Beach Cats

My apologies, beach cat racers and hobie cat enthusiasts if by this title your search led you to this site - 'cause I'm not talking about sailing, racing or recreation. I'm talking about real cats of the fur and purr variety that seem to be populating the beaches of this country. There happens to be a growing number of cats I see roaming the beaches. I may not know if they are abandoned, stray or simply out on a walk, but I'm pretty sure there isn't any population control program for their kind. Not where the mass of human beings themselves are wanting in such service.

I'm just a bit uneasy at the thought that a female cat can produce 30 kittens in a year. And how many kittens can a tomcat sire wandering about and mating with any pussycat, and as many. Think how that number of cats can procreate and multiply. If left unabated, you can imagine how they can continue to reproduce themselves in exponential fashion.


As it is, cat conditions are already harsh if unsheltered and free-roaming. Most of them have made the beaches their home and go about freely scavening for leftovers from trash and picnic tables. More so if with their growing numbers, they have to fight ferociously in their forage of our beaches. Scrawny and sick cats will be unbecoming of our vaunted beaches.


There is a known humane and effective way to keep the stray cat population in check and it is to spay or castrate rather than to catch and kill. But this method seems to be a first world thing for now and I seriously doubt if there is any such program hereabout. It is not a bad idea though to adopt if we want our beaches to remain a healthy place where beachgoers and beach cats can co-exist.

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The Bees and the Beach

Let me tell you 'bout the bees and the beach. At the beach the other day, I watched these bees engage in a torrid and passionate encounter. I spared no time in capturing the moment on cam. Smack of voyeurism! Well, it isn't unusual to see lovey-dovey twosomes cuddle each other under shades of verdant trees or in secluded spots of the beach. The beach is by far a favorite tryst for romantic couples. But this is the first time I caught sight of bees doing their thing at the beach. Makes me wonder, has the beach anything to do with it? Does the beach have the same romantic effect on man, animal or insect?


I have no answers but this much I can say - how's that for saying here's my word of advice: Next time you feel like doing it at the beach be careful when laying down on those grassy mounts or be ready to be stung by busy bees. There's the buzz!

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Beach Anatomy

Have you ever admired a beach in terms of its anatomy? Ah, you won't even think a beach is some sort of creature with body parts. We can't be too technical about it, you say. For isn't a beach to be admired simply for its beauty and pleasure-giving capacity without even loosely thinking of its face or butt? Well, here's something to pick your brain.

Beach experts say there are many parts to a beach. But before I go on to that, let me just first try to explain in simple terms what to them is a beach. A beach according to geologists is a landform along the shoreline of a body of water consisting of deposited materials such as sand, gravel, pebbles, shell fragments or other loose sediments, caused by or set in motion by wave action.

Having said that, the parts of a beach pretty much have to do with the processes that form and shape it. The part mostly above water and actively influenced by the normal rising and ebbing of the tide is called the beach derm. The top part of the derm is called the crest while the slope leading towards the water is called the face. At the bottom of the face is the trough and further seaward is the longshore bar.

Now here's the interesting part. Sometimes the beach may extend up the beach derm if the sand deposits are pushed further inland and lie beyond the influence of normal waves by very large storm waves - thus, this part is called the storm beach. And the most wonderful part - there is a point where the influence of the waves on the materials comprising the beach no longer exists but the sand deposit and particle materials may well extend further inland by wind movement. Where the wind is the force distributing the grains of sand, the deposit behind the beach becomes a dune.

Lovely isn't it? There's beauty in the force of nature and wonder in the anatomy of a beach. Next time you go down to the beach, be happy, be beach savvy!

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