Sand Odyssey: Sand Sculptures and More

05/21/2024

fun couple of hours at Hillbottom Beach today

01/31/2024

Last day of January. Superb weather, 66 degrees, full sun, light breeze. Had to play on the beach for a couple hours. That central tower could easily have turned into an alien warrior.

12/16/2023

Here's Santa enjoying a quick vacation on Okaloosa Island, just prior to his flight.
Seven carvers were at the Island Resort today, carving for tomorrows exposition to provide toys to needy children in the area.

10/01/2022

Hillbottom Beach once again. Thank you Hurricane Ian for not making us part of your horrendous history.

08/14/2022

been a couple months since I visited the beach. Took less than 90 minutes on this tower. Crowds are down a bit since some schools are back in session.

05/13/2022

Spent 3 hrs at "Hillbottom" beach this afternoon. Pleasant weather, thin crowd. Met Folks from Knoxville, and April from the Shunk Gulley Giftshop.

01/06/2022

Jan 5, temp up to mid 60's. First day on the beach in a month. Many more birds than people on the beach. Plus saw three dolphin swim by.

11/29/2021

26 Nov.: It was great to end twenty years of sand castle classes with Kelly Stahl's family. Their piece at Ed Walline drew many admirers to step up and praise their creation. Coltin is 9, and the others are Josh, Tyler, Lexi, Scott, Lexi and two little ones I did not meet formally.

11/14/2021

this piece popped up out of the sand at Hillbottom Beach a week ago. It was a nice warm day, with nothing else on the schedule.

11/03/2021

Here's today's castle team from Texas A&M, and Houston. That's Mike, Debbie, Sherry and Gregg in the photo. The castle is just out of reach of the Gulf at Grayton Beach State Park. Especially good job on all of the arches, four for four went up without any trouble at all. Might have to start using a wider bucket to put a bit more chance into it!

10/21/2021

Play day at Hillbottom beach today. No real plan beyond the arch, just an ad lib design. 2 hrs.

10/11/2021

Dustin proposed to Peggy near the Okaloosa Fishing Pier this afternoon. He gotta a bit of help from me. Peggy was truly surprised, elated, and gave Dustin a big hug and "YES".
This was a new design for me. The curves for the sails create excellent shadows, and better photographs.

10/01/2021

Carved with Dan Anderson at the Sandestin Hilton. Started at 930 and left at five. AABC certifies ventilation systems in large buildings all over the world. They were at the Hilton for their annual meeting. The carve went smoothly despite an active beach volleyball net nearby. The one carving concern was the steepness of the front and back, but it held together. Yay!

09/25/2021

SO visited San Remo this morning to lead the Georgia Hoffmans create this fine castle. Here we have Joy and Jerry, and daughters Laysa and Gigi. No crowding on this stretch of quiet beach. We did have a few castle "fans" come by to applaud the creation.

09/25/2021

Visited Ed Walline county park Friday afternoon. Busy place, with 3 different bonfire companies setting up, plus many people enjoying the warm water. Robin Downs asked me to add a sand sculpture to the celebration of Ron's 70th birthday. The darker sand was only 3 or 4 inches below the white sand is this area, so I used it for the porpoises.

09/20/2021

09/07/2021

The Diaz family was a fun lesson today in Seagrove. Everyone learned to build towers, arches, fancy roofs, windows, etc. Kate, Becca, and Ellen are a cheerful trio of young ladies. And Ellen surprised yours truly by awarding me a gold medal on a ribbon. Definitely a first.

09/07/2021

This photo is from last Wednesday at High Pointe, over near Inlet Beach. Garrett is the only one of the carvers who was not worn out by the sun in our afternoon lesson. Mimi (Chiree Lemoine), Chandler and Carley assisted Garrett in the construction. The family visited our area for their first time at the urging of hurricane Ida, which was attracting their homes near Baton Rouge.

08/19/2021

Visited the west end of Panama City Beach today. Met up with the Raglands of Jacksonville. Quiet beach; one person 20 yds away, next ones at 50! If it was more crowded the Ragland's creation would have drawn some castle fans over. Great detail and two sturdy arches. Did get a bit hot; very few clouds.

08/12/2021

The morning before the penguin proposal, I had a lesson with 3 families from Arkansas. Here are the stars, Maggie, Gentry, Sumner, Larsey, Calla, and Dinney...all girls. Two year old Crocket is the only male in this generation, and was taking a nap by this point.

08/11/2021

Then in the afternoon, carved this marriage proposal for Trey from West Virginia. He said the penguins are a specific memory for Allie and him, but he did not elaborate. Of course she said "YES".

08/11/2021

Visited Watersound this morning. Had a lesson with some Texans, including Ella, Emily, Nora and Charlie. Pretty much everyone had to try an arch or gateway. most of them stayed up! Yay.

08/08/2021

Here's a pic of our last lesson last week with Doug Pennington. The beach is at High Pointe. By the time the picture was taken the kids were in the water. And the adults and teens who contributed mightily were camera shy.

08/03/2021

Most of this family came from the Tampa area, with one branch from Colorado. The Tampa side was happy to get away from the aroma of dead fish in Tampa Bay caused by red tide. Hopefully northwest FL escapes that scourge this year. This group got really good at arches. Here we have Tracy, Tanner, Mia, Christine, Benjamin, Sammy, Wendy, Kaitlyn, Matt and Clark.

08/03/2021

Here's the Thomas family at Inlet Beach county park. Had a bit of rain just before we got to the beach. Then the skies cleared, sun came out, and it got hot! Even the SO castle coach had to get totally wet to cool off.

07/29/2021

Here we have the Georgia Gansons. Included are Adrian, Jessie, Gracie, Tristin, and friend Cameron. It was hot out there. The construction crew had to take numerous water breaks (out in the Gulf).

07/29/2021

Love this group. Tons of enthusiasm, and creativity. They were at Henderson Beach State Park in Destin this morning. Here we have Haley, Lucas, Owen, Vivian, Leah, Lindsey, Lily, Graham, Laura and Lincoln. Thank you Tammy and Don for inviting Sand Odyssey to join in the fun.

07/28/2021

Today's beach was Grayton Beach State Park. Very little wind. Plenty of sun. Hot! Frequent water breaks were the norm. Here we have Jackson, Jordan, Reyn, Greer, Neal, Amanda, Owen and Connor. What you don't get to see is the kids destruction of the castle, which Jordan videoed.

07/27/2021

After a lesson at Ed Walline park in the morning, SO moved to Henderson Beach State Park. Had a marriage proposal to assist Sam Zimmer. She said "Yes"!

07/21/2021

Milton and Debbie invited Sand Odyssey to lead the visiting grandchildren in constructing a sand castle. They carved the towers, two arches, a forest of sand trees, and used sea shells and seaweed to provide some color. Fun kids to "work" with!