Avoiding waves

 

East Beach. Wide open. We waved at a few people and dogs. (© image)

Hurried to enjoy the wildness, the big sky, the last undisturbed moments.

Perfect beach weather: brisk offshore winds, sunny, too cold for the college kids and sunbathers.

The birds curious, not yet in their summer’s avoidance mode.

Nothing adds to million dollar views like a tall observation tower.

Beach and dunes of Galveston’s East Beach now embellished or blemished, depending on your point of view, by new structures.(© image)

Only this isn’t a new feature built by the Parks Department.

Some people just have to possess it – even though it’s all free.

Put “their own stamp on it”:  Just move a little vegetation here, that brush tangle there…add a nice porch way up high, so we can appreciate it all.

Hey! They built elevated walkways – so as not to disturb the endangered turtle nesting grounds, the habitat of the smalls and birds. That good.

Besides a boardwalk is a much easier walk than a deep sandy trail. And no human erosion for the dunes, right? So much better for the environment. Not to mention better avoidance of sunning rattle snakes.

Building outside the protective sea wall? “Oh, what are the chances? This million dollar, unobstructed view is so worth the risk”…

Sometimes it seems Nature’s only defense against clumsy humans is hurricanes to shove them back.

The loud, carnival-like, old-fashion Entertainment Pier with rides and restaurants barely seen in the distance, but close enough to walk to.

Location, location, location!

Million dollar views.

Million dollar homes ironically marketed with the tag line: “Enjoy The Simple Life”.

Wave of the future.

A simple hope that the peace and quiet won’t be totally deconstructed.

Wild flowers, Firewheels, are happily flourishing in the tangle of brush under the boardwalk. (© image)

Galveston’s beaches cannot be owned. Private property starts at the dune’s vegetation lines…of course those can drastically change with wind and waves. While home owners are not supposed to plant the dunes in an attempt to protect their lot size, people are encouraged to repurpose old Christmas trees and stake them down which allows sand to collect, cover, and create more dunes.(© image)

The sand dunes not really as bleak and barren as they seem. (© image)

Some prom queen or bride accidentally lose her bouquet? (© image)

Past the waves, ocean-going vessels/tankers/container ships wait in off shore anchorages for permission to enter the Houston Ship Channel. Professional Channel Pilots arrive for the last part of their journeys. Not everyone is skilled enough to steer the tricky channel or to manage the famous Texas Chicken which is a maneuver two giant ships use to pass each other, one going in and one going out, in the narrowly dredged deep channel. Basically the Pilots take dead aim at each other’s bows until at the last minute they swing their bows starboard- in opposite directions. The delicate dance creates bow and stern wakes and the pressure created between ships and banks/displaced water lets them slide carefully parallel past each other. Fine skill and fine understanding of science, indeed. One woman pilot laughs “I did it 7 months pregnant. How hard can it be?” Article here (© image)

Blue afternoon skies. This back of the dunes plot borders our favorite public parking spot/beach access. Soon we fear it will be lined with a row of beach house balconies instead of wild flowers, prairie grass, Lantana, and bunnies. They come for the million dollar views. Waves.(© image)

Looking for warmth. For soft. For comfortable predictability.

Avoiding the pounding waves of humanity

Phil, the Philosopher Mouse of the Hedge.

 

---

Discover more from Philosopher Mouse of the Hedge

Subscribe to get the latest posts to your email.