But it's been a rough summer for beach lovers. At least eleven people have drowned off the NC beaches this summer, and Labor Day is still two weeks away. Last summer the total count was seventeen. There have been five shark attacks (none fatal) on the NC beaches so far this summer, about average. NC's Topsail Island reports a sting ray incident every day, on average, and that's just one island. It's been a worse-than-average year for stinging jellyfish here, too, and that includes rivers and sounds — not just the open ocean.
Fortunately the NC beaches don't get seaweed often, but it does happen. I remember seaweed more frequently at the Redneck Riviera (Gulf Shores, Ala. to Panama City, Fla.). Today there's a headline "Toxic Slime Is Ruining Florida’s Gulf Coast". Ugh.
Truth is, when I'm at the beach I don't go into the ocean much. For one thing, I don't like the crowds of summer and it's less expensive to go to the beach between Labor Day and Memorial Day. The water is not so warm then. But I've had my own bad experience in the ocean: retrieving my older son, who was around 10 at the time, from a rip current. It was not a strong current… a good thing, because I'm not a strong swimmer. If I had to list the five times in my life I've come closest to buying the farm, that's one of them. Both he and I could easily have become sorrowful statistics that day.
Gail and I talk occasionally about moving away from Raleigh after both of us have retired. The coast is one possible destination. Or we might keep the house here and rent an apartment for six months near Wilmington. The mountains are an alternative, and our discussions are inconclusive. Watching 50 or 100 sunrises from the beach would be a lot of fun. Running a boat up and down the Intracoastal and the Cape Fear River would be, too.
But out into the water? No, thanks.
