Sea water and sky water

No errands to run today. I was going to stay in my room to work in my business planning, but the people in the resort next door started singing on the videoke. To escape the assault on my ears, I went for a walk on the beach, my second walk since I got here.

I walked faster than usual. I was hoping to get a little workout.

There were a number of people on the surf - visitors bathing and playing with the waves, locals fishing and diving for shellfish. Some fishermen would crouch and cast a net when they see fish in the waves. Some would use a long net to trawl for fish as they dragged it near the shore. Some stood in waist-deep waters with fishing poles made of long thin bamboo reeds.


Trawling for fish. more pics

The tide was low and the water is adventurine green where the beach dips down. I could see several small sandbars just under the surface of the water near the shore. I figured there was a big sandbar about a half mile out because there was surf breaking there as well.

There was a lot of seaweed on the sand, but I also found a number of nice shells, bigger than the ones I saw before. I found a palm-sized one but it's already broken; I took it home anyway.

I also found a small dark gray snake in the water as I rinsed off some shells I picked up. It was about a half-inch in diameter and a foot long. It wriggled back into the water when I saw it. It looked like it was having a hard time getting traction and the waves were just pulling it into the sea with the undertow.

I stopped at the same place I got to last time and stood watching the waves. The beach is cleaner there, the sand is coarser, and the water is a deeper green.


Rain clouds and sea waves. more pics

I was taking pictures when I noticed that the clouds are getting darker. Actually, it's just one big long cloud, like a weather front. At first, it looked like it was heading north. I could see rain falling in the distance at one end of the cloud. Then after a few minutes, I realized the cloud had changed direction and was coming to shore. So I started heading back. I didn't want to be caught out there in a thunderstorm.

On my way back, I noticed that the back side of the cloud was pouring rain. The weather front came towards the shore and southward in an arc and I could see where the arc was because the rain fell like a soft curtain behind the cloud. Then little droplets fell. Then pelting rain with some wind. Thankfully, no lightning and no thunder. (I remembered to bring a Ziploc bag for my camera and my cellphone in case a wave caught me unawares, so they were safe in the rain.)


The curtain of rain heading my way. more pics

I was wearing my glasses and, even though I had a baseball cap on, they were getting wet because the wind was blowing the rain sideways. I had to take off my glasses so I could see better, although "better" is a relative term since I have a very high prescription and I only see vague shapes and colors without contact lenses or glasses.

After the pelting rain, the rain softened to nice big drops. It was still pouring. Then the rain let up a bit, although it was still falling. I got my glasses back on and wiped the lenses as best as I could with my finger. That's when I saw how beautiful the rain really is. It falls differently on water, differently on packed sand by the surf, and differently on loose sand. And, oh, it felt so good. Unfortunately, it ended too soon.

I continued walking. Most of the fishermen stayed out in the water the whole time it was raining. The visitors had taken shelter. Pretty soon, I was back at the resort. My stash of collected shells, corals, and stones have more than doubled since my last walk.

The rain still pours heavily in spurts. And, just now, I heard thunder....