Found myself in Avalon on Thanksgiving Day, so I decided to take one of my once-or-twice yearly walks on the beach. (You would think living here I would go more often, but it isn't often that you have the place more or less to yourself.) Didn't actually go far, unless you count the wandering circles I made as things caught my eye. Avalon has had
very good, long-standing dune policies, and a near-miss by a strong hurricane (or Nor'easter. Or both, as Sandy was...) really shows why the little borough goes to so much trouble to maintain a good dune system. (They even have old dune forest in some parts!) Other than a remarkable lack of the usual trash (not that it was gone completely), the beach I was on survived
very well. Sure, there's sand missing and there's a new sand bar just offshore, but it wasn't anywhere near as bad as I expected.
[Clicking on the photos should take you to a photo-scroll with bigger images!]
The ghost crab obviously made it out of its now-penthouse hole.
But did s/he make it back up...? It was a rather steep ascent.
Peeps (and gull) taking advantage of the protection from the wind
offered by new six-foot-high beach "cliffs".
Lots of shell fragments, lots of foam, and an incoming tide...
A braver soul than I!
(Dare I say smarter? It wasn't really all that cold,
and sand should be walked without shoes.)
