feet) above the water to allow boats unrestricted passage along the river, which is an intracoastal waterway. All of the bridges are like this, and it makes a grueling bike ride to the barrier island and the ocean beaches.

But the bridges also make good observation locales as well, and I've seen schools of different species of rays, with one spotted individual at least two meters (six feet) across, and several loggerhead sea turtles, all from the peak. I've also photographed the Space Shuttle Orbiter from there.

This unseasonably cold day, at a vantage point about halfway up where some stairs led down to the river for fishing access, I noticed a flock of double-crested cormorants (Phalacrocorax auritus) were sheltering all along the bridge, both on the sides and along the support columns below. It added a nice touch to the abstract shape of the bridge, and provided a little scale as well, since cormorants stand a little shorter than geese.