Whenever I'm at the beach I expect to see the unexpected. But usually, those unexpected finds include rare shells, interesting wildlife, a special skyscape, pretty sandcastles or mademade items like watches, sunglasses and plastic shovels that wash ashore.
When it comes to people, most of the time I see kids (and the rare adult) doing handstands and cartwheels, tossing balls and playing games. I've spied lovers entwined on beach blankets, tai chi and yoga practitioners and even the occasional beachside wedding.
But, over the past couple years, I've encountered a few other more unique human/ocean interactions. Below are four things I never expected to see people do at the beach starting with a banjo-playing fellow serenading the surf.
This guy's banjo playing was accompanied by the percussive beat of rolling waves
This woman gives new meaning to 'just hanging out with a couple piers.'
People bring all sorts of things to the beach - blankets, towels, coolers, music... But for some reason, this fellow brought a ladder
I've encountered many people doing yoga on the sand but this guy chose to do his stretches on a paddleboard just offshore
I've always thought of myself as a lake person more than a beach nut. Yet, over the past few years, my fascination and enjoyment of time spent by the ocean has grown immensely.
I look forward to the time Ralph and I spend in New Smyrna Beach with eager anticipation. I love my early morning bike rides, combing the beach for treasures - and I always find something - new birds, crustaceans, plants and animals to discover, learn about and appreciate. Together, they add up to complete joy and excitement.
This morning, as I try to do whenever we're at the beach (and we're here more and more often each month) I got up early, made myself a to-go mug of hot, buttered coffee, packed my juggling clubs, camera and towel into my improvised bike carryall and pedaled off to the ocean to catch the morning light.
This was my view when I got there
A sight worth getting up early for
The sun was hidden behind a bank of low-lying clouds but rays of light appeared nonetheless. I'm always encouraged by old Sol's ability to penetrate even the darkest sky. Inspiring determination!
It was almost dead low tide, which meant there was a flat, expansive stretch of hard sand - perfect for riding on with my three-wheel recumbent. Waves were gentle, almost non-existent. I rode steadily along anticipating a relaxing swim once I'd pedaled a couple miles.
A shadow-selfie of me in my fun cycle
Once I was south of Hiles, I stop biking, sipped some coffee - still hot! - and took out my clubs. My club juggling has definitely improved thanks to these early morning practice sessions on the beach. There's something about juggling on the beach that I really love. Especially at sunrise when the only ones to see me make mistakes are a few uninterested snowy egrets, pelicans, royal terns and the occasional walker, biker or beachside jogger.
The birds don't seem to mind if I drop clubs while practicing my juggling
After juggling for a bit - got up to 50 throws this morning - I went for a swim. The water was absolutely perfect! Warm and gentle and delightfully salty. I almost hated to get out. But I did and I'm glad I did because if I hadn't, I might have missed seeing the hermit crab crawling across the sand inside the biggest moonsnail shell I've ever seen!
Below are two short videos of the moonsnail-occupied hermit crab making its way across the sand:
When it comes to shelling, New Smyrna Beach is no Sanibel Island. Sure (shore?) there are a few shells here and there but usually none of them are anything special. But sometimes - maybe because of the tide or weather - many kinds of pretty shells wash ashore. That's what happened this morning.
A few of my morning finds
Thanks to all the shells I kept spotting from my low-riding recumbent (a perfect bike for shell-spotting) it took me much longer than usual to make it back home to Ralph. Usually he joins me but this morning he needed a little extra time to rest before starting the day. But that's okay. We'll have another chance tomorrow and if there's one thing I've learned about being at the beach it's that everyday there's something new to discover at the ocean. Can't wait to seer what the next day will bring!
Today's bike ride to the beach took a surprising turn. Instead of watching the sun rise swiftly over the horizon, I became totally captivated by an unusual beachcombing find.
Yesterday's storm must have washed ashore a huge fishing net complete with brass rings, thick rope and numerous crabs, shrimp, shells, sponge and assorted cans and other trash caught within its woven confines.
Two other beachcombers stopped to check out the huge fishing net and thick ropes that washed ashore this morning in New Smyrna Beach
As I got off my bike to take a closer look, several other people also stopped to check it too. Working together we freed as many crabs and shrimp as we could and separated out the trash and fishing line to take away and dispose of before any birds became entangled.
Being the incorrigible hoarders that we are, I called up Ralph, who was still at home, and told him to meet me at the beach.
"We found a huge fishing net with a bunch of thick rope," I told him.
A short while later he joined me and together we managed to separate the rope from the net and load the entire wet, sandy mass onto my recumbent 'Fun Cycle'.
With the net and the rope on my bike there was no room for me to sit and pedal so I pulled the trike back to the 27th Ave parking lot while Ralph biked home to get the van and trailer.
Today my Fun Cycle doubled as a wheelbarrow waiting at the 27th Ave Park for Ralph to pick me up and take the rope and netting away.
End of story: We missed the sunrise but gained several yards of thick sea and sand encrusted netting and rope. Not a bad trade off even if we have no idea yet what we're going to do with this latest in a series of too-good-to-leave-on-the-beach finds.
