On Friday of last week the rain poured down, and the wind blew hard enough to uproot trees. The Friday beach walk had to be postponed.
The storm that roared across the midwest dropping lots of snow hit here as well, but the temperature rose, and we only got rain. Saturday dawned dark, but rainless. So, at mid-day we headed to the beach.
As we got out of the car,
for the first time we could hear the booming
of the ocean.
Normally it is quiet.
But, this was startling in its intensity.
As we reached the end of the short sandy path
that crosses the dunes
we were met by an astounding sight.
Though the tide was out, the waves were pounding in.
Rows of waves moved across the water,
hitting the shore hard.
Dark clouds added to a surreal landscape.
Looking to the right one saw lines of waves traveling up the bay.
The beach was strewn with seaweed.
To the left one saw how far up the tide had been driven in the storm.
The beach was eroded nearly to the edge of the grassy dunes,
in a series of crescents.
We started down the beach in our normal fashion.
But, this was anything but our normal walk!
There was motion everywhere- water, clouds, wind, trees.
Today’s walk was all about the water, the waves-
their motion, their sound.
Today there were no small vignettes on the beach to look for.
There were bunches of seaweed, and an occasional small stone.
Part way down the beach we came across a tree
that had been blown down, and washed ashore.
As we neared the end of the beach
one could see even though the tide was more than half way out,
that there would be no getting around to the smaller cove.
The waves were strong, one could see them breaking against the rocks on the opposite side of the bay,
sending up large plumes of spray.
Close by, the rock reef was also getting pounded.
As we neared the end of the beach the noise from the waves was very loud,
and the wind added to the noise.
Spot could barely hear me if I called him.
At the very end of the beach Spot found two lobster traps.
They had broken away in the storm,
and were half buried in the sand.
After watching the waves for a while,
we turned to walk back.
Though the wind was at our backs,
we walked quickly.
There had been so much rain the day before
the salt marsh over-flowed, causing a new drainage stream to form.
From a narrow stream
it had widened to form an oval hollow in the sand.
then, as the tide ebbed, it had flattened out into a wide plain.
An odd pattern of criss crossing had formed in the sand nearby.
At the acute angle of the curve of the beach
was a huge bank of piled up seaweed.
The stream at the far end of the beach had cut deeply into the sand.
And was running fast.
Spot jumped the stream,
I could not, and it was too deep to wade.
The waves on this end of the beach were a deep greenish brown color,
from the seaweed in them.
Spot did not stay long on the other side of the creek.
As we headed back the wind struck us in the face,
and I noticed the wave action had increased.
But, out beyond the breakers were a group of bufflehead ducks
riding calmly as the white caps rose and fell.
The beach, sea, and sky seemed surreal.
Spot explored the drier sand by the dunes.
I watched the ocean.
The waves crashing against the rocks on the other shore were very visible.
Looking out to the outer islands one could see spray as the waves crashed against them.
We finished our walk by going back down the right hand arm of the beach.
Even though the tide was still going out,
the waves and surf continued to build.
As we left the beach waves with foam came creaming in.
While others hit the shore with spray.
To get a different view I decided to go around the corner to Fort William Henry.
The fort was built in 1692,
by the British, to protect the northern boundary of New England.
Behind the fort is the garrison.
The different angle from the fort gave a splendid view!
But, it lacked the strong interaction of beach, water, wind, and sky.
As we were leaving the fort a seagull flew over-head,
riding the wind-
it seemed a fitting end to the walk.