if you love big waves, the news of a hurricane can get you excited...
but, i realize that flooding is not a happy topic for the people who lose their property to rising water. while i type this, i am listening to an emotional report on the long term effects of the flood out in colorado--5 years ago. the devastation from extreme weather events, is serious, even deadly, let alone traumatic for millions.
that said, on friday, pam and i drove down to sakonnet rhode island ready for big waves. we had planned the visit with billy at 'rough house' on round pond, long before we knew anything about where or when florence would hit. his place is a couple hundred yards from 'rocky beach', off mill point, and a couple hundred more to a series of little coves on 'tappens beach' divided by giant rock outcroppings. the last email from billy spoke of the waves being "enormous"!
this is tappens beach mid tide, at a much quieter time. we were playing to the far right just out of the picture by those smaller rocks. there is a bluff off the far outcrop (its actually two giant outcrops but the furthest one is hidden) that people plunge off. i broke my eardrum diving there with a stuffy nose, years ago.
this time, friday's surf was indeed huge! billy and i spent a good several hours getting happily thrashed body surfing or on a boogie board at small beach. pam stayed ashore reading her book in the comfort of her beach chair. there was one other person out with us, which felt a bit safer given the weird rip coming off of the nearest rock outcroppings. speaking of rocks...please keep off them!
we went back saturday both pre- and post- a late lunch. while the waves had diminished some, the surf was still very big. i coaxed pam during the morning session, helping her get over the fear of losing her suit in the shore break--the picture on the left shows a wave closer in, and billy and i taking a breather as the tide went out. when i came in from the offshore break, pam told me happily how a big wave had whooshed her 'bottom' right off. she went right in on her own in the afternoon!
after the stimulating big surf and a delicious big dinner--thanks for the curry tracey!--we were just about to head off to a big night's sleep when billy turned on the 9:00 news: "Swimmer Dead After Shark Attack On Cape Cod." a shriek from pam, "noooo! i'm not going in tomorrow!" billy assured pam that the sharks were after seals and the waters off the cape were prime seal habitat. i was thinking how crazy it was to hear such a story after being out in the ocean all day, playing in the waves, looking for all the world just like one of those seals. but billy's best guess was rhode island had never had a shark death. i looked that up when we got back. don't tell pam but...
"According to the Rhode Island Department of Environmental Management (DEM), great white sharks are most likely passing through local waters on their way to Cape Cod...'White sharks do occur in Rhode Island waters and it’s not unusual for them to be caught in summer months.'"
tracey joined us on sunday and we went down to small beach for a last round. as we walked past rocky beach, even though it was high tide, the waves were as big as saturday's, maybe even bigger. we got pretty pumped. at small beach, billy and i dove in immediately--well, billy put on his 'seal suit' first--and stayed out for a good bit. when we finally came out, pam and tracey went and played in the shore break. they didn't seem to be too worried about sharks.
after a sunny walk over to the beach club and a warm up. i went back in for a final session, i didn't even think about getting bit, though i was out past the offshore break a bunch. life in the surf is grand!
when we went back to rough house tracey had lunch all ready. even though she was suffering from a wisdom tooth extraction that wasn't healing, she had made a quiche before coming over to rough house. it was delicious! we ate our final meal of the trip, talking about getting together again soon.
with or without waves...go outside and play!
but, i realize that flooding is not a happy topic for the people who lose their property to rising water. while i type this, i am listening to an emotional report on the long term effects of the flood out in colorado--5 years ago. the devastation from extreme weather events, is serious, even deadly, let alone traumatic for millions.
that said, on friday, pam and i drove down to sakonnet rhode island ready for big waves. we had planned the visit with billy at 'rough house' on round pond, long before we knew anything about where or when florence would hit. his place is a couple hundred yards from 'rocky beach', off mill point, and a couple hundred more to a series of little coves on 'tappens beach' divided by giant rock outcroppings. the last email from billy spoke of the waves being "enormous"!
this is tappens beach mid tide, at a much quieter time. we were playing to the far right just out of the picture by those smaller rocks. there is a bluff off the far outcrop (its actually two giant outcrops but the furthest one is hidden) that people plunge off. i broke my eardrum diving there with a stuffy nose, years ago.
this time, friday's surf was indeed huge! billy and i spent a good several hours getting happily thrashed body surfing or on a boogie board at small beach. pam stayed ashore reading her book in the comfort of her beach chair. there was one other person out with us, which felt a bit safer given the weird rip coming off of the nearest rock outcroppings. speaking of rocks...please keep off them!
we went back saturday both pre- and post- a late lunch. while the waves had diminished some, the surf was still very big. i coaxed pam during the morning session, helping her get over the fear of losing her suit in the shore break--the picture on the left shows a wave closer in, and billy and i taking a breather as the tide went out. when i came in from the offshore break, pam told me happily how a big wave had whooshed her 'bottom' right off. she went right in on her own in the afternoon!
after the stimulating big surf and a delicious big dinner--thanks for the curry tracey!--we were just about to head off to a big night's sleep when billy turned on the 9:00 news: "Swimmer Dead After Shark Attack On Cape Cod." a shriek from pam, "noooo! i'm not going in tomorrow!" billy assured pam that the sharks were after seals and the waters off the cape were prime seal habitat. i was thinking how crazy it was to hear such a story after being out in the ocean all day, playing in the waves, looking for all the world just like one of those seals. but billy's best guess was rhode island had never had a shark death. i looked that up when we got back. don't tell pam but...
"According to the Rhode Island Department of Environmental Management (DEM), great white sharks are most likely passing through local waters on their way to Cape Cod...'White sharks do occur in Rhode Island waters and it’s not unusual for them to be caught in summer months.'"
tracey joined us on sunday and we went down to small beach for a last round. as we walked past rocky beach, even though it was high tide, the waves were as big as saturday's, maybe even bigger. we got pretty pumped. at small beach, billy and i dove in immediately--well, billy put on his 'seal suit' first--and stayed out for a good bit. when we finally came out, pam and tracey went and played in the shore break. they didn't seem to be too worried about sharks.
after a sunny walk over to the beach club and a warm up. i went back in for a final session, i didn't even think about getting bit, though i was out past the offshore break a bunch. life in the surf is grand!
when we went back to rough house tracey had lunch all ready. even though she was suffering from a wisdom tooth extraction that wasn't healing, she had made a quiche before coming over to rough house. it was delicious! we ate our final meal of the trip, talking about getting together again soon.
with or without waves...go outside and play!
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