Beach Comber From Birth
Growing up in Atlanta, I got to be part of that great American summer tradition, the annual family beach trip. Depending on the beach, my brother and I could look forward to between 4 and 6 hours of Wee-Sing-Silly-Songs cassettes, gas station candy, and fierce battles for control of the middle-seat armrest.
We usually ventured to one of a handful of beaches: Panama City, Florida; Daytona, Florida; St. Simons Island, Georgia; Hilton Head, South Carolina. Some on the Atlantic and some on the Gulf of Mexico but all had an abundance of cooked white flesh and thick southern accents. It was paradise!
I remember the thrill of the first palm tree sighting. My brother and I would then count the palms in growing anticipation until we finally glimpsed a flash of ocean between a Texaco and a McDonald’s. After checking into the hotel, we’d spend the next five days coated with sand and sunscreen jumping waves, riding boogie boards, and hunting for seashells. Often grandparents came along and sometimes aunts, uncles, and cousins. There was always a family putt-putt outing, which some of us took more seriously than others. Inevitably, the week ended, and we would say goodbye to the beach for a year.
I now live three blocks from the beach.
I can wake up any day of the week and decide to skip writing in favor of paddling around the bay spotting sea turtles. It. is. amazing!
My daughter has been going to the beach regularly since before she discovered her hands. The list of foods my girl will eat is short but includes white fish, salmon, shark, and tiny fried shrimp. Fried shrimp with the shell and legs still on them. The girl won’t part her lips for a carrot but she pops little shrimp in her mouth like chocolates. We frequently have some version of this conversation on Saturday mornings:
Me: “Should we go to beach today?”
Husband: “I don’t know. We went the last few weekends. I think she might be getting tired of it.”
Me: “Hey Little Bit, do you want to go to the beach?”
Kid: “No, I want to stay home and play with my toys.”
Yes, my daughter will turn down going to the beach in favor of staying home to play with her Littlest Pets because she has no idea how lucky she is and no appreciation for the months of waiting that I had to endure when I was her age to get to the beach. Preschoolers!
Because of these different life experiences, my daughter will probably never understand my obsession with ocean-based hobbies, specifically that she master one or several of them. Some parents dream of their children graduating from the ivy league, I dream of my daughter being a competitive sailor or windsurfer or deep sea fisherwoman. (That last one is lower down on the list.)
Given the novelty (for me anyway) of growing up next to the beach, imagine my joy when my girl started swim class and LOVED it! She has no fear of water, which makes supervising her around the pool more stressful, but is an important first step to becoming a world champion free diver!
A couple of weeks ago, we embarked on phase two of my master plan. Stand up paddle boarding in the bay!* We went as a family and spent the morning spotting green sea turtles in the bay. It was a success. You can see in the video below. My daughter had so much fun, we all went back out yesterday and the heavy grey clouds and constant drizzle didn’t deter her one bit.
Watching my daughter yesterday on my husband’s board, leaning forward through the rain with a smile on her face, I thought “I just might have a seafarer on my hands.” At least I hope I do. All she needs now is a willingness to use sunscreen.
*If you’re ever in Vitoria, Brazil, I highly recommend a morning of SUP. We rented our boards from Loop. They have windsurf and stand up equipment for rent. The bay is filled with sea turtle, fish, and the occasional ray leaping from the water.
Oh my gosh your video is incredible!!! If it helps I grew up by the beach and I moved away and just had to come back because I couldn’t stand to be too far. My daughter is now growing up with the beach on her doorstep. Her daddy is a chef and he works in a beautiful restaurant on the beach so we head down most days and have a play while we’re waiting for him to finish. Sometimes she gets bored of it, but so did I when I was small, but when you’ve had the sea and beach ingrained into you from a young age, you really do grow up loving and adoring it! Don’t worry, she will definitely appreciate it when she’s older. I still drive into my hometown where I’ve been all my life and get breathless sometimes catching the view in certain lights. It sounds like you had an incredible childhood by the sea and so amazing that your family and friends would join in our your trips. I wish I had that excitement of going somewhere amazing when I was younger (I guess that’s the downsides of already living somewhere pretty great). I am insanely jealous of your paddle boarding. I can’t wait to take my daughter. `Thank you so much for linking to #whatevertheweather x
I hope the sea gets in her blood that way it got in yours. At the moment, she has a definite preference for the pool over the beach. She never says no to the pool. Like you, I regularly stop and notice the amazing scenery around us on just a regular old Saturday. Living near the ocean you definitely get spoiled on amazing views.
As for the paddle boarding, we started taking my daughter out when she was three and a half. She’s pretty energetic. A calmer child might be able to go out earlier but we didn’t trust her ability to sit still and follow directions before that. Now six months later, she’s confident enough on the board she really wants to paddle all by herself, so we’re trying to find a paddle her size.
How lucky you are to live close to the sea! We’re in Scotland, but are quite central so it takes a couple of hours to get to a decent beach! I’m sure she’ll grow to love the sea and have a fantastic sea faring career or at least hobby. I definitely need to come over to Brazil one day and see those sea turtles!
Thanks so much for linking up to #Whatevertheweather 🙂 x
She’s definitely still a fish in the pool! She’ll swim even if the water is so cold she turns blue. The problem is finding an adult willing to get in with her. We’re thinking about starting sailing lessons next year.
You should definitely come to Brazil! And if you’re interested in sea turtles, there is an awesome non-profit Projeto Tamar focused on protecting and preserving sea turtle populations. Through out the year they release recently hatched turtles to the sea that people can attend. ; )
Great story. I loved it.