Sand Castle and a mouth full of sea water

A slight twist on the normal routine here at Dicky beach.

Dennis made breakfast for us before we went to the beach! He was adamant that HE alone was going to make breakfast and that I was not to know what it was. (Chris was out on a morning walk at this time. So he ushered me out the door permitting me a cup of coffee and would pop out and ask questions. Such as:

Where is the grease dad?
How do you turn on the stove?
Where is the milk?
Do I put the butter in the pan before or after I turn on the stove?

I feigned ignorance as to knowing the end result. Which was a pair of eggs over black accompanied by the serenade of the smoke alarm.

After breakfast it was off to the beach! For our sandcastle extravaganza!

Our first sand castle of the morning was made in more or less the usual spot. However we were an hour later than normal and as the tide moves by a few hours a day I mis-judged the speed of its rise and that castle was not long for the world. Here is a good time to explain the motus operandi for our sand castle building operations.

We build a non-descript tower of some sort which Dennis wants to surround with a water filled moat. And I want to protect from the ocean. The compromise for this is to build two walls around the castle and fill the gap with water. The trick is to build the walls to withstand the rising tide and to divert the flow of water back to the ocean into the gap between the walls.

Yesterday was a perfect example of the above. After the third attempt by the ocean to demolish our beast the captured backflow of water did not soak through the sand and instead we had a moat. Dennis was ecstatic, I was ecstatic, and yet I secretly wanted to see the whole thing go beneath the waves. Today I got my wish.

As Dennis and I were minding our own business making a sand castle a wave surprised us and we got all wet. At that time we had a choice, either move or build faster. We choose to build faster as I thought it was a rouge wave not the real thing. So we quickly built a wall between the water and the castle. That withstood the first onslaught of salt water. By the second attempt at breaching the wall we had our castle surrounded and were feeling pretty good. The water just eked over the ramparts so we quickly went to fortify the front line. While in process a large wave (this was the rouge?) went over and almost demolished our front wall.

Un-deterred we rebuilt the wall with gusto! The next few waves were held back and we continued to build the wall. An older couple came by and laughed at us, I asked them if they would like to help. Dennis took this as an opportunity to go ask his mates who were a couple of hundred yards away on the beach. While Dennis was gone I ceased my effort to save the castle; and four waves came up. The first just overcame our walls thus effectively lowering them for the second; which made the whole effort a shadow of its formal self. The third left the walls in complete ruin but there was still a remnant of the castle. The fourth leveled the walls and tumbled the castle.

Dennis and his friends arrived just in time to watch the fourth wave recede. The enthusiasm of youth kicked in again and we started on another castle on higher sand. (Think about that for a while.) His mates were called away and Dennis succumbed to the siren song of the breakers and we went in for a salty dip.

The water was warmer than yesterday (or I am just getting use to it) so we worked our way out a bit from the shore. I thought I was beyond where the waves break. Well I was wrong once again. Quite a few waves broke over my head. Tossed me about like a rubber ducky (don’t dwell on that image please!) and I had more than one mouth or nose full of water! All the time worried about my kid. How was he going to do with the waves breaking over his head? Everytime he came up smiles and ready for more. Yelling at the surf with glee! I was mortified hoping he would just get cold and go in. Well about the time the fourth under toe managed to kick my feet out from underneath me I told Dennis we were going in.

The sea, just to prove it is boss, sent two breakers that were able to push me underwater as I worked my way back to shore.