For lo, I have found something new on the beach this year. Every year, new things wash up. This year, it's those particularly long, pointy shells, pale ivory/pink, 3/4" long, and...these things!
At first I thought it might be frayed plastic, but it seemed made of clear tubes only. Eventually I realized it was... formerly alive. Either in-and-of-itself, or as the innards of some heretofore-unknown-to-me sea creature. A seaweed?
I ran into several more pieces of the stuff.
It had been quite some time since I'd played with a camera, and eventually I moved on, and contemplated Tybee Island across the way and a little flock of seagulls and terns (?) (Caspian?), standing at the water's edge. They were all hanging out peacefully. A younger one begged incessantly from its neighbor.
It got nothing for its troubles.
I kept going after a while.
I found bigger bits of the clear seaweedy stuff, suffused with grains of sand.
Very cool.
One small beached jellyfish today.
I came across what I think of as "brain coral"... that little speck in the middle is a tiny crab.
I zoomed in. It surveyed me.
"Try me, m------f-----."
Meanwhile, out in the surf, an entire dolphin family cruised by slowly, feeding idly, no more than 30 feet away. The ones in the lead surfaced for long enough to make eye contact with those of us walking along the edge of the surf. Behind them, a few juveniles were overcome with playfulness - one started breeching. I was far too transported to even attempt to photograph them. A boy made his way out to chest deep, slapping the water with the palms of his hands, causing the three playful ones to turn around and cavort.
In the meantime, on his own walk, Dearly Beloved spotted a bald eagle in the eagle tree:
Does life get any better than this?
