As the title says, I went to the beach. I went with my brother this Sunday for his birthday which was on the 14th. We went to Surf Side beach and the waves were pretty intense, as far as Galveston waves go, no rhythm just chaotic and choppy. We brought my brothers surfboards and we both surfed. It was quite fun, I caught my first wave* and rode it all the way to the shore, where the fin caught in the sand and I got thrown off the board. If you've ever surfed or know anything about it, you know how important wax is and having a leash is always welcome. Since my brother hasn't been surfing in forever, the wax on them was old and the leashes had gotten misplaced. Not having a leash isn't that big of a deal really, you just have to chase your board if you fall off of it. Wax, on the other hand is very important, pretty much vital, since it is your 'grip' on the board. Old wax is hard and NOT sticky, add that to not having a leash and you are basically surfing on a bar of soap with no rope. hahahaha. It was tons of fun though.

That was the fun part.

I went on a walk along the beach searching for shells after I got tired of chasing soap. I gathered a good little pile, a few of them perfect for pendants. I walked along the beach all the way to the jetty, where I started looking through the pile of shells that gathered at the corner of the jetty and shoreline. Then I decided to walk out to the end of the jetty, since I had never made it to the end. It's not that long really, just something I wanted to do. I was barefoot. The last 100 or so yards aren't covered in concrete like the rest of it, and the surface is heavily eroded from waves and time. It was very painful, and I wanted to turn back and get my sandals, but I didn't want to walk all the way back to the truck. I made it to the end through sheer determination, despite the pain and I know there'll be bruises on my feet. I made it to the end where there is a large stand thing that has a huge fluorescent orange triangle on it that I had to touch, like the flag at the top of the rope. I touched it, peed into the ocean(Gulf of Mexico), then turned around and headed back. I made it probably 30 feet when a wave washed over the rocks and knocked me down. Next thing I know, I'm sliding along the rocky used-to-be-concrete surface towards those same intense waves I talked about earlier. I stopped just shy of the edge of the top surface and the rocks that line it. Phew. I got up as quickly as I could and walked a bit further. I got maybe another 50 or so feet and got washed again, this time I saw the wave coming and kept my footing as long as I could, but I still got washed really close to the edge. I got back up and quickened my pace, but not too fast since it was covered in algae.** -After that I made it a point to watch every coming wave and crouched down and held the ground when each came over the rocks, sliding helplessly towards the ocean a half mile out from shore(maybe)along rock sand paper isn't as much fun as it sounds.-
Even when I made it back to the paved portion of the jetty I was still shaking and watching every wave as suspect.


*I didn't stand up. The waves break so close to the shore that if you can stand up you're pretty good. Since this was my first time out surfing where I didn't have to share a board I got to actually try to learn. There is a sand bar out a little ways from the shore, and if you can paddle out, the best waves are there, long ones that you can ride for a while. I couldn't and didn't really need to.
** It wasn't completely covered, that would have made it a no-brainer not to go out on that crazy shit. It had just the right amount of bare rock/old concrete/tiny spots of algae, which was enough to make me think I had traction. I think I would have washed completely off if I had been wearing sandals, since you don't get very good traction with flips.