Roll on, Deep and Dark Blue Ocean, Roll

Ten thousand fleets sweep over thee in vain. Man marks the earth with ruin, but his control stops with the shore.
~Lord Byron

Pat and I got a nice early start for our day in Ocean City, Maryland. We left my place a little before 0800 and arrived around 1100 or so. There was some big motorcycle event going on, but the beach itself wasn't that crowded.

The rain and the clouds moved out, and the wind moved in. It blew tiny grains of sand like needles against skin, and the sand filled every fold of fabric it could possibly get to. The air temperature, however was rather pleasant, and the water temperature was still quite nice. The wind did account for the inability to use a shade umbrella and the rather large waves crashing on the shore (large compared to what I'm used to seeing, anyway. I wouldn't try to hold a surfing tournament on them.).

After a little bit of shopping and some lunch, we set up on the beach. We enjoyed the sun and the sound of the surf for a while before heading into the water. It was very cold in the wind after being in that nice cold water. But, once we dried off, it wasn't so bad. At least, I thought so. It was a bit too cold for Pat, so he just napped on the beach, and ignored my insistence that he put on some sunscreen since the umbrella was unusable.

I went into the water again. This time, a rather large wave came at me, and I was unable to swim closer to shore because of the water going out. It crested right over my head! Down I went, and flipped all around, and scraped knees and shins and hips against the hard shell-encrusted sand, and felt my sunglasses whisked off my face by the wave. I wasn't trying to dunk my head in the water, that's why I didn't leave my sunglasses on the shore!


After a little break, I went back into the waves. When we arrived, there was joy in the sound of them. And then in the sand between my toes. And then in the water around me like a warm embrace. Even when I stood my ground as the waves came at me, and felt them pound against me like a great fist. Still, there is the joy of the ocean.

I did manage to get a little bit of nap in there, but mostly I wanted to commune with the water. The sun had just started to set as we were leaving the town. We only had to endure a tiny bit of traffic on our way. Pat and I agreed that it was a good thing we left when we did; before we got caught up in the biker traffic heading out of town.

This is a picture of a cool church that we passed on the way. I'm happy that I had the camera ready this time.