Beauty and Danger
Apr. 7th, 2010 11:08 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
keyan_bowesPacifica's pier extends a quarter-mile into the ocean. Standing at its parapets with the swelling waves below, it feels like being at sea. It's a place of dramatic beauty, especially if it's been stormy and the surf's high. In the evening, you can watch the sun setting into a dark sea.
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Sometimes you see a seal, or the fishers on the pier catch a small shark and bloodily gut it right there, or land a small manta ray. Seagulls stop by to check out the action. Pacifica's a coastal town, just south of San Francisco. Accessible and unpretentious, it's one of my favorite places to walk during allergy season - the onshore breeze smells of brine, not pollen.
It has easy parking, hiking trails, a flat beach with waves to splash around in. On sunny days (not frequent, because it's in the Fog Belt), the whole place is very popular among families. Dog-owners often let their dogs off -leash to romp. But this beach isn't on the bay, it's the Pacific Ocean out there, with large waves and an unpredictable undertow. Only last month two people died on the beach in the picture below: a young man who went into the water with his friends, and didn't come out; and a woman who tried to rescue her sea-captured dog. The dog survived, but she didn't.
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In writing, beauty and danger go together so often they're almost a cliche. In real life, it's just terribly sad and hard to think about.
...Sometimes you see a seal, or the fishers on the pier catch a small shark and bloodily gut it right there, or land a small manta ray. Seagulls stop by to check out the action. Pacifica's a coastal town, just south of San Francisco. Accessible and unpretentious, it's one of my favorite places to walk during allergy season - the onshore breeze smells of brine, not pollen.
It has easy parking, hiking trails, a flat beach with waves to splash around in. On sunny days (not frequent, because it's in the Fog Belt), the whole place is very popular among families. Dog-owners often let their dogs off -leash to romp. But this beach isn't on the bay, it's the Pacific Ocean out there, with large waves and an unpredictable undertow. Only last month two people died on the beach in the picture below: a young man who went into the water with his friends, and didn't come out; and a woman who tried to rescue her sea-captured dog. The dog survived, but she didn't.
...In writing, beauty and danger go together so often they're almost a cliche. In real life, it's just terribly sad and hard to think about.
