Beach Hike

Recently I hiked a couple of miles north of my village to another beach area. It is in a gap between the large hill north of my village and the next town up the coast. Three of my students joined me on my quest to see what this somewhat secluded beach was like.

Surprisingly, it is a bit similar to the coastline in my village. There is a “river” (back home we'd call it a creek) that empties into a bay with a beach comprised primarily of rounded rocks. It is beautiful, but the rocky beach makes it unattractive for swimming. Plus, if you have a choice (as in our village), it is better not to swim where a river (and whatever it might carry) empties into the sea.

Just as we have in my village, there is a rocky point that juts out into the ocean, creating a second bay on the southern side. While ours has a broad sandy beach, this one has a ring of large rocks protecting it, and creating a “swimming pool” as the locals call it. There still seems to be a lot of rocks, and not much beach space, but apparently it can be a decent place to swim, protected from the harsher surf. In some respects, it is a bit like a big tidal pool.

The rocky point that separates these two bays is not as long or as prominent as the “L'islet” that I previously wrote about in our location. However, we found a trail that allowed us to climb to the top and gaze around. One of the boys took my picture of the edge of the seacliff, as shown above in the first picture in this article. There is a small rock island just beyond the end of this point.

For this hike, I just wanted to check it out and see what it was like—without getting wet. I came away convinced that our beach was better. I didn't try to swim there, but may do so on a future trip. It is just one more thing on a long list of interesting places around my village. I'm a lucky guy!

By the way, along the road we passed the incredible precipice that I had seen for the first time in this previous story. I'm still amazed at the colors and the details that can be seen in the clear water hundreds of feet below (pictures can't truly convey this incredible sight). Most of all, I'm amazed at the fact that this cliff is so steep that you cannot see where the sea hits the coastline below. I've since learned that some of the locals believe this site to be haunted, because apparently there has been more than one vehicle that has plunged over this cliff. I'm not sure that it is haunted, but I definitely watch my step when trying to peer over the edge! I suppose I could agree that it is hauntingly beautiful.