762 March 29, 2022 Beach Day

I walked the park road this morning.  I saw this deer standing in the road and startled another as I passed by.

Bright yellow splashes of wild indigo among the tall beach grasses.

We packed a picnic lunch and took the Jeep to the beach. 

We gathered some more litter…combs and razors and shampoo bottles and spoons and forks and flip flops and bags and mylar balloons and ribbon and ropes and fishing line and loads of bottle caps and all manner of other plastic stuff.  We have written before about how the gulf current brings trash from the Mississippi and as far away as the Amazon to the shore at Padre Island. It is a continuous battle to clean the beach. 

There are also seabeans here. These are seeds that drop from trees on tropical shores and in forests all over the world. The seeds either fall or are washed into rivers and then they find their way to the ocean where they are washed onto islands and beaches. Most of the seabeans on Padre Island acome from South and Central America and the Carribbean. Today we found a hamburger bean, a sea purse, a tropical almond, and a sea-coconut.

We sat for a while at the seashore, using the Jeep as wind protection.  Tonight, the forecast is for sustained high winds with gusts to 50mph. 

Tomorrow the wind is supposed to lay down and if it does, we want to have one last beach camping trip.