Charleston, SC

It was a weekend that would be difficult to put into words.   A time of rest and relaxation before the summer season at camp begins.  We scraped together our money and headed down to the beach.   It has been two years since we went down, and I hope it will be less to the next visit. 

We arrived on Friday and got camp set up before heading down to the beach to check  it out.

We were pleasantly surprised that the water was warm enough to swim in and not freeze.  Jubal, to our delight, promptly started jumping the little waves rolling in and got soaked.  Cool.

The next morning we hit Starbucks for breakfast and headed to the beach again.  Being fair skinned, we cannot stay out in the blazing sun all day, so we planned a morning of it.  There were small sets of 2-3 foot waves rolling in and no very many people were out.  I plucked up the courage and walked out to where the waves were breaking over my head.  As I was standing there talking to a surfer, a large fish jumped about 50 feet out.  Another surfer commented that it was a Black Tip Shark.  He said that they wouldn't bother me and that they were seen often.  As I made my way back in to shallow water, I told him that we don't have sharks in the mountains.  He laughed.

Saturday afternoon, we spent at the Aquarium.  Snakes, penguins, alligators, fish, birds and people. 

Saturday night, we stopped and bought some fresh Grouper, which we took back to the campsite.  I fried it like I used to fry fish when I lived in the Caribbean.  Salt, Pepper, and butter.  Simple and delicious!!

Sunday morning we headed back to the beach after packing up our camping equipment.  As we crossed the dunes on the boardwalk, we saw dolphins slowly swimming out in the distance.  The wind was calm and there were still some good waves rolling in .  I was standing in chest deep water, watching the surfers and dolphins and enjoying the power of the ocean crashing into me.   

I noticed that the water in front of me was swirling a little bit differently than the rest of the ocean.  Hmmm.  Then about 5 feet in front of me, I saw a long fish dart away to my right.  I kept watching,  subduing the panicked feeling that was mounting, my gut telling me that there was a shark.   Suddenly, about 15 feet away, the dorsal fin surfaced.  The 5 foot Black Tip was slowly making its way through the surf looking for tasty fish.  We watched it for about 15 minutes before it moved further down the shore.

It's gonna be hard to get up and get back to work.  Summer camp training starts today and it's going to be 12 weeks of controlled chaos.  It is summer camp!!

Have a great day.