Archived Articles - The Sea is so Mysterious

Saturday, July 01, 2006


The sea is so mysterious....
Category: Travel and Places

I was walking on the beach the other day and noticing the..ephemera the waves brought in; a green bottlecap oxidized by saltwater and time, an old quarter, beach glass of all colors, and bits and pieces of sand dollars, which arrive in such profusion along this particular stretch of beach. I was wondering, what distant shores did these things come from, and what kind of journey have they made?

The seashells also..confound..me. Each beach has it's own trademark shell it seems, how fascinating. On Ocean Beach in SF, it is sand dollars. In Mendocino, it is abalone shells. In Cardiff-by-the-sea, it is those quintessential seashells, (I don't know the name but it is seems like this is the one seashells were named after.) On the North Shore of Oahu, it is cowry shells, and.. in Kauai, especially near Hanalei, it is the exquisitely beautiful sunrise shells. I'm sure that a marine biologist would have a perfectly scientific explanation as to why this is, having to do with certain marine life off these shores, but I like to just let it stay magical.

Another thought on all of this; it's so fleeting. What the waves wash up one moment may be washed away the next, and this to me is a perfect reminder of how fleeting our time here is, and how constantly changing.

But there is more. The salty air provides negative ions that actually elevates our moods. Everything looks and feels a little better when we are at the beach. It's one of the few places that adults can play or frolic and actually get away with it. In my.. opinion, that's reason enough to go to the beach.