With my feet at the ocean’s edge, I feel that cool ebb and flow and watch my feet mysteriously get buried…and my problems seem far away. Gnarly trees standing firm, an osprey calling, a ghost crab peeking out of his little hole…all these gifts of nature take me to a quiet little sanitarium where I can focus on something besides myself and simply  b r e a t h e . . . .     The Delaware shores are chock full of such wonders.  But what about what I can’t see? What tiny wonders lurk in that water? Are bacteria and viruses sloshing around in that surf waiting to invade my family and ruin our vacation and maybe our lives???

I can rest easy at my favorite Delaware beaches. My Earth home certainly is not as pristine as it was in the Garden of Eden days. But as far as beaches in the United States go, Delaware beaches are among the best when it comes to clean water. The non-profit Natural Resources Defense Council recently rated U.S. beaches for 2013, and Rehoboth Beach and Dewey Beach were among the top-rated beaches for water quality. Of all the beaches on the Atlantic Ocean that were tested, the only Atlantic beaches that made their best beaches list were Rehoboth Beach, Dewey Beach, Ocean City at Beach 6, plus 2 beaches in New Hampshire. According to the local newspaper, the Cape Gazette, this is the third straight year Rehoboth and Dewey Beaches have received the 5-star rating from NRDC.

I am learning more about how what I personally do affects our environment--it's not just the big corporations or local municipalities who are responsible. And no matter what side of the political landscape each of us lives on, can’t we all agree that we like the ocean and we don’t want to swim in fecal bacteria? The people at NRDC have a list of things we can do if we want to keep the waterways and beaches nice for our grandkids, and it’s not just picking up our Coke bottles from the sand. Some of their recommendations are:

·         Use natural fertilizers instead of chemical fertilizers, and use native plants in landscaping.

·         Correctly dispose of hazardous household products and pharmaceuticals.

·         Use a car wash where the waste water is drained and treated instead of washing your car where the water would drain into the storm drain.

Jimmy Buffett’s, “Treat Her Like a Lady” reflects how we love the ocean and how we want to treat her with kindness. 

~Penny

Baiting my pots, hauling in a catch, and then steaming them up after a long day at the beach is awesome.

You might think staying in a beach front hotel is nice. But, you have no idea how much fun staying in a real house at the beach can be.

BTW, my kids and I are trained, professional crab eaters. Please do not attempt this stunt at home.

~Brian