Castles made of sand…

I went to the beach yesterday… well, what’s left of it. Besides being drenched with rain and wind nearly all week, Ophelia showed her weak strength at the beach. It seems that the waves wrestled with the beach, and the waves won. At a point that was supposed to be closer to low tide than high, the waves were still coming up close to the dunes. The dunes had obviously been further eroded by the wind and the waves. High tide eroded enough sand to leave greater than foot drop at the beach for several dune walkways, like it was when I first came in February. In one spot there was a wall of sand like 3 times my size and too steep to climb. In another spot, some sea turtle eggs in the sand had been exposed by the waves.

The beach was like a war zone; it was littered with debris. Everything from trash, pieces of wood, seashells, and other things of the sea. The waves were surging up the beach several feet, leaving some white foam. The wind was still strong enough to blow up a light spray from the waves. Those that braved the pounding waves, mostly surfers, did it at their own risk. One surfer received a beating to the head while I was there.

In the wildlife refuge, the water level of the lakes, ponds, or rivers was higher than normal from all the rain. Part of the road near the beach had standing water from what had pooled on the side of the road. Typically there isn’t any pooled water in that area.