The Beach & The Blue...

Visiting the beach on Tybee during a weekend isn't something I would normally do. I live by the Bull River bridge, which is the access to the one road that acts as both entrance and exit to the island. When the sky is clear and the temperatures are warm, the traffic of beach-goers tends to be heavy. Sometimes, it can be described as 'bumper-to-bumper'. No, thank you.  Not my idea of fun times. Creeping along in a long line of cars, to be faced with the chore of finding a parking space you are lucky enough to get. No, during weekends I usually turn my attention elsewhere.

This past weekend I decided to tempt the fates. I had added Tybee to my photography 'To Do' list awhile ago. 'Iffy' weather prevented me from making the short drive over. I have wanted to get some shots of the north beach during overcast skies, but the percentages of possible rain were high enough to make me re-think the trip. As the temperatures have lowered a bit below sweltering, and the skies have been clear more often than not over the last week or so, I bumped my Tybee trip to the top of the list.


My weekend was starting off much the same as the previous week had. I was spending more time than I would like in 'Insomnia-ville'. Up and awake all of Friday night, the urge to feel sand between my toes hit me. In the few years I have lived in Savannah, all of my trips to the Tybee north beach had been during colder months, when walking along the sands in one's bare feet is far from advisable. My urge to see the beach was so great that I decided to throw caution to the wind, and take a spin over what I call the "land bridge" to Tybee Island. The only caveat would be if the traffic headed over the Bull River bridge was moving slowly.  In that particular case, I would definitely rethink things.

I found the bridge to be clear of traffic, and made my way toward "my beach". (I refer to Tybee's north beach as "my beach", just as I refer to the park here on Wilmington Island as "my park"...I obviously own neither, but...well, I think you get what I mean.)


There wasn't any traffic to speak of. That was one obstacle down. The next possible wrench that could throw itself into the works was how full the parking lot was. The beach is located on the coastal side of the ruins of Fort Screven (that will be the focal point of my next photography trip to Tybee). They have a museum there, and there is the lighthouse across the street.  Both can generate some traffic. There is also a small bar of sorts on the Screven side of the beaches parking lot. All reasons for the lot to be full. Luckily, the lot wasn't packed. However, it was blocked off to half capacity. It appeared that a couple of local radio stations were setting up an event of sorts, and they were taking up a little more than half of the lot space. They were early on in their set-up process, so the event was far from happening. Everything was working out for me.

The good news was that there were people on the beach, but not enough to make picture taking difficult. Actually, it was nice to have some people around this time. Since all of my prior visits had been in bone chillingly cold weather, the only people present were me, myself, and I. I have been known to enjoy my share of people watching, so it was nice. There was a lovely breeze blowing, and the call of a seagull would occasionally blow by. It was really nice.

I stayed long enough to decompress, and snap a number of pictures. No one seemed to take much notice of me as I walked by snapping a shot of this, or a shot of that. Fine by me. I was just enjoying the day 'being out among them', as my father says.

I always enjoy photographing the breakwater. Lots of interesting textures in the rocks, and in the wet sand. I always find interesting abstract designs in the beach sand around the base of the stone barrier, put there by the churning waters of the tides.

There was so much blue. Between the wide expanse of the Atlantic spreading out and away, and the paler blue of the sky meeting the water at the horizon line, the various shades of blue were beautiful. The puffy clouds hanging in a line above the horizon were pretty, too.

The rushing sounds of the water created a meditative vibe. I was having a Zen moment. Very peaceful. Very nice. The sun didn't even bother me that much. I have always joked that I must have vampires in my family's lineage because the sun and I do not get along. At all. It appeared that for my visit to the beach, we had called a short truce. Well, a truce of sorts. That sand was hot! The soles of my feet had a slight case of sand-burn when I left. That is my only complaint though.  Overall, it was a nice afternoon.

On my way home, I remembered that I needed to swing by the local produce stand for some potatoes. For a rather small stand, they always have a nice selection of veggies and fruits.

Since autumn's official return is just a few days away, I was thrilled to see the big bins of pumpkins and squash. I look forward to my future trip there to purchase a carving pumpkin for All Hallow's.

Per usual, I took a few pictures while I was there. It all looked really good, but I left with the Vidalia onion and red potatoes I went there for. The end to a great and much needed outing. 

Until next time...