Free Essay on Life on the Beach - Corpus Christi, TX

A journey through Corpus Christi, Texas is a journey through the “Sparkling city by the sea.” Thus, in its very nickname, the magical essence of this place is more than obvious. A walk through the Texas Gulf Coast is a walk through the granular, cream-colored surface of the beach lies carelessly as far as the eye can see, merging with the marine infinity. Nowhere in the world is the sand more pleasant to bare feet, protruding through the fingers with a pleasant prickling sensation, or water gentler on touching a human body, or the wind more melodious and more filled with the saline essence of water.
The sea is a marine surface of foaming waves, gushing at the beach. I can stand there for hours, just looking at the waves crash, while the grey gulls scream above the watery infinity, swooping down. They pierce the air with the might of their wings, their spectral shrieks filling my ears. Swimming in these waters is bliss. At one moment, I would feel a powerful surge of water, lifting me up, taking me as far as twenty feet, while all I had to do was remain motionless. I would float on top of the water, letting myself drift further and further away, light as a feather, throwing occasional glances at the sandy beach where I started from. On my way out of the water, the waves would try to pull me back in, writhing their watery fingers like octopuses’ tentacles. I would perch on the beach, and look into the distance, while drying myself off.
The sound of the water that breaks on the shoreline is music to my ears, while the gentle gushes of wind caress my cheeks, fill my nostrils with the saline essence of the vast blueness prostrated in front of me, and then disappear somewhere behind my back, continuing their everlasting wandering among undeserving humans. This is the music that so many people neglect to hear, like a faintly remembered song coming from the infinite depths of nature itself; the fingers of the rushing water stretching themselves, breaking their boneless quintessence against the sand, which thirstily soaks them up. The water really does have a sound, a song it sings, and it reveals the beauty of its arias only to the ones whose ears are delicately tuned to listen to the sound of nature. As the waves jump and play around and above each other, they draw white lines of foam on their own surface. The lines move more and more towards the shore, only to dissolve in the caramel outline of the darkened sand which greets the water. During peaceful days, the watery facade appears almost glacially pure, with whitened stars sparkling in the sun.
Back on dry land of terra firma, the sand gives life to several palm trees that are scattered throughout the beach and in its near vicinity. They swing in the soft, perpetually summery breeze, which fills ones nostrils with saline air of underwater life. It caresses one’s senses with windswept gentleness of air gushing from the very essence of nature surrounding the area, merging the scents of marine life, dry sand and the quintessence of the Gulf. The radiant sun spreads its rays like golden threads of warmth, illuminating the place with holiness. During a busy day, thousands of footsteps make their mark on the granular terrain of pastiness, where water meets dry land, but as it is always the case with nature, it never allows humans to leave a permanent mark on it. By the time the sun comes out to greet the cerulean skies the next day, the footsteps are all gone, eaten away by the sand, which opens up its mouth for another mouthful of busy feet, eager to splash and cool themselves.
The southeastern peninsula opens its embrace to reveal a seawall, called the Emerald Cove, and also the Alta Vista Reef is visible from this particular locality. Interestingly enough, the city marina harbors a replica of one of Christopher Columbus’ famous ships, Niña, while the two others, Santa Maria and Pinta, are snuggly situated at the Corpus Christi Museum of Science and History. This really is a coastline city that offers numerous attractions to their tourists, merging past and present, in order to teach and amuse.
On taking a walk throughout the northern part of the beach, one would come across one of the most famous tourist attractions of Corpus Christi, the Texas State Aquarium. Its aim is to promote environmental conservation of the wildlife of the Gulf of Mexico. They offer a plethora of underwater flora and fauna, such as the very interesting Amazon exhibit, with its reptiles and fish originating in the Amazon, different raptors, crabs, urchins, sting rays, sea turtles, underwater flower gardens and many more. Their cause is truly an admirable one and a worthy place to visit for any sea-life aficionado. The flower gardens are a reality replica of coral reefs, a rainbow-colored ecosystem functioning on its own, almost like a universe within a universe. Their various sizes and colors, orange, brown, blue, vermilion offer a soothing visual experience to any onlooker fortunate enough to witness their ethereal beauty first hand. They are so beautiful they hardly seem real.
During the day, the sound of people is ubiquitous, but if one listens hard enough, a gentle melody of the skies prostrates itself before the soul, hungry for unity with nature. The wind whistles in rhythm with the waves coming forward and backward, creating a musical piece of the highest order. This heavenly music then gets heightened by the shrill sounds of gulls, spreading their wings above the glassy surface, and piercing the air with their flying might. However, during the night, when dark engulfs the pearly whiteness of sand, and the trees still swing in the breeze, somewhat frighteningly, moving their branches and leaves, like long, bony fingers of a hungry man, towards the sea, as if desiring to embrace it. In dark, the palm trees become silhouettes that merge with the darkness of the water behind them. Only occasional lighting of the beach comes from several cafes, scattered along the coastline. Their aestheticism leans mostly towards tree-based furniture, little shacks of palm leaves, nurturing the feel of the entire place. The music coming from these places is usually mellow and gentle, completely in tune with the nature around it. The lights illuminating the cafes are torches, besprinkled around, floodlighting just enough space. Consumed in darkness, the beach sleeps, waiting for another morning of children’s voices, feet jumping on the sand and the waking of the sun.
For those who desire solitude to ponder and meditate, a simple stroll along either side of the beach, will reveal hidden parts, with water blue as the sky, where the line between the two is impossible to be discerned, where not many people dare to go. I personally prefer silence to an anthill of activity, and thus always choose a lonely part of this very long beach to speak with nature. There, I listen to the music of waves and the gentle swaying of the ocean, rocking like the cradle of life. If I look behind, I notice the ancient ruins, the only part of human civilization that nature allowed to be present in this heavenly place. The ruins, grand and perpetual, stand proudly, fighting the essence of time; a memento of an era long gone, yet present even now. They overlook the beach, leaning towards the water, and it seems that every year they get closer and closer to it. The trees sticking out of their crevices follow the same pattern of leaning towards the water, in an effort to become one with it. It is a stone and tree plethora, cut off from the marine existence by a granular surface of sand. Nothing I could ever imagine could be more beautiful and meaningful than this sight.
I bury my hands in the whiteness of the sand, feeling its everlastingness. Like the ruins around it, it will be here until the end of time, and this gives my soul a soothing sense of perpetuity. Maybe we as individuals can never achieve immortality, but once we become one with nature, we consume a part of its own immortality. Once I am gone, the place where I buried my hands will not be visible. Nature will forget I was ever there. But I never will.