Sunrise On The Island

 Growing up my family would always travel down to Hilton Head Island, South Carolina on family vacations. Year after year we would make the drive, and year after year my family dreaded leaving the place. Just about two years ago during the height of the pandemic, we bought a house down there and decided as a family to move out of New Jersey a place my parents had always called home and a place I have grown and lived in for nineteen years. Nonetheless, I was away at college for most of the year, and my brother had just graduated, so my parents had already kicked him out of the house. So, there was no fight on my end. I have spent the last two summers on the island, and it has been an adjustment, to say the least. I love the weather, but I hate the tourists. I know I sound like Edward Abbey when I say that, but I feel where he is coming from. But I digress. One of my family’s favorite things to do when we have visitors, if they even want to do it, would be to wake up early and see the sunrise on the East Coast. My house was a block from the beach, so it is a quick two-minute walk. This past weekend I was fortunate to return home to see my parents. My mom is a third-grade teacher, and my dad is always traveling for work during the year, so he is never home. But I was able to see them this weekend since they are not able to travel out for TCU parent’s weekend. One thing that my mom offered when I arrived was one, a home-cooked meal, and two, to wake up and see the sunrise. I obliged reluctantly because I am always tired when we do this, but I only had two days at home, so I wanted to make the most of it.

In the first picture, I am just stepping off the ramp onto the beach. You can see some of the dunes off to the left of the frame. As you look out into the water, the sun is already giving off bright orange and yellow aura that fills the sky. The sun is warm and inviting. Soft clouds drift in the lower atmosphere. The sand is uneven from footsteps and the tide from the day before. The water is flat with a small cascade onto the shoreline.

 

The second photo is right at the edge of the shoreline. You can see the soft ripples of the water. The clouds now loom not too far above us and as you look out into the horizon you can see even more clouds as they guard the edge of the horizon. The sky is a lavender color. During most of the summer, the water in South Carolina feels like bath water. It usually sits in the upper 70 to the low 80 degrees, the only problem is it is plagued by jellyfish during the summertime. This time of the year the water is cooling, still warmer than what the water ever was in New Jersey but still it is cooling down. The beach has always been my outdoor adventure. My family has traveled to a few National Parks over the years, but they would much rather lay on a beach than a hike up the side of a mountain. So, the beach was always our vacation spot. When I was growing up over the summer my entire extended family would go down to my grandma and grandpa’s house on the weekend. They lived about a fifteen minutes drive from Point Pleasant Beach in New Jersey. All my cousins would be there, and we would spend all of Saturday and most of Sunday hanging out at the beach and on the boardwalk. Now that my family has decided to move away from New Jersey, the luxury of seeing the rest of my family who remains in New Jersey every weekend has vanished. We are lucky if they visit at least once a year and my parents, as busy as they are, try to visit New Jersey as often as possible.

The next picture shows the sun peaking up on the horizon. I enjoy this picture because it puts into perspective how low these clouds look and are. You can depict the shape and movement of the clouds and the water and it is not something I have seen before.

In this final picture, the sun has finally emerged from the other side of the world. One thing I enjoy about this photo is that you can see the reflection of the sun in the water, almost as if it’s a straight line coming towards me. I like all these photos because it captures the beginning of a new day. There were some other people on the beach joining us for the sunrise, but it was a very peaceful and tranquil moment where the busyness and the hustle around us is not occurring yet. Nature is undisturbed and it captures one of the great blessings of nature because without the sun all life including natural life would die.