It was another gloomy, muggy, damp morning. We had planned to walk on the boardwalk along the beach today, but we were hoping the clouds would clear out first. We just hung out all morning and planned to head down that way around 1:30. All morning long we were hearing sonic booms. The last time we heard sonic booms was when we wer kids. The clouds started to break up and blue sky started to show through around noon. Hooray! Three days of dreariness was beginning to get to me. Auggie spent all morning outside on the lookout for squirrels or sleeping in the sun. We left the campground around 1:30 giving ourselves some time for the beach before timing our arrival at Big Sam's for Happy Hour starting at 3:00. We found parking on the street and began our stroll along the boardwalk at 10th St. Atlantic Ave.was empty of cars and people.
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There were more people on the beach today due to the nice weather.
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It was definitely a better beach day than the past 2 days, although the lifeguards had the red flags out, warning of strong rip currents. Some people were actually in the 71 degree water, but the lifeguards weren't too happy about it.
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The beach was wide and had beautiful sand.
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While we walked along the boardwalk, we saw and HEARD the jets taking off from the Naval Air Station Oceana nearby. They went screaming overhead, one after the other, all afternoon. We loved watching them! We continued along toward the fishing pier.
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There were a few fishermen on the pier and for $2 we could walk out there too, but we had done that before and were content just to watch from the gate.
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There were quite a few surfers out there. The swells were still big from yesterday's winds and there were waves breaking on the shore.
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Many of the shops were having their end-of-the-summer sales, so we took advantage of one on the pier and looked around. I found a cute top for half price ($9.99) and tried a sample of their orange creamsicle fudge. Yummy! By now, most of the clouds were gone and blue sky took their place. The temp had risen to 81 degrees. It was warm walking by the beach, but there was a nice, cooling breeze.
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We continued walking for a ways before turning around and heading back to the truck. We did see a few ships making their way along the coast. We drove from the beach to Rudee Inlet. There was a marked difference in how the inlet looked today compared to Monday due to the winds. The inlet today was calm and no boats would have had a problem crossing the bar that blocks the entrance there.
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After leaving the beach, we drove over to Big Sam's for happy hour. When we were there on Monday, we noticed they had oysters on special during their happy hour and that's what Bob was after. He had a dozen oysters and I had another bowl of their delicious She Crab Soup. It was still yummy!
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After a relaxing stop there, we headed back to the campground. We finally had a day where we could sit out in the shade and enjoy some outdoor time with Auggie. This is our last day in Virginia Beach, so tomorrow we are off to the Outer Banks–to Wanchese on Roanoke Island for Labor Day weekend. We have been keeping a keen eye on tropical storm, now Hurricane Dorian, over the past few days and have made alternate plans to stay away from the coast if Dorian decides to make landfall in Florida. We were just thinking ahead and making plans for whatever path it takes. The next few days will tell us more. We had lasagna for dinner and took a beautiful evening walk. Tonight, we actually had a sunset, the first in a couple of days.