Life's a Beach

Key Biscayne Beach  

After a slow start, we made it over to the beach around noon. Onshore winds had pushed the Sargassum back in, plus what we think is cold water dissuaded us from swimming. Clara made sandcastles and dug swimming pools for her new dolls while we sat in Adirondack chairs provided by the community center.
We walked south and found another beach access walkway, but the street-side entrance is gated with a punch-in code lock that we don't know. No signs said who can use it; obviously not us. I may try to find out.
We didn't see Ironbound, the 12' 4", 998-pound white shark whose electronic tag pinged that he has swum down to Key Biscayne from his Nova Scotia home. I guess just another snowbird enjoying our winter weather.

Sea Jellies

The breezes had also washed in baby Man o' War jellyfish and grape-like jellies that Clara collected and delighted in throwing down, to see them explode. She wasn't as enthusiastic at my encouraging her to pickup bits of plastic as a mini beach cleanup, but she did. Next beach walk, I'll grab one of the plastic buckets the park provides for trash collecting.

Weaving Made of Beach Trash
circa 1998

I know the ocean is a garbage dump, but there certainly isn't as much plastic washing up on shore. I guess it's all caught in gyres out in the middle. When the kids were little, we go to the beach and pick up bags of junk, then come home and make art with it. There were always little green plastic army men, glow sticks from long-line trawlers, and pieces of polypropylene rope. I especially enjoyed weaving, but we used glue if needed. Only artificial products allowed; no shells or corals were included. The goals were to be creative and to clean up the beach. We did collect sea beans (topic for another day), but they didn't get added to the art.

Beach Trash Princess