The beach is our happy place. In our smallest cells and deepest souls, we feel at home at the water’s edge. Perhaps something primal, some echo of our earliest ancestors, stirs within us.
A great equalizer, the beach pays no heed to age, gender, education, occupation, appearance, income or politics. Discriminating against no one, the sun sparkles. The waves tumble. The sand welcomes.
From near and far, beach-goers arrive with stuff—lots of it: oversized umbrellas, volleyballs, pails, shovels and copious amounts of food. The beach’s soundtrack, a mix of percussive waves, blaring foghorns and cawing gulls, drifts through the air.
Fewer bikinis and Hawaiian shirts appear in foggy, wind-whipped Northern California than on SoCal’s sun-kissed shores. Yet amid shapeless hoodies and sweatshirts, I’ve seen a bride on horseback; women in burkas and saris; men in tuxes and tunics; toddlers in nothing at all, coated with sand like sugar cookies.
Suitors serenade sweethearts with guitars and ukuleles. Gymnasts cartwheel. Dancers pirouette. Yogis meditate. Beachcombers scour the waterline for shells and sea glass. Others swim, boogie-board, throw frisbees, take selfies, walk dogs (and the occasional llama) or simply stare at the hypnotic view.
As a day progresses, beach-inspired marvels appear. Master builders heave driftwood into makeshift shelters.
Artisans-in-sand fashion castles worthy of a mermaid princess.
High above a giant octopus unfurls its tentacles.
Closer to earth, bubble-makers float translucent tubes of light that shimmer in mid-air.
My favorite time at the beach is early morning, before a single human foot presses into the sand. The sky shakes off its foggy coverlet. The waves flex and stretch. Sandpipers tango with the tide. The horizon dissolves in shades of softest blue, as sea, sky and earth embrace
“There is no wider panorama than what we see when we look outward from the beach,” Wallace J. Nichols wrote in Blue Mind, the pioneering book that showcased the science of water’s beneficial effects. “Walk along the water. Move across its surface. Get under it. Sit in it. Leap into it. Listen to it. Touch the water…Fall more in love with water in all its shapes, colors and forms. Let it heal you and make you a better, stronger version of yourself. You need water. And water needs you now.”
It certainly does. As cliffs erode, sea levels rise and climate change accelerates, the scalloped frills at the continents’ rims are disappearing. The future of the beaches that have soothed and shaped our souls depends on us. Now is the time to translate love into commitment.
Show your gratitude. Tread lightly. Leave no trash behind. Volunteer. Speak out for fragile wetlands. Support local and global conservation organizations. Every restored marsh, every beach cleanup, every protected stretch of shoreline is a gift to the those who will one day dash into the surf as joyfully as we once did. Teach the next generation to cherish the places that remind us that we are part of something far greater than ourselves.
In small but essential ways, protecting our beaches protects a fundamental part of who we are– one people living together on a beautiful blue planet.
