waves crashing

So, I popped my ocean cherry, which is the totally inappropriate way of saying OMG I WENT IN THE OCEAN AND NOW I NEVER WANT TO COME OUT AGAIN.

I seriously had so much fun this morning, and we really didn't do anything. Katie and I grabbed boards and walked the two blocks from her house to the beach, paddled out, and sat on our boards for about 45 minutes. There were absolutely NO waves to be seen, besides the gentle swells that mark a calm sea.

Despite the water feeling like Lake Superior only two and a half weeks ago (seriously, we let the waves wash over our feet just once and they felt ice cold; twice brought on numbness), the water was warm. The perfect temperature, really. I didn't feel cold at all, even after an hour of bobbing in the waves. This is good cause I didn't feel like investing in a wetsuit.

We eventually ditched the boards and walked down to the swimming beach to try some body surfing. That didn't pan out too well, plus there were some creepy guys who thought a good opening line was "have you seen my swimsuit? I think I've lost it" while in the water.

Anyway, now that I know how wonderful the beach is, I'm going to go there every morning! My usual routine has been to make a big pot of chai and drink several cups of it while I sit on my front deck reading a book. I still can do this...but on the beach and with my chai in a thermos.

And now, 10 hours later, I can still sort of feel the the feeling of bobbing in the waves and having water crash over my head. Its surreal, but I love it.

Last note: the beach badger checkers cameth! What my made-up word means is that, as we were preparing to leave, someone actually came to check if we had beach badges. Since Katie's family has been in Beach Haven forever and since they all lifeguard, we were fine, but I guess I will be bringing my beach badge with me since its a myth that they DON'T actually check.

Fishing

I regularly eat seafood without really thinking about where it came from. I recently became interested in my seafood's home area because of sustainable fishing concerns, but I never really thought about the people who collect the fish. Horrible, right? But how often do we really think about who actually brings the food that we buy in the sterile market? It's nice to meet the farmers in the roadside stands, etc., because you build a relationship with your food provider, unlike when you buy it in a supermarket.

But I digress (and I'm also a hypocrite because I don't buy all my veggies from local growers, nor do I only stick to produce in season in the area, which is not very good).

Recently in the news we had a fisherman, possibly two, who lost their lives while trying to harvest scallops. Through that story, I learned that commercial fishing is one of the top 4 most dangerous jobs, along with firefighting and mining and other such occupations.

The Manasquan Inlet, where this particular sunken boat docked, is home to many commercial and casual fishers. It's a beautiful inlet and I'm sorry my first visit had to be because of that story.

They erected this monument to honor all the fisherman who have lost their lives to sea. People regularly tie flowers to the railings surrounding the memorial, often below the plaques commemorating certain lost ships. Within sight of the memorial, casual fisherman hang their poles off the edge of the inlet walls, fishing boats head out towards the ocean and seafood restaurants boast their fresh catches.

Picture this!

Something different for my blog: A picture post! I had a really nice Friday when my friend Kristen visited my island. We started Friday at breakfast at ScoJos...and I tried Pork Roll for the first time! It tastes like Bacon but looks like Canadian bacon. I think I like regular bacon better for eating, but I think Pork Roll on a breakfast sandwich would be perfect. Then we went up to the Barnegat Lighthouse and actually walked to the very end of the stone jetty at its base. It took us about 2 hours roundtrip...I wonder how long it actually is! The concrete portion is only about .1 miles, but I bet the stone part is much more.

Here is some of what we saw:

Here fishy fishy fishy fishy fishy.

An article published this week discusses that more U.S. women face heart, stroke risk. The article talks about things to help prevent heart disease, such as the two usual factors: exercise and diet. I struggle with both of those personally, but I hired a personal trainer at my gym, so that should help the first part.

The second part, diet, talks about eating more fruits and vegetables, whole-grain and high fiber foods and little salt. I find this hard because I cannot finish fruits and vegetables before they go bad. I wish I could go to the store and buy half a bag of salad or something.

It also mentions eating fish at least twice a week. This is another example of conflicting reports. Sorta. Women have to limit their intake of certain fish, such as tuna and swordfish because those fish have high levels of mercury, which may affect any current or future pregnancies. So I can only have one Tuna Melt per week, boo.

EDIT: And just now I read yet ANOTHER story that says the benefits outweight the risks: Seafood in Pregnancy is a Net Plus.

Living near the ocean, I have a lot more access to fresh fish and there are lots of places in the island that sell stuff hauled in this morning. This is exciting. But balancing that, along with knowing I need to watch certain fishes and also realizing that some fish are not sustainably farmed...it's a lot to think about!

Luckily, there are organizations like the Monterey Bay Aquarium, which has something called the Seafood Watch Program. Its goals are to bring awareness that some fish are not sustainably farmed--a fact that they say could eventually eliminate some kinds or even all fish.

They have guides on their website as to what fish are your best choices, what are good alternatives and what fish to avoid. The guides can be tailored to your geographic area and they will even send you free guides for your wallet or purse, which you can order on their website. (My former co-worker used to carry one around, which is how I became not only aware about that some fish are not sustainably farmed, but also the danger of high mercury levels.)

Here are some examples from the Northeast Guide:

Best choices: Clams, Dungeness crab and imitation crab from the US, Pacific Halibut, Spiny Lobster (U.S. Trap-Caught), Wild-caught Alaska Salmon, US Farmed Tilapia, Tuna (Albacore from BC or the US, Skipjack or Yellowfin from the US)
Good alternatives: Black Sea Bass, Imported-Farmed Catfish, Crab--Blue, imitation, Alaske King; American/Maine Lobster, US Caught Mahimahi or imported using a pole, Swordfish, Central America farmed Tilapia, Shrimp from the northern atlantic and canada.
Avoid!! Wild-caught caviar, Farmed Salmon, Chilean seabass, Imported mahi-mahi using a long-line, orange roughy, imported shrimp, Chinese farmed Tilapia, tuna caught using a long-line.

And with that, I leave you with a favorite Sesame Street clip that inspired the title of my post:

History of LBI

I really like my local library. Its small, its friendly...I've always craved being a "regular" someplace, sort of a Cheers-where-everybody-knows-your-name kind of thing, but not necessarily because I was an alcoholic. So this teeny, tiny library in Surf City seems like a good alternative.

Before I got my MacBook (I love it so much!) I used to come here for internet time, but now I've been free to explore the bound annals (aka books). So I recently checked out a history of Long Beach Island. I learned it's pretty much been a resort spot for several centuries.

Interestingly, the first part developed were not the areas near the current causeway, or the pretty northern bit, but the southern end of the island, where Beach Haven is now. Since most of the traffic came from Philadelphia and it was the point most directly west of the city, it developed first. I guess after you've taken a horse carriage across the Pine Barrens and then had to take a boat to an island, going another 12 miles north in a horse carriage seemed unncessary. So there wasn't too much about Surf City in the book.

BUT I did discover that my street was one of the first bay to ocean streets (I use that term loosely) on the island. I wish some of the big, old hotels were still in existence, it would be interesting to see.

Modern-day connection: they appear to be tearing down the Quarter Deck Inn, which is the first hotel you see on the island. I suppose lots of families have memories of staying there, and it will eventually just become another page in the history book.

From the vault

Maybe its homesickness or the fact that I just got a CD of backup info from my old computer, but I've been spending a lot of time looking through old pictures. Obviously I always intended to move near an ocean, since I think I enjoyed this surfer dude costume the most. (I started out as Calvin, but when my Hobbes left the party, I started digging in my friends closet to make the hair fit many different costumes: Old lady, surfer dude, disco guy, etc.)

The first time I ever went surfing was three and a half years ago in San Diego, where I was for a professional convention. I loved it. I instantly understood why so many people work just enough to live, so they can spend the rest of their times on the beach. I still remember that feeling of getting up on the board after so many failed attempts...and I felt proud that I was the first in my class to be able to do it, and only two other people managed to stand up by the end of my class.

It's been a long time since I've had the chance to go surfing. Obviously, there isn't much opportunity to go surfing in Minnesota, though some real die-hard surfers have Surfed Lake Superior. And now I am going to be only a few blocks to surfing all summer long! I live about a mile from the original Ron Jon Surf Shop, whose stickers I always saw on cars but always assumed it was in California.

A co-worker of mine surfs, so hopefully she will take me under her wing and help me know the best equipment, the best spots, etiqutte of NJ beaches, etc. I think I will probably start with a cheap foam longboard (cheap is relative) because it should be easy to relearn on, etc.

It has warmed up here a little bit, just enough to think about surfing for us uninitiated, but the long haul of warm weather means the ocean didn't cool down as much as usual, and surfers (with their wetsuits) are still surfing in january. Though perhaps they do that year-round irregardless of warm snaps...