At the beach

It was around 7:30 on this clear Wednesday morning. I was laying on my back on the beach with my feet towards the sea. I was alone here. It seems no one else was interested in this place. I considered myself lucky. My arms were straight out from my sides. I was perhaps four meters from the waves. The sky was cloudless and blue. The sea where I had just swum was a greenish blue. The top layer was warm for a meter and then a refreshing cool till the floor. The bottom was sandy then seaweed grew further out. This beach is in a cove, small green mountains on either side. The sun was trying to come up to my left. I’m really white so this is the best time for me to enjoy the sea and beach. The sand is a light brown, not golden. There is a breaker wall 40 meters straight out protecting me and the beach. It wasn’t really necessary this day as there was hardly any wind. The waves were tiny. They gently lapped the beach with a steady “sh… sh… shhh… shh.” Crows were off in the distance crying “ahh, ahh, ahh.” in their guttural style. Cicadas chorused from both sides. They sang “mim, mim, mim, mim” nonstop, to the beat of a slow railroad crossing. An occasional gull flew overhead adding his comments. Great.

Then a sigh. Our breakfast was being served at 8:30. It was time to go. I took one final dip in the sea to clean off the sand then headed to our room to change. We were lucky with the weather this time and I also know that we will never visit Shodoshima Island again. I was lucky, indeed.