How MANY Beaches Can You Walk?

High tide

The days just seem to flow around us here in Georgetown… and that’s a good thing.  We are patiently waiting for the arrival of our friends Jerry and Sally aboard Encore.  They are making their way in this direction and our plans are to continue on our way as buddy-boats for a while.

But for now, we continue to enjoy each day as it comes…

Having shuffled back to our anchorage near Monument Beach, it just seemed right that we enjoy another hike up the monument and this time, armed with ample supplies of my home made insect repellant (which worked VERY well BTW), we were able to reach the monument in comfort and continue on to the other side of the island where we found a beautiful deserted beach. 

It is an awesome thing to walk the beach in the morning with your mate… Up ahead, the pristine sand is your future.  The waves crash on the shore, as yet unmarked by any traveler.  The choice is yours... turn back or continue on... making your own path together through the waves that life throws your way.  Out here, it's just the two of you.  The thrill of achievement awaits you with every new rock to climb or sight to see…

Looking back, you see two sets of footprints you have made.  Only yours.  The sun shines low and creates a completely different view, misty from the spray like the many memories you have made together stretching back in time…

And what of this moment?  This is all there really is.  Just you and that person, and your shadows joined as proof of your solitary passage along this seemingly untraveled path.  That moment alone is compensation for all the work and hardship it took to be here. 

We continue on, extending our lazy path, because we have nothing else pressing today…  I stop and spend time crouched in waiting for that perfect picture to remember this day while Bruce finds a comfy spot to wait.  He isn’t impatient.  We have all the time in the world.

We reach a spot where we would have to enter the water in order to go further but we are content to just sit here in the shade of this sandstone cliff and watch the waves build and crash. 

Eventually, I draw a breath and heave it out as a sigh… time to go back.  We retrace our steps back to the pathway that led us here from the hilltop.  It is well-worn and steep with shifting sand that adds just a hint of adventure, then we are back up on the path that leads to the rest of our day.

These are the days when I think back on my former life.  I think about the people with whom I interacted regularly… friends, family, coworkers… and I wonder what they are doing right now.  And I feel so lucky to have been one of the few who can break away from that life and claim this one for myself. 

I remember also one particular day when Bruce and I were walking on the beach on Padre Island near our home.  We used to get up in the morning on weekends and head for the beach right after our morning coffee…  We walked along hand-in-hand and I asked Bruce “How many beaches do you think we can walk before it becomes boring?”  Maybe we will never know…