The Beach

Much much more than just sand meeting surf, mere words can never do justice in describing The Beach. The Beach is a state of mind. Something that must be experienced to be truly understood. A portal into an alternate universe where stress cannot exist.

A constant yet ever changing assult on the senses. An unrelenting force to which you must surrender any and all thoughts stemming from the mundane and tedious everyday world you've left behind.

Sand the color of sugar. Proclaimed by many as the whitest in the world. The sea, an emerald green blending into a deep blue. Waves, either gently lapping or violently crashing depending on Poseidon's mood. Sea oats growing from dunes, taking on all the appearance of a mid-winter mid-west snowdrift. The horizon stretching 180 degrees and creating the optical illusion of being the rim of a giant bowl with you at it's base. The occasional grey silhouette of a cargo ship inching it's way across that horizon. The occasional sailboats with sheets ranging in all colors from white to rainbow. The occasional planes, helicopters and fighter jets of all description flying low overhead enroute to the nearby Navy base, home of the famed Blue Angels. The multi-colored umbrellas brought and planted by the sun-shy. The roped-off areas of sand which incubate the sea turtle eggs buried beneath. The kites of every color, make and model imaginable being flown by experts and attempted by novices. The seagulls dive-bombing for pieces of bread or corn-curls tossed into the air by the tourists. The occasional school of porpoise swimming by as the tourists shout "shark!". The pillar of white light which makes it's appearance in late afternoon. Like a spotlight it rises from the far end end of the miles and miles of empty beach. It is the white sand reflected high into the sky and which always begs the tourist's question; "what's that?"

People of every age and shape. A friendly bunch. Regardless of their attitude going in, once they arrive the Beach melds them into the same mind-set shared by all. No room for discontent. People swimming, jogging, sunbathing, reading, walking, surfing, tossing frisbees, playing volleyball and building sandcastles. The sounds of laughter and shouts of joy. The sounds of conversations, often intended as private, seemingly amplified by the salt air and carried on the breeze to the ears of anyone downwind.

Over time you grow to recognize "the regulars". The die-hard beach-bums such as myself. The deaf woman and her daughter. The old man always carrying his plastic bucket to contain the shells he endlessly collects. The guy who occasionally brings with him his metal detector to comb the shore. The avid shore-fisherman who always brings three poles and tosses bait to the pelicans or cranes who stand close by awaiting his handouts. The girl in the Viking-purple bikini who each day seems to be subtley planting her lounge chair a little bit closer to my staked out plot o' sand.

Then there's Lobster Boy. Not an individual as such. Rather the name given to the steady stream of people who come here without realizing the power of the sun when it's combined with white sand, a constant cooling breeze and a sea the temperature of bath water. Toss in a case of beer and by the end of the day we have a human with all the appearance of a well cooked shellfish.

So there ya have it. Best I can do after downing a couple beers but hopefully you've been given a taste of my Beach. If my little description has enticed any of you Nawtherners into someday paying a visit, two words of advice...

1) Stock up on sunscreen but make sure it contains coconut oil. I have no idea if coconut oil is more effective, but for me the smell of it is far better than even the most expensive French perfume.

2) Have fun. See the sights, enjoy the great seafood, relax and recharge your batteries. But, most importantly... then leave.

-------

So I wrote most of this as part of a letter I'm about to send to an old girlfriend who is planning on visiting me soon. Never having been here, she wants to know "what it's like". Deano & Unk - As my fellow Floridian 'sons of beaches', can ya think of anything "positive" I may have inadvertantly left out? (We won't mention the jellyfish season or the biting flies that show up on those rare breezeless days.) I'll check back later. Have to go do a bar-b-q thang right now.

-- CD (costavike@hotmail.com), May 20, 2001

Answers

ummmmm...sea lice?

-- Uncle Deedah (unkeed@yahoo.com), May 20, 2001.

Great mental picture CD,makes me want to get in the car right now and head for the ocean.

One of the things I like most about the beach is the beach/coast at night.The peacefulness broken only by the lapping of the waves and the wind,how even at night the sultry air is like a sweater of warmth and the salt in it a concoction of the gods lulling me into the deepest of sleeps.

One of these days I will make to the beach and I'll NEVER leave,completing a 30 year migration,home at last!,home at last! like a bird lost in a storm finally finding it's way back to the ancestoral home.Then I'll open up Capnfuns' Tiki Bar and Internet Cafe and live happily ever after : )

-- capnfun (capnfun1@excite.com), May 20, 2001.

I’ve lived on or near the ‘Beach’ for over 30 years and most of my ‘free’ time is spent on the waters of the Pacific Ocean. Let me tell you about the real power of the beach….the magnificent magic of the surf, which becomes part of your soul and your inner being. The sounds and vibrations seep in through every pore of your body and bring a calm peace to an otherwise frantic existence. After a while, you take this precious gift for granted until you find yourself trying to sleep when not there…at the beach.

-- Hydraulics (have@soothing.powers), May 20, 2001.

CD, thanks for the day at the beach. Kit and I have been running pretty hard for some months now, and boy did I need it! I envy you the white sand and clear water of Florida. That's something we don't see on the Texas coast.

Don't forget the mini-golf, where you have to hit the ball through the whale's mouth, or the little fat kid carrying pails of water to fill the moat of his sand castle. Look for me and Kit one of these days on your beach; we just might show

-- Lon Frank (lgal@exp.net), May 20, 2001.

"The sea, an emerald green blending into a deep blue."

Truer words were never spoken. Just got back from Unk's neighborhood, definitely a slice of paradise. Although we got skunked offshore, it is amazing to be 1.5 miles out and be in 300+ ft of water! Ya gotta go 60-70 miles out up here for that! It gets DEEP fast down there.

I think ya nailed it CD. It's a state of mind......

Don't pick the sea oats (it's against the law).

A waterside tiki-hut is always nice.

Unk - we missed ya down there. The weather was PERFECT the whole time! Not sure if you tried calling or not as the cell phone tends to act up now and again. We'll be down again sometime in August.

I had crab-stuffed lobster for dinner one night.......trying to describe it would not do it justice. I will have it again......

Deano

-- Deano (deano@luvthebeach.com), May 21, 2001.

Thanks for the comments guys. If any of you do make it out this way be sure to drop me a line.

(Lon- No mini-golf w/whale head on my particular beach, but I did notice "the little fat kid carrying pails of water to fill the moat of his sand castle." Man, that kid get's around! I've seen him on almost every beach I've ever been to.)

-- CD (costavike@hotmail.com), May 21, 2001.

Deano,

Events conspired against me, but I will definately hook up with you next time, that's a promise.

We have an out of the way beach here where I am at that gets about 20 people on a busy day. Miles of open sand with blue water, no trash, and nature all around you. I take my mutts there when the mood strikes and let them off the leash...yeah, not a bad way to spend an afternoon. And I am not gonna tell anyone how to find it, sorry, you can find it the way I did, trial and error, heehee.

-- Uncle Deedah (unkeed@yahoo.com), May 21, 2001.

I figured what the hell...post a few pics of where I live.

-- Uncle Deedah (unkeed@yahoo.com), May 21, 2001.

-- Uncle Deedah (unkeed@yahoo.com), May 21, 2001.

Gonna hold ya to that Unk!

You and the missus oughta head over to Sailfish on Thursday (any Thursday) and check out the Sunset Celebration. Lotta neat stuff fer sale out there. Not to mention the 25lb amberjacks and 20lb snook cruisin' the docks......what a sight!!

Deano

-- Deano (deano@luvthebeach.com), May 21, 2001.

-- Uncle Deedah (unkeed@yahoo.com), May 21, 2001.

-- Uncle Deedah (unkeed@yahoo.com), May 21, 2001.

Since I can't do the picture posting thing, a nice ariel shot of where we were:

http://www.sailfishmarina.com/directions.html

That's some pretty water!!!

Deano

-- Deano (deano@luvthebeach.com), May 21, 2001.

As a former west coast floridian you guys are making me very home sick.(Punta Gorda)I know I can never go back because the florida i left has been developed out of existance.It was a nice trip through memory lane though.I remember this little marina that served hot shrimp fresh off the boat and cold beer brought in fresh from mexico along with some "other" agricultural commodities.Snook and needle fish swam around the docks.(no one would catch them because they were pets)A warm breeze, sunset,and cold el sol! Thanks guys.

-- greg (gsmith@tricountyi.net), May 21, 2001.

CD--

Have you ever seen "The Flash of Green" when the sun sets in the Gulf (with the right atmospherics)?

-- Lars (larsguy@yahoo.com), May 22, 2001.

Cool pics Lars!

Sunsets on the water are pretty awesome. Never noticed how quickly the sun 'drops' until watching one coming in from a snorkel trip last summer. A 65ft catamaran, a keg of beer, Jimmy Buffet playing in the background, cruising up to the tip of Key West as the sun drops. Hell, my kids even thought it was cool (except the part where all the old farts knew all the words to every song....;-)

Very cool

Deano

-- Deano (deano@luvthebeach.com), May 22, 2001.

I've been on that snorkle boat Deano, never did it at sunset though. We did the "Great Union" (?) sailing schooner at Key West sunset and it was awesome of course. Every sunset in KW is awesome for some reason. Maybe it's a frame of mind.

-- Uncle Deedah (unkeed@yahoo.com), May 22, 2001.

Unk

Ya gotta try the sunset sail one time. We were on the Atlantic out of the Fury Catamaran slips near Mallory Square. Signed up at one of those tourist booths on Duval St one afternoon and were in the water the next. They had like 3 trips a day going out. It was an hour out, an hour in the water and an hour back (with the free keg and JB!).

My kids were freakin' at first (sharks and barracudas) but after they were in the water for 5 minutes, it was "Dad, THIS IS SO COOL!!!"

Definitely one of my better 'dad moments'.....

Deano

-- Deano (deano@luvthebeach.com), May 22, 2001.

Deano, great memory! So peaceful, after a day snorkling among coral, just relaxing, sipping on a margarita, listening to Jimmy. That *is* the life.

-- Maria (anon@ymous.com), May 22, 2001.

Maria

It's what I want to do for a living when I grow up....(heavy-freaking- sigh).......

Deano

-- Deano (deano@luvthebeach.com), May 22, 2001.