Off Season Has Arrived

At last that special time of year has come when the crowds retreat from the beach like the outgoing tide.

Or maybe not. The unseasonably warm Indian Summer (record temps over the past couple of weeks) is giving the beach a split personality. One day looks like the middle of summer, the next like the middle of January.

Although the folks who moved here from Up North (which is all of the other states except Hawaii) may complain about lingering upper 80s temps, this reporter does not.

Warm weather means more beach time with minimal clothing. King Neptune's watery domain is also still warm, meaning we enjoy an extended surf and boogeyboard season before breaking out the wetsuits.

It's a great time of the year for a beach cookout: not to hot to make the cooking a chore, and not too cool to make the relaxing miserable. Bring your grill, your osyter pot, and a half bushel of the little river gems. Of course there's always room in the pot for some shrimp.

Soon, however, Indian Summer will fade away. Beachgoers will vanish, leaving the beach to scattered mobs of seabirds and the occasional bundled-up beachcomber.

I love the crowded beach in midsummer, but it can't be denied that an empty beach has its own charm as a wonderously lonely place.