Bethany Beach Romantic Getaway 2013

I have spent the last few months (or the last year) expressing to Ryan how much I missed watching the waves and being on the beach.  I know that it's been over 10 years ago since we've been in Majuro, but when you're able to see the waves everyday it kind of sticks with you.  I asked Ryan if we could go for a day visit to the ocean just so that I could watch the waves, but I didn't want to go to Ocean City.  I didn't want to go for the commercialism, but rather just the water.  Well, we received the biggest blessing when a dear friend blessed us with a weekend getaway to Bethany Beach.  What an experience!  I got the waves and more!  Here are just some of the pictures of this blessed and memorable trip.

This was from our first day.  Coming down the boardwalk (I told Ryan that my blessing was just down the hill) and I was so excited.  I may have actually had a few happy tears in my eyes when I saw the waves.

 

I knew that I needed to get in the ocean.  It was very cold, but I couldn't stay away. 

 

The seagulls there were so neat.  They actually had black faces and quite the personalities. 

 

 Here's some of the first few wave pictures:

 

 

Ryan and I saw this little guy while walking down the shoreline.  We were trying to decide what he was playing with, but didn't realize until we got closer.  Wow!  Well, he had a decent meal.  

 

Our first night we saw the moon rising over the ocean.  Oh my goodness, it was so beautiful and Ryan was able to capture some of this gorgeous light over the water. 

 

 

We had never used Ryan's self-timer on the camera before so we thought it might be a good time.  The first picture you can't see us very good, but it's almost a pretty good silhouette picture (you need to click on it to be able to see the detail).

Day Two...  I wanted to inch my way more into the water (seeing that I would be swimming in it later).  It was fun, but took almost an hour to dry off. 

 



 A couple of the treasures that we found on the beach.  A live horseshoe crab (we actually found a shell from another horseshoe crab later). 

 

And a whole shell that was still connected.   I left with quite the collection of seashells-I ended up carrying a plastic bag around to capture my favorites.  I was so happy.

More of the seagulls.  Ryan really liked the birds.

Closer towards the sunset I decided to go swimming in the ocean.  It was cold, not as cold as the Polar Bear Plunge water, but cold enough.  I got my share of salt water.  That's some strong stuff.  The pictures don't show it (thank you Ryan), but I had quite the fun ride back into shore by a wave.  I just needed one of those boogie boards that some of the children had.

 

One of the coolest experiences was being able to see dolphins in the ocean.  My favorite animal and I've only seen them in the aquariums.  We stared at the water for quite some time just watching the dolphins play in the water. 

 



 

We stayed up last this night, because we wanted to see the moon crest over the ocean.  It didn't come up until 10:00, but while we were waiting we had beautiful colors from the sunset.

 



Watching the moon come over the Atlantic:

Day Three: We woke up at 5:00 that morning to watch the sun rise over the ocean.  The whole experience was full of awe.