Dance

“But let there be spaces in your togetherness and let the winds of the heavens dance between you. Love one another but make not a bond of love: let it rather be a moving sea between the shores of your souls. “
Khalil Gibran

 

“Let your life lightly dance on the edges of Time like dew on the tip of a leaf. “
Rabindranath Tagore

Beaches: a quick retrospective

While I was posting the piece on Texas beaches, I thought about why I keep going back to the shore and why I insist of bringing Faye and the kids to the water’s edge. It wasn’t a mystery, really. It wasn’t some subconscious longing for some unremembered memory. I knew the beach for me meant family. My family and I had spent many holiday trips to the beach – Batangas to La Union to Cebu. We had a lot of fun frolicking along the sand. It was a good feeling to be with people you feel brave with amid this vast expanse of power. It was a good feeling to be with people that provide meaning amid this unrelenting waves of nothingness.

I remember going back to a beach of my childhood in La Union and I was surprised to see that it wasn’t the beach I remember anymore. The shore wasn’t as wide as I remember it and the sand wasn’t as soft. Do you have a beach from your childhood that you remember? Have you been back lately? How has it changed? If you haven’t been back, can you still picture it clearly? Did it have any significance to you back then? Does it now?

Texas Beaches

Texas beaches aren’t really famous. They don’t have the nice vistas of  the upper Pacific coast, the Hollywood appeal of the lower California coast or the allure of Florida beaches.  But there are over 367 miles of Texas gulf shoreline  and over 3,300 miles of bay shorelone from Louisiana to Mexico and though the gulf water is not crystal, the sand not quite white and powdery, and scenery not as world-renowned, they are varied enough to appeal to a lot of people.

There are undeveloped beaches here that are perfect for people who are soul-searching or just fascinated with the vast emptiness on the left, on the right and beyond. There are areas for wildlife and bird watching. There are beaches for partying and for crowd-watching. There are beaches that allow you to park right on the sand while some beaches have shower and changing rooms.

We have not explored much of the coast yet but here are some we’ve been to since we’ve moved to Texas.

1. Rockport - I got interested in Rockport beach when I read that they have the Blue Wave certification. The certification means that the direct stakeholders pretty much take care of the beach and the surrounding areas.   The beach is clean, has restroom and changing facilities, has playground and picnic areas and bird nesting areas.

Rockport

2. Surfside - This is the beach we go to most often when we need our sand and salt fix. The kids love the non-stop wave action here and love the fact that this is a drive-on beach and that we can park right at the edge of the water.  We’ve been here early in the morning, later in the afternoon, during peak and off-peak seasons and we haven’t had a bad experience yet.  My wish-list includes renting one of the beach-front houses for the weekend.

Surfside

Surfside

3. Corpus Christi / Port Aransas – I think that the further you head into the Mexican side, the better the beaches get. The Mustang Island beach, either on the Corpus side or the PA side is very nice. Port Aransas looked more like the beach town with all the tourist trappings. This place must get very active during summer and spring break time. We visited and stayed with friends from the Philippines during this trip and although it was a quick overnight trip, we loved the area and we’ll definitely come back.

Mustang Island

4. Galveston’s Stewart Beach – This is a very accessible beach and was our first foray into Texas beaches. The park features umbrella and chair rentals, volleyball courts, an outdoor pavilion, snack bar, souvenir shop, restrooms and showers.

5. Galveston Sea Wall – Went here early one morning to fish.

6. Moody Gardens Palm Beach – If you want to go to Galveston and get feel of the beach without dipping your feet into gulf waters, the Moody Garden’s Palm Beach is perfect for especially if you have younger kids. There’s white sand, beach umbrellas and chairs but it also has a lazy river, a wave pool and a splash pad.

Palm Beach