the beach, at long last

After the humidity and narrow streets of the city, it was time for more humidity in the wide open spaces of the beach.

There's something about the ocean - the peace, the tranquility, the calm; the mixture of sounds, smells and textures; the tang of the salt air, the screaming of the gulls, the roar and crash of the surf, the sand between my toes. I feel cleansed when I am at the coast. And I feel infinitesimal. When I look out over that endless expanse of water, and watch the sun come up quietly, effortlessly, I realize how small I really am. And when I stare up into the millions of stars in the sky at night, made so much brighter by a lack of street lights, I understand that there is something greater than me.

Isle of Palms is one of my favorite beaches to visist because it's quiet, there are some nice restaurants, it's convenient to two lighthouses and one fort (Fort Moultrie) and close enough to Charleston that you can be there in 10 minutes. I took some great pictures of the sunrise and of the fort, which I had never been to before.

the beaches of Fort Moultrie

you can see how close Charleston is to the Fort - and why the Fort was built to protect it.

inside the Fort