Thursday, July 27, 2017

Foggy beach walk

I love a sunrise walk on the beach, but we had many days of fog during my recent time on Cape Cod.

The beach has become far shorter due to the recent break south of the Chatham Lighthouse in March this year. It used to be about 90 minutes round trip, now is under half that. The shoreline shown by Google Maps does NOT come very close to that shown by their satellite view (internet)...
which does not come close to the android Google Maps satellite (shows the March break), And no, I did not park there, merely marked it as the end of the dry sand so I could check the beach extension on my next visit.
which does not come very close to reality: geologic time runs very very fast on the barrier beaches: chart-makers throw up their hands and simply print "Use Local Knowledge".


As one walks down the beach, the sound of the waves that make their way in from the ocean becomes louder and louder, a gentle susurrus.
After a few minutes, eye-glasses become unusable as the gathering minuscule droplets of water make seeing foggy, then impossible. The dark grayness of twilight lightens to a pinkness, telling one that the sun is, indeed, rising.
And sometimes the gray will close in again and sometimes it will clear away and leave behind a glorious sunrise.

The most recent time I walked, I photographed razor clams.

I have never before found them sitting partly exposed, but this seems to be the way things are at this particular break in the beach. Most curious. I usually can collect one every few minutes, but could collect a few per minute here.

Is the sand too dry for them to burrow down? Is it too unstable for them to maintain a burrow they can slip down easily and does burrowing through sand frequently take too much energy? Curious.


What to do when the beach is gray?
Go ahead, walk there anyway!


3 comments:

  1. Such a lovely description! I was so sorry to see the break in Chatham beach. It felt strange to turn back after a short jaunt. It used to seem infinite! I did love the beach construction you started.

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  2. I can hardly believe about the razor clams. we were in Spain earlier this year where they were a beloved delicacy.

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    1. I believe they are now the most valuable shellfish catch on Cape Cod, most going to fancy restaurants in NYC and elsewhere.

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