Spending a Single Day at the Beach Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words

Spending a Single Day at the Beach - Essay Example Located on Padre Island, Texas, the longest barrier island in the world, the beach area near Bob Hall Pier is unique in its ability to both relax and excite at the same time. This is because of its soft white sands, its range of surprising wildlife and an element of danger. The beach near Bob Hall Pier is first characterized by very fine white sand. This sand is generally very soft and very fine, almost like dust, thanks to the high winds the area often gets. This fine sand drifts across the roadways in beautiful, wave-like sheets that give the invisible breeze a face. Anything standing within this blowing dust receives a fine ash-toned coating. It brings with it the faint taste of salt from the nearby ocean and leaves a gritty feeling between the teeth. Because the sand is so fine, it causes no pain when it strikes, feeling instead like a soft brush of feathers against the skin. Only when the wind is particularly brisk does it feel any different. Taking a closer look at the scenery reveals all kinds of surprising wildlife in spite of the barren appearance. Seagulls are present everywhere, but the gulls here are called ‘laughing gulls’ because of the unreserved laughing sound that is their call. There are also sandpipers and other shorebirds stomping their orange stick-like legs like jackhammers against the wet sand trying to find the eerie white ghost shrimp hiding just below the surface. Sand crabs can be sung out of the ground and sit patiently listening like a human audience in an amphitheatre until someone makes a sudden move. Then these small, light-brown colored crabs scuttle quickly into their dark holes. The thick, green railroad vines make the reason for their name clear in the criss-crossing tracks they make on the sand and can add a splash of vibrant purple color to the beach atmosphere.