Joe McDonald
Holtizmeister
English 1100
9/19/08
Beach Observation
I went to the beech for my observational study. It was Kiewah Island beech in South Carolina. I was there on Saturday September 13, 2008. The time was one o’clock when I started with the hot sun right over head. The wind was calm with a light breeze coming from the northwest. The weather was beautiful. The sand was white with a hint of light brown to it. It was not like the white sand like the Caribbean though. I was sitting in a beach chair as I observed. People walked past me, kicking up sand in the breeze as they passed by. The air had a salty smell to it. It was right off the ocean. The waves were breaking right on the beach. The water was a little choppy but it was not too bad. The sound the ocean made was rhythmic and was relaxing. There were little kids playing in the sand. It was fun watching them play and make sandcastles. It reminded me of when I was little and would play in the sand at the beach. I watched them for quiet awhile as they giggled and played on the beach. They buried a kid in the sand. Some people were trying to fly kites but since the breeze was not that strong they were not very successful. There were a couple of people skin boarding. It looked like they were enjoying themselves. The designs on the boards were interesting looking. They had different colored patterns and shapes. One kid whipped out pretty bad. He landed on his back. It looked like it hurt, but he kept skin boarding. The beach was pretty crowded since it was a Saturday in South Carolina. The weather was awesome and very enjoyable to be out in. There was a game of Frisbee going on the beach. It looked like they were having a good time playing. The Frisbee was orange. There were also some people playing soccer. It was not very organized but they had some type of game going. The ball was white with some color design on it. People were eating a picnic about ten yards away from me. I could hear the crisp, new bag of potato chips being opened. I caught a whiff of the sandwiches that they were eating. It smelled delicious. I also heard the cans of soda being opened. I started to get board after awhile. I ran my hands through the sand. It felt so smooth. The sound of the waves crashing on the beach was relaxing. I started to watch the horizon line. While looking out on the ocean I saw two bottle nosed dolphins come surface for air. They went through the water very smoothly. They surfaced a couple of times. The sea turtles were in season, so you could see the nesting spots. We did not see any sea turtles though. There was a fishing boat probably about two miles off of the coast. Its nets were down and they were fishing. I went down to the water and went into the water to my knees. It was probably eighty degrees. Once I got out of the water, I looked down and noticed the sea shells that were being washed up onto the shore. They were in all shapes and sizes. Some were big and some were small. I collected some of them and left the others for the ocean. Then I went back to my chair and continued to observe. I looked up into the sky and saw some seagulls flying in the wind. It was neat to see them flying in one spot. It was almost like it was effortless for the birds to just float there in the air. There were people lying out in the sun. While I was there I noticed that they were being to burn. By the time I was leaving they were burnt really bad. I guess they did not put any sun screen on. It was really relaxing sitting on the beach. It is amazing how much stuff you see going on when you sit back and watch to observe.