Ocean Isle Pier
It’s been pretty hot but this is the beach. I like this nearly monochromatic image of the ocean and the pier to the east of our house.
Tagged With: Beach
Ocean Isle Pier
Categories: Travel
Tags: Beach, Ocean, Ocean Isle, Ocean Isle Beach, Ocean Isle Pier, Water, Waves
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Beach Umbrella
Beach Umbrella
This is a beach umbrella reflected in a thin film of water on the sand. I like it as an abstract image.
Categories: Travel
Tags: Beach, Beach Umbrella, Colors, Ocean Isle, Ocean Isle Beach
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The Dawn Comes Up Like Thunder
The Dawn Comes Up Like Thunder
Sleeping in is one of the nice things about being on vacation. That being said, getting up at 6:30 has its advantages, as well. It isn’t exactly the road to Mandalay (and there were no flying fishes, as far as I know) but even in North Carolina, the dawn sometimes comes up like thunder.
Categories: Sunrise/Sunset/Sky
Tags: Beach, Clouds, Dawn, Ocean Isle, Ocean Isle Beach, Orange, Sky, Sunrise
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Sunset, Ocean Isle Beach
Sunset, Ocean Isle Beach
As many of you know, we were at the beach last week. I’m going to try to get caught up posting pictures so expect two per day for the next week. We had a relatively easy drive down on Saturday, covering the 420 or so miles in a little over 7.5 hours. It was drizzling when we left home, then south of Richmond we had mostly sunny skies. We had rain going around Wilmington, NC and it was cloudy and threatening after that. The sunset was pretty amazing, with the color from the sky turning the ocean an amazing color.
Categories: Sunrise/Sunset/Sky
Tags: Beach, North Carolina, Ocean Isle Beach, Pink, Sunset, Waves
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Stephen, Kai, and the Beach
Stephen, Kai, and the Beach
Most kids love the beach. Of course, kids under a certain age are generally not really up on the joys of playing in the surf or digging in the sand. Kai is only seven months old and he isn’t really well versed in the joys of childhood yet. Or, perhaps I should say the joys of his childhood are, at this point, fairly simple. He went out onto the beach (okay, he was taken out onto the beach) this afternoon and was dressed for the sun. The goggles were a bit much and they came off fairly quickly but I think they suit him. He sat on the sand with his feet in a hole with a little water in it and wasn’t entirely displeased. He didn’t particularly like being splashed, although there was no real danger of him getting into any trouble. It won’t be long until he’s mobile and then the fun begins for his parents. “Wait, he was here a second ago, where did he go?”
Categories: People, Travel
Tags: Beach, Kai, North Carolina, Ocean Isle Beach, Stephen
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Sunrise, Ocean Isle Beach
Sunrise, Ocean Isle Beach
When you plan your beach trip months in advance, you never know what sort of weather you’re going to get. Some years it’s very hot and muggy, others, relatively cool and pleasant. This year was a cool and pleasant year, a rare but welcome occurrence. I think it barely broke 85°F the whole week. This morning was the only day with a sunrise worth getting up for. The other days either had completely clear or (on Friday) an entirely overcast sky. Today’s sunrise made up for the other days’ lack, though. There were a lot of folks out on the beach at 6:30 watching it, looking for shells in the sand as the tide ebbed (high tide was about two hours previous to this picture).
Categories: Sunrise/Sunset/Sky
Tags: Beach, North Carolina, Ocean Isle Beach, Orange, Sunrise
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Ocean Isle Beach, North Carolina
Ocean Isle Beach, North Carolina
Just an average day at the beach. As I mentioned in a previous post, the weather this week was quite mild. Yesterday it was actually cool enough that you wanted to stay mostly underwater when you were out. I like to float on my back when the water is calm, as it was all week, but when I did my toes got cold. Today was a bit warmer but still not hot. Today also brought a few larger swells in addition to the small waves that broke too far in for us to ride. So, today was the best wave-riding day of the week. This picture was taken just before 1:00 PM and it shows the beach at about its most crowded (well, at high tide it was more crowded because everyone had to move up, but about the same number of people). This picture was taken from about the same place as the sunrise picture from yesterday and looking in roughly the same direction.
Categories: Travel
Tags: Beach, North Carolina, Ocean Isle Beach, Sunshine
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Mostly Empty Beach
Ocean Isle Beach, North Carolina
The beach was mostly empty this morning. This picture was taken at about 9:00 AM when the beach is usually beginning to get fairly crowded but the drizzle this morning kept most people indoors. It cleared up quite a bit later on and more people were out but nothing like the last few days. It was also much more humid than its been, although it was still quite cool. It was our last full day at the beach and it was fairly restful without not a lot happening. We did manage to finish a pretty tricky puzzle before the end of the day and we were all pretty pleased with that. Three puzzles over the course of six days, one of which was finished in a single day. The house we were in didn’t really have a good table for puzzles other than the dining table, which was somewhat inconvenient. But we managed.
Categories: Travel
Tags: Beach, North Carolina, Ocean Isle Beach, Rainy
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Ocean Isle Beach
Ocean Isle Beach
As mentioned in yesterday’s post, the family reunion we went to was on our way to a week at the beach. Work has been pretty crazy lately. On the one hand, I really need to be there to get some things done. On the other hand, I really needed this break and I’m looking forward to not really thinking about work all week. This is the view from the deck half way to the beach from the cottage where we’re staying. It’s an older house, smaller than most, but adequate to our needs. This picture was taken around high tide and it’s a rainy morning so not a lot of activity on the beach. As the tide went out and the sun started to shine, the beach filled with people (as you would expect).
Categories: Travel
Tags: Beach, Dunes, North Carolina, Ocean Isle Beach, Waves
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Grackle Eating a Clam
Grackle Eating a Clam
We went swimming early this afternoon and then I dug in the sand and made a drip castle. After showering, Cathy and I walked on the beach. I was surprised that the castle was still there. The tide hadn’t come in yet but no one had stepped on it. On our walk we saw a few common grackles (Quiscalus quiscula) just above the surf pulling up clams after each wave. It’s not really surprising that they’ve learned to enjoy clams. It’s just that we don’t think of grackles as shore birds, skipping around at the top of the surf along with willets and sand pipers.
Family Beach Week
Henry, Dot, Danna, Kai, Maya, Steve, George, Carmela, Cathy, Dorothy, Jacob, and Kendra
Our week at the beach has come to an end and we leave tomorrow morning. The southern North Carolina beaches are great and I like Ocean Isle in particular. Partly that’s just a matter of familiarity, of course, and people who go to other beaches year after year almost certainly feel the same way. But one thing I don’t particularly care for is the drive home. It’s about 425 miles and the traffic between Richmond and DC is never good, especially on a summer weekend. But, drive it we must. First, however, we took time for a family photo out on the deck. As you can see, we’re sort of looking into the setting sun, so there’s a bit of squinting going on. From left to right: Henry, Dot, Danna, Kai, Maya, Steve, George, Carmela, Cathy, Dorothy, Jacob, and Kendra.
Coral and Shells
Coral and Shells
When we are at the beach, Cathy like to look for shells and coral. She is especially fond of coral, and probably collects more of that than all types of shells combined. There is a small bowl in our bathroom with some of her finds, which, as you can see, have included some pretty nice coral samples. I don’t really know a lot about the corals found in the western Atlantic so I’d just be making a totally uninformed guess if I were to venture an opinion on genus or even family. I’d be interested if anyone who knows about these things were to offer more information. I’m more a shell gatherer, partly because I haven’t the patience to look for coral, although I’ve found a piece or two over the years. The two pointy shells here are from snails and the one between them is a bivalve, but that’s as specific as I’m going to get. For anyone interested, this Marine Species Identification Portal looks pretty helpful.
Picnic On The Beach
Picnic On The Beach, Gloucester, Massachusetts
After church this morning, we met up with a friend of Margaret’s and they went off together to visit. The rest of us went for a picnic on the beach. It wasn’t particularly warm and the sky was overcast but it was nice to be outdoors. We put a blanket down on the sand and made sandwiches (because on the beach, you can eat the sandwiches there). The herring gulls (Larus argentatus) were all around and hoping for any food that might come there way. I’m afraid they didn’t get much from us.
Boston from Gloucester
As we drove back we stopped at Niles Beach. From there we could see Boston, just over 25 miles to the southwest. I like the atmospheric quality of this photo so thought I’d include it along with the picture above of our picnic. I also like the not quite parallel lines of waves gently rolling in and changing with the subtly changing light.
After our outing, we visited with some friends in the area and then in the evening went to the penultimate Catacombs of Dorothy’s college career. It was a really nice time and a nice way to end the weekend visit.
Categories: People
Tags: Beach, Cathy, Dorothy, Dot, Gloucester, Gloucester Massachusetts, Good Harbor Beach, Jacob, Jonathan, Kendra, Massachusetts, Picnic
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Ocean Isle Beach
Ocean Isle Beach
We spent the better part of the day driving to Ocean Isle Beach, North Carolina today. We were delayed a little by a flat tire and the time it took to get that replaced but better to have it happen near home that when we were traveling 70 MPH on the highway. Traffic between the Occoquan River Bridge and Fredericksburg was as bad as ever. Actually, worse. Generally the GPS says “Fastest route despite delays” but today it not only told us to get off of 95 onto US 1, it twice took us off of Route 1 onto smaller streets. I’m not entirely sure that saved us any time and the delay added about two hours to the drive, but we did finally make it to the beach and were able to relax a bit. As you can see, we arrived to fine weather and a calm Atlantic Ocean.
Categories: Travel
Tags: Atlantic, Atlantic Ocean, Beach, Family, North Carolina, Ocean, Ocean Isle, Ocean Isle Beach
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Sunset, Ocean Isle Beach
Sunset, Ocean Isle Beach
Generally you look west in the evening to see the sunset and the best colors are often in that direction. This evening the best view was to the east, as seen here. Although we’re on the eastern coast of North America, the coastline runs almost due east-west right here. So, rather than the sun rising over the ocean and setting over land, it rises to the left on the beach and sets to the right. Although I took a lot of pictures, mostly what I was doing was enjoying the reflections of the light as each wave receded, leaving a very flat, highly reflective surface on the lower beach.
Categories: Sunrise/Sunset/Sky
Tags: Atlantic, Atlantic Ocean, Beach, Blue, Ocean Isle, Ocean Isle Beach, Orange, Pink, Sunset
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Sunrise, Ocean Isle Beach
Sunrise, Ocean Isle Beach
Today was the first day this week I went out to take pictures of the sunrise. I thought about it two other days but didn’t go out. There are often nice sunrises here but I simply didn’t feel like it. Today I did and was rewarded with some nice pictures. When I first went out it was very blue. The clouds and the ocean were various shades ranging from pale to dark. Eventually, the sun actually rose and a fair amount of orange was added to the sky and the reflection of the sky in the water. This photo doesn’t really show much of the blue.
Categories: Sunrise/Sunset/Sky
Tags: Atlantic, Atlantic Ocean, Beach, North Carolina, Ocean Isle, Ocean Isle Beach, Orange, Sunrise
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The Family At The Beach
The Family
As usual, we took a family photo at the beach on the last day when everyone was still there (George and Carmela left shortly after the photo was taken). Tsai-Hong and Cathy had gone for a walk and were a long time getting back, which created some tension. Of course they were understandably not anxious to sit for a picture the moment they got back. They had walked to the far end of the island and back, covering over eight miles. The weather cooperated, though, as the light overcast meant we didn’t have to squint into the sun or put our faces in shadow by facing away.
Categories: People
Tags: Beach, Family, North Carolina, Ocean Isle, Ocean Isle Beach, People
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Sunset, Ocean Isle Beach
Sunset, Ocean Isle Beach
As our week at the beach came to an end, Brian from next door came over to let me know there was a nice sunset and that I should come out with my camera. There was this single cloud, far out to sea, lit by the setting sun, surrounded by the blue of the ocean, the sky, and the other clouds. I’m pretty happy with this picture as a relaxing reminder of a mostly relaxing week. Being with family for a week, it’s inevitable that there will be little things but for the most part, it was very nice and that’s how I’m going to remember it. The cottage we were in this year was good, in terms of layout, giving us the space we needed to spread out. Having the pool was a bonus and more enjoyable that I would have expected. It was shared with the three connected units, but that hardly mattered. One of those units was our cousins and it was nice being so close to them. If nothing else, it meant they could stick their head in our door and let us know about sunsets (and, as it turned out tomorrow morning, leatherback turtles (Dermochelys coriacea) hatching at the end of our path to the beach).
Categories: Sunrise/Sunset/Sky
Tags: Atlantic, Atlantic Ocean, Beach, Blue, North Carolina, Ocean Isle, Ocean Isle Beach, Orange, Sunset
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Rehoboth Beach
Rehoboth Beach, Delaware
Cathy and I drove out to Rehoboth Beach, Delaware today. It was a nice drive on a fine, fall day. We were going to spend time with our friend, Maureen and her family after the loss of their mother. The funeral will be tomorrow. After we checked into out hotel we took a fairly quick drive to the beach, because it would be a shame to drive that far and not at least see the ocean. We were dressed in our nice clothes for the viewing but we walked out onto the sand and touched the water. Then I took a handful of photos and we were done.
Categories: Sunrise/Sunset/Sky, Travel
Tags: Atlantic Ocean, Beach, Delaware, Rehoboth, Rehoboth Beach, Waves
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Good Harbor Beach
Good Harbor Beach
After we finished getting things ready for tomorrow’s wedding (or at least did as much as we could get done today), Dorothy and I went to Good Harbor Beach. We sat on blanket on the sand and read our books while the sun was setting behind us and the sky turned that wonderful blue that you can only see after dusk or before dawn. There was a layer of low clouds over the ocean and the picked up some wonderful color, which was reflected in the water. Add the moon and here’s what you get. And in case you’re wondering (as I was), Zillow says that house is worth somewhere in the neighborhood of $6.5 million. I think you can see why.
Categories: Sunrise/Sunset/Sky
Tags: Beach, Cape Ann, Dusk, Gloucester, Massachusetts, North Shore, Sky, Sunset
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Changeable Weather at Ocean Isle
Ocean Isle Beach
We arrived at Ocean Isle Beach yesterday, after a relatively smooth and uneventful drive. We even managed to get to Richmond in two hours, which on a “beach Saturday” is something to be pleased and amazed at. Because I’m no longer forcing myself to take a photo a day, I didn’t bother with any yesterday, although we did go out on the beach. It was actually nice to be able to enjoy the beach without having to worry about that.
Beach weather can be changeable and the two photos I have here illustrate that. This first one, looking east, was taken at 4:06 PM.
Storm Clouds, Ocean Isle Beach
The second photo, looking west, was taken twenty minutes later at 4:26 PM. Of course the clouds to the west were already starting to show up when I took the earlier photo but they were moving to the south at a pretty good pace. In the distance in this photo, just beyond the high rise at the end of the island, it’s already raining. As the clouds moved out and covered more of the island, most people moved back inside. Some, like me, stayed out to watch the clouds until the rain started coming down. At that point, there were lightning strikes within a mile, so it seemed like a good idea to be off the beach.
It rained very hard for a while. When it had passed, Cathy, Dorothy and I walked east to the pier and back, enjoying a quite spectacular sunset.
Categories: Travel
Tags: Beach, Clouds, Ocean Isle, Ocean Isle Beach, OIB, Storm Clouds
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The Family
The Family
On thing we try to do every time we go to the beach is take a family photo. Some years there have been fewer, a few years there have been more. We’re actively missing Albert and Ralph, of course. And for years, Dorothy’s friend Karlee came with us. But we also have the three little ones and this is Eloise’s first time at the beach. After two summers without a beach trip, it was great to be able to be together this year. We’re also thankful for David driving across the country to stay here with his (and Cathy’s) mom while we were away. It didn’t end up being exactly what he had expected but he took it all in stride, as he usually does.
Starting at the back, left to right, we have Cathy, Dorothy, Tsai-Hong, Eloise, Seth, Steve, Silas, Iris, Kai, Maya, George, Dot, Danna, Carmela, and yours truely.
Willet (Tringa semipalmata)
Willet (Tringa semipalmata)
We walked on the beach at the east end of the island this morning. It was a clear day with very bright sun so I wore a hat and shirt and put sunscreen on exposed skin. We looked for shells but didn’t find many. Past years have been good for shell-hunting but there don’t seem to be as many this year. That means that the beach is almost pure sand, which in general isn’t a bad thing. But it’s one less thing for us to do. We saw a few sandpipers as we walked including this willet (Tringa semipalmata). They are very distinctive birds and quite common on the beaches of North Carolina.
Categories: Creatures
Tags: Beach, Birds, North Carolina, Shore Birds, Tringa, Tringa semipalmata, Wading Birds, Willet
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