Barrier islands

Its a long view down this avenue of washed up shells! I've come to the Eastern Shore this weekend to visit my grandmother, aunt Deborah, and cousins. Sea people, fishermen, farmers, and old time homesteaders are mostly the folks down here. Loamy rich lowland soils, churches, and fields of soybean and corn marching off down the Delmarva Peninsula.

When I arrived my cousin Chris invited me out to the barrier islands with him and his family for a day on the beach. Oh, these long string bean islands drifting off the land into the Atlantic are so beguiling! Through maze-like channels of salt marshes flecked with wheeling white sea birds and past salt warped sagging coast guard stations now abandoned, the land mixes with the sea.

These barrier islands are some of the last protected shoreline on the Atlantic seaboard. They buffer the mainland from storms, serve as estuary nurseries for marine life, and nesting grounds for so many sea birds. Fortunately these days the islands are in permanent protection, purchased by the Nature Conservancy who has a strong presence here. Save for a few human visitors like us who wander out here by boat these spits of land are visited only by the birds.

Anchoring in the shallows on the low tide we set up some beach chairs, let the kids go nuts, and watch Daisy the puppy go bounding down the beach. Soon the kids were all running back to show me new found treasures. Huge conch shells still occupied, starfish, sand dollars, horseshoe crabs, sea sponges, and hermit crabs all lurking in the shallows. Along the surf line the sea spits up sand to create land while the wind whips up a briny haze. An endless treasure chest of shells litters the beach in fantastic shapes and sizes and all I can think about is how far the ocean stretches, squinting off beyond the blue horizon.

A deserted island all to ourselves. The perfect day for beach combing and sand loitering. The good life, sun kissed and half aquatic...