Friday, August 5, 2011

Back Beach, Bernard, Maine, July 16, 2011

There are THREE photos from this beach because I found such pretty things I wanted to focus on their details.
Feathers: Back Beach, Bernard, Maine; July 16, 2011
Feathers and stones and pine cones! And the day's adventures:
Beach Stones: Back Beach, Bernard, Maine; July 16, 2011
My daughter finished her scuba certification course this spring, and will do her Open Water dive in September to earn her certificate. (We're waiting for the warmest water we can get, because she is such a thin little thing without an ounce of insulation.) My husband, who is also a diver, and my son, ditto, agreed that she should practice moving around in a wetsuit before trying to dive in the ocean. The wetsuit is very awkward and constricting, and both of my guys hated their first dives outside of a pool. It takes some getting used to. Me, I am not a diver. I'd love to get down there with a camera, but feel claustrophobic in the mask.
 So to jump straight to the point, we went over to Back Beach to let her try things out snorkeling.
 It was a gorgeous day, 83 degrees F, a deep blue sky scattered with puffy cartoon clouds. We got there as high tide was beginning to ebb. Back Beach is a great place for stones - nicely weathered, rounded cobbles of granite and basalt. It is popular, but not over-populated. There were two rambunctious families with water guns and one blonde sunbather in a bikini who looked as if she had dropped in from some other universe entirely.

My husband and son helped my daughter into her wetsuit, which is quite the athletic process and involved a lot of screeching and complaints. It was an old suit we had borrowed for the afternoon, and was awfully stiff and rather too big for her. The water was quite cold (it usually is, up here) and apparently it seeped in through the gaps and chilled her quickly. They snorkeled for about ten minutes before she struggled out of the water declaring that she hates diving and is never going back in the water again. I think we need a better-fitting and more flexible suit. Why do my children's favorite sports require expensive equipment that has to fit well? Why can't they just play tag? At any rate, we're looking for a 7 mil wetsuit for a 10 year old girl, if anyone's got one hanging around.



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