Rabbit in His World of Beaches

Three years ago, before we moved on Sila, the word "beach" conjured up a completely different image than what it does now. Back then, I imagined a long stretch of sand with tourists sunbathing, reading a book in the shade of a palm tree, and splashing around in warm waters. Now, for me a beach is simply a level shore that is not man made. After over two years of seeing varying types of beaches, the tropical sand-and-palm-tree beach doesn't stand out anymore. 

There are lots of types of beaches in the world. Rocky, yellow sand, white sand and tropical, pebble, shingle, animal covered, sea weed covered, and plastic covered are a few of them. I have had many different experiences on beaches. 

In France, we went on lots of beach walks. The image that comes to mind is of Mama and Daddy strolling along a gravel or cold sand shore next to a stone wall dating back to a century long ago. Porter and I either admired the old buildings and beached fishing vessels or else, more commonly, hunted for crabs, periwinkles, sticks, and other treasures under the seaweed. 

  This was a common beach in France. The tide goes out and Sila is set down on the cold, hard, sand beach next to a quaint little town.

 Porter and I, walking on another beach.

In Spain, I remember long afternoons of swimming and building forts in the fine, yellow sand. When Mama or Daddy came with us to the beach, I remember watching from afar as they, especially Mama, engaged in conversations with a local Spaniards. 

I guess the next place, where there were any beach experiences, was the Caribbean. I imagine soft sand, clear water and great snorkeling. There is also always a palm tree and sunburned tourists in the background of my mind's eye. In the BVI, we did not really have much beach time. We were in the water five to six hour a day snorkeling and free diving rather than spending our time on the shoreline.

 The few beaches we did go to had a scene like this. Porter and I splash and goof around in the water and sand.

The next beach place was the Galápagos. The Galápagos holds many natural wonders on its shores. The sand beaches are covered in sea lions. They are usually like sleeping cats (thus the name sea lions) exhibiting an indifferent, lazy, lolling manner that makes me dozy to watch. Another interesting type of beach in the Galápagos is the lava tubes, tubes where lava had previously carved, then filled half full of water. The top is strewn with cacti and blue footed boobies. Like a lot of shores on the Galápagos, these have many birds, circling above and nesting. To me, Galápagos beaches always mean lots of interesting wildlife.

 This picture is of the lava tubes in the Galapagos.

Our next place was Chile. Well, there where not many beaches in Chile. The fjord shores were steep and jutted vertically out of the water. The few real beaches were either homes of beached fishing vessels, pebble, gravel or rocky areas. The thick brush came quite close to the water, so the shore line was slim. Often sea weed covered the rocks so it was slippery. All and all, the beach experiences I had in Chile were few and far between.

 Here you can see all the beached fishing boats on the shore in Chile.

The Falklands are next in line. What comes to mind when I tell myself Falkland Island Shores, is gravel and jackass penguins. The air is filled with the noise of their namesake, the Heh heh heh hehhhhh of a donkey but higher pitched and emanating from a beak. We may have gone to other ones, but the jackass penguin beaches will always come to mind.

 Although this is not on a beach, it helps you capture an image of the jackass penguins.

 Here is the beach in the Falklands.

South Georgia, an island of great animal diversity, had amazing, memorable coast lines. A majority are gravel, and covered in fur seals. Barking, howling, calling, and yelling, the seals are remembered as noise makers. Whenever we landed on shore in Petite (our dinghy), we carried wooden staffs to protect ourselves from the seals. Whenever I think of our time on South Georgia beaches, I remember carrying the staffs. In addition, streams run from the mountains down to the ocean and on a lot of beaches five to thirty king penguins standing in the streams, molting. I think waiting for feathers to fall off sounds like a very boring project, but it has to be done, the poor birds. These groups were interesting but the full fledged penguin colony is probably the most memorable beach of all. Salisbury Plain has over 300,000 king penguins. It was hard for me not to notice the colony stretching on into the distance, even past the beach. If you stood still on the pebble beach, a few penguins would curiously waddle so near that you could almost touch them. Being amongst thousands of penguins on a cold, gravel beach I think is far more interesting than swimming and sunbathing on a warm island in the tropics. 

 The seals on South Georgia.

 The penguins come quite close.

 

One of my Mom's favorite pictures. Penguins, mountains, and the beach are all featured. You can also see the staff next to me.

We left South Georgia and took three months in the middle of the ocean before reaching Ireland. In Ireland there weren't many beach experiences for us, but Scotland had an especially memorable one. On a small Island there were puffins, lots of puffins. They are the penguins of the north. They were all around. Out on a morning row, there were puffins flying, swimming, diving, eating, walking, and squawking. They are beautiful for birds so small and I will not forget their grace as they fly or swim, such elegance for a little bird.

Norway also had few beach experiences for us. In northern Norway there are fjords and really steep slopes, thus, no beaches. The only beach in the north I can remember is the place Porter, Florentine Berger, and I went swimming. In short, I remember being really cold. In the more southern parts of Norway, the memories are the same story: a nice stroll along the shore for Porter and me, collecting cans and bottles to exchange at the store for kroner.

 Here is the cold swim in Norway.

Denmark was next. Denmark is funny because I only remember one beach yet it still was the place I got the idea for this post. I was walking along a sand and pebble beach on a lonely isle, chatting with Mama. There, the subject of beaches popped up. I realized how many different beach experiences we have had on this adventure. Now, in the BVI, I remembered the walk in Denmark and decided to write the post we had discussed as we walked on the shores of the North Sea.

 When you think of England in January, you probably don't think about the beaches. We stayed several weeks in Falmouth and went on plenty of delightful walks on the shores. Our friend Colin gave us a beach combing guide that transformed our experience of English beaches. Now Porter roams the shore line picking up cool shells, seaweed and other things. Colin took us on a few walks himself. I remember those as being on pebble beaches, learning about all sorts of maritime things. The rest of the walks were the four of us strolling on a rainy day, me as happy as a clam, Porter happy with a clam

 The pictures above and below capture what our experience on English beaches were like.

Colin and the three Barnes boys on a memorable beach walk.

All this is interesting to me because it shows how I have changed. This journey has given me many different experiences that change the way I see the world. The way I see beaches now is a good, small example of how I have changed in the past two and a half years. -JackRabbit