Bathtub Reef Beach

Saturday October 17, 2015

There must be something about the water that keeps drawing us back in. I have to remind myself of this every time (previously) that I’ve had it up to my neck with cruising and living on a boat and longed for nothing more than an apartment in a high-rise in a big city with my feet firmly planted on the ground. Yet the water always drags me back, and any time I’m away for too long, I find myself needing to dip my toes in and stare off into the horizon.

This is likely why we found ourselves spending another whole day at the shore with Matt’s family as part of a vacation for all of us. Luckily, they must have the same draw to the water as we do, which is probably why Matt and I were so fortunate to grow up by the shores of Lake Michigan. So when yesterday came and the question arose of, “What do we do with our day?” all of us were ready to hit the beach.

Packing a cooler and all of Travis’ fishing gear—complete with his new prescription fishing sunglasses, which really helped him see the fish lurking below the surface—we made our way to the Jensen Beach area to lay out our towels and relax in the sun. Once again, we were nearly the only people on this slice of sand. It could have been nice and relaxing, but most of us had forgotten to bring any other forms of entertainment, such as books, magazines, or music; and people-watching was out as well. Cracking open a pre-lunch beer, Matt and I split it while watching Travis’ fishing pole clunk down into the sand every time he tried walking away from it. It was pretty soon agreed that we needed to go back to Bathtub Reef Beach.

After visiting a local diner for lunch, still carrying salt in our hair and sand on our legs, we traveled back out to Hutchinson Island and turned onto the now-familiar drive at the Marriott to follow the road to our destination. Just as before, we pulled into the parking lot to find it nearly full. There would be plenty of people-watching here today.

Now, don’t laugh when I say this, but none of us were ready to do anything more than wade into the water until we reached this protected little tub. There have been a multitude of shark attacks in the area lately, and we at least wanted to make it a little harder for them if they targeted us. Not only did we have to get past the reef and into the tub, but we were also choosing our ankles among many instead of a few. However, since we were no longer the only human food option around, we were ready to go crazy in the water.

As we walked out to the reef to do a little fishing, we were awed to see schools of hundreds of fish riding each cresting wave toward us. We were sure there would be fresh snapper on the grill that night until the lifeguard blew the whistle at us and said we needed to move further down the beach and away from people—a possible blessing in disguise.

Down the point and around a corner were all these beautiful rocks that ran along the water’s edge. Grabbing our soft cooler and all the fishing gear, we walked over the thousands of seashells strewn in front of us and took shelter in front of one of these large boulders. Submerged under high tide, we were able to sneak in once it had fallen and situated ourselves on the still-wet and worn-away edges along the water. With the waves crashing up and just touching our toes, it was an excellent little spot to lose yourself for the day. It was the perfect way to spend vacation time—away from the city and the high rises, just sitting at the water’s edge, with the water lapping at my toes as I stared off into the horizon.

(Above photos courtesy of Matt’s mom)