Ocracoke Waves on Squarespace

This morning I got a little surprise as I reached for my first cup of coffee.  The overnight storm and delivered more water to our backyard channel than either Hannah or a recent strong nor'easter.

Yesterday my fishing buddy, Dean, and I had managed to get in a couple of later afternoon hours of fishing before steady rain made us head for the docks.  I had taken the time to scrub down the boat in the rain, but none of the weather reports suggested that we might be in for high water this morning.

However, living on a coastal river has prepared us for surprises.  We often get a series of very high tides, and sometimes we get very low tides.

With a combination of wind, water, storms, and the moon working on the river, it is hard to predict what you will see in any given time period.

The high water really is not much of a problem for us.  If we got another three feet that would be a different story.  The biggest challenge after high water is that dead vegetation and tree limbs tend to have floated into the river.

Then there is the other side of the coin, we get some very interesting fish after a flood tide like this.

We recently got to taste tropical storm Hanna.  Her visit was short and educational.  Given my experience on the Canadian coast with winter storms coating power lines with salt infused ice, I should not have been surprised by how much salt Hanna brought to the area.

First Hanna's winds blew straight up the White Oak River.  Based on what I saw our river waters which are salty to start with got a serious extra dose of salt.

We had a minor storm surge of around three feet.  From these pictures you can see the higher levels of water and the areas after the water receded.

My favorite clump of cattails apparently did not like the extra saltiness of the water.  I am hoping that the inch plus of rain that we got this afternoon might help some of the plants that seem to be suffering from the storm surge.

I was surprised to see that even the grass that was flooded seems a little under the weather. 

While I am guessing at some of this, there were reports in the local papers that most of the power outages in our area were not from downed lines but from transformers that shorted out because of the salt coating they got.  Apparently some lines and transformers had to be washed down to remove the salt.

While the salt might not have been good for our electrical service or some of the plants, my guess is that it helped with the fish in the river.  I'm looking forward to see if the extra dose of salt has improved the early fall fishing which is still pretty slow.

The cattails and the grass weren't the only casualties of the storm.  I think my tomato plants got beaten to death by the winds.  Shortly after the storm they looked like they had been frosted.

I never would have guessed that a wind storm would take out my tomatoes. 

We  have been hitting the beach regularly the last couple of weeks.  We do not often go during the heat of the day for anything other than pictures.

Most of our walks take place later in the evening.  By visiting the beach regularly we get to see the beach community at its peak and when most people are cleaning up for dinner.

It occurs to me that mostly we see isolated communities on the beach with little interaction similar to the picture in the post.  I can actually remember going to the beach and looking forward to meeting new people.  We often stayed in a small home a block or so from the beach.  It was not unusal to meet some people over the week.

One summer I camped for several weeks on Ocracoke Island.  I enjoyed meeting people from different areas. I am sure there is interaction still going on between those isolated beach communities but I doubt it like what we had when we were kids.

Some of the families we see on the beach have their whole extended families with them.  The beach time is family time. Often it is the only time that cousins and family members get to play together.  In our case we looked forward to meeting new people at the beach because we were tired of haning out with the same relatives all the time.

I guess it is just a sigh of the times that beach time has become family time.  It makes sense since families are so geographically dispersed.  I am sure mixing still happens at the young adult level.  My youngest daughter found the love of her life in a beach trip.

The beach isn't a bad place to get to know someone.  Of course I think the beach is a great place to live so I am a little biased.

Here are some photos of our most recent perfect day at the beach.  The good news is that the water is warm down our way and the people are very friendly.

Most of us are attracted to the ocean for some unknown reason.  People have guessed that we love the ocean because we came from it or because the sounds remind us of the womb.

I think the ocean is special to us because it wipes our minds clean.  Somehow when I walk the beaches, all my worries disappear.  I get lost in the waves, the warm water, and the blue horizon.

When I walk a trail in the woods, there always an end to the trail.  I have never gotten to the end of the beach.  There is always more sand in front of me.

While we live in a very modern world, taking off your shoes or sandals and walking with bare feet and touching the wet sand puts us back in touch with the earth.  When I take the plunge and go into the warm ocean waters, it is pretty easy to forget that next deadline or challenge that I have to face.

I get focused on the waves and little else.  The ocean is a special spot.  I feel blessed to live along the Southern Outer Banks where I can be on the beach in ten minutes.

June and July here on the beach have been a great time. Last month we had a great time boating and this month day after day we keep enjoying the area and its events.  However, as wonderful as all those things are, it is still the beach and that connection to the sea that makes the area special.

The best news is that we are on the down slope of crowds. In six or seven weeks the beach reverts back to locals.  We manage to enjoy it with the tourists, but it gets even easier as the crowds head back to the cities.

Baby ShrimpIt is amazing to live on the coast like we do.

Raymond's gut the body of water which leads to the canal behind our home at the coast is an amazing nursery for a variety of coastal life.

We often see its surface boiling with new life.

The juvenile shrimp which were caught in a cast net on last Thursday night are just part of the story.

That same morning we caught a baby Flounder and a baby spot.  We also caught some finger mullet.  I've caught small Menhadden on my fly rod.

We are entertained all the time by jumping mullet who often leap out of the water for no apparent reason other than they like doing it.  Most of them do it for three times before they quit.

Then there are the blue crabs.  Some nights my single trap brings up three or four.  Of course they may be the same three or four since my wife refuses to let me eat "our neighborhood crabs" since they have little crab families.

Finally there are the millions of Fiddler Crabs which inhabit the banks of the inlet.  At low tide they are a scurrying multitude.

I am happy to live in spot where the water is clean enough that marine life thrives.  Those bags of styrofoam pellets that CAMA required me to bury behind my driveway to filter the water from the driveway look like pretty good investments at this point.

The Carolina coast near Swansboro and Emerald Isle is a really special spot.  On top of that our home in Bluewater Cove is unique among the many communities on the White Oak River. The water access that we have in a beautiful setting is unparalleled.

It is a great spot to live, and I am happy to report that summer in Bluewater Cove has been very busy both in the nursery behind our home and for us humans who get to enjoy watching the pageant of life along the coast.

Sometimes the setting for watching the show is pretty spectacular.