WALK ON THE BEACH

We went over to the beach to walk yesterday morning. There weren't a lot of people but there were some pretty shells like these:

And evidently a swarm of jelly fish had been caught by the tide because there were a lot of dead ones on the sand. We had to watch where we stepped. Here's one:

And of course, there was a car carrier in the distance. The tiny specks at the bottom are people walking on the beach at the edge of the water:

Our beach has changed considerably since we started coming here fifteen years ago.  Then, the ocean was about ten foot from the end of the boardwalk and low tide meant just a short walk to the water. No more. Now there's a little trek to get to the water even at high tide.

There was also a long sandbar out in the water that was visible at low tide. As the years passed, the terrain changed. The sandbar lengthened. The currents between the sandbar and the beach turned into a river. Then the river narrowed. Now the sandbar is gone and all that remains of the currents are a couple of tidal pools. Sand has filled in the rest. This is a pool as we come off the boardwalk. The ocean is at the bottom of the sky beginning from the left. You can barely see it on the horizon, and it ends at the dark line beginning abour two-thirds across which is where the King and Prince hotel curves out toward the water:

And this tidal pool is further up the beach. The water once ran through it and down to the first pool above. You can't see the ocean at all in this picture because it's to the photographer's left:

As a result of the sands shifting, the houses that once sat close (in some cases, too close) to the water, find themselves a fair distance from the ocean. Dunes have taken over what was once a river and then a tidal pool. Now only a shallow trench lets high-tide water into the pools that are left. I took this photo standing on the beach and you can see how far the dunes extend:

Nature certainly brings a lot of changes!

WALK ON THE BEACH

We went over to the beach yesterday early enough to miss most of the tourists. It was very restful.

I didn't know it until we moved here, but beaches, especially on barrier islands, change. We have a huge sandbar where once it was simply sand underwater. Looking southward, the sand on the left is where the sandbar begins. It keeps going northward (behind the photographer and up the beach).

This is taken when we walked northward, and the sandbar continued. You can see a stream, the sandbar, and then the ocean in the distance. Around here is where the sandbar used to begin.

Still going northward. We (and the doggie) are on the beach, looking out over the sandbar toward the ocean. See how high the sandbar's edge is? The stream in the middle used to be quite wide but has narrowed considerably.

The first thing we came across was a stranded jellyfish. In ten feet or so, we found another, and then another. We ended up seeing five or six of them.

Then we saw some horseshoe crabs. Or at least their shells where they had molted. Quite a few were over on the sandbar. On the beach, we only spotted four or five. I guess everyone knows these aren't really crabs.

 

Coming back, I noticed some shells up in the dried seaweed. I suspect someone may have been collecting them and forgot them since usually large ones are found with small ones.

And finally, we came across this. I couldn't figure out what it was till I got closer. It's an orange peel! Someone must have been watching the ocean while eating it, then threw it down. And there are plenty of trash cans around!

I love walking on the beach because you run across all kinds of things.

JELLYFISH SEASON GEARING UP

Yep, that's what the local paper says. Are you wondering why?

Seems it gives the shrimpers something to do when the shrimp season is over. The pay isn't too bad and it's easier than shrimping.

So who buys these netted jellyfish?

Asians! Evidently, they're crazy about them.

How do they get from here to Asia?

The jellyfish are dehydrated at some East Coast dehydrating factories (ever heard of a jellyfish dehydrating plant?) and sent overseas. There, they're rehydrated and used as...Wait for it...

Salad toppings! Ah, can't you just imagine eyeballing your salad and having it gently wave back at you.

Georgia jellyfish are much sought after because they're evidently humongus little boogers that the Asians prefer. These are cannonball jellyfish we're talking about. I've been down at the pier before and watched scores of the beautiful iridescent creatures wash under one side and go out the other with the tide.

So now there's a use for them. Good deal (though you won't catch me trying one). Season starts February 1. (Yes, there is an official jellyfish season.) Can't wait to see those shrimp boats out netting jellyfish.

What great things we learn from the local newspaper!