Beach Treasure

Growing up and summering in Wildwood Crest

My favorite place to be in the world is at the beach and I have always been lucky enough to live within an easy distance to an ocean and in the case of our beach houses, within walking distance. Until now.

Luckily South Africa itself has lots of beach being surrounded by the waters of two oceans, the Atlantic and the Indian, everywhere except along its northern border. Where I am. So I will have to work a little harder to get there ... but get there I will!


I love to swim and sail in salt water. I love the feel of sand between my toes and I love the smells and sounds of the ocean.

my boys & the green sand beach in Hawaii

 I also love to treasure hunt for shells, sea glass, pieces of coral, dried starfish and seahorses, driftwood, rocks and even interesting colored sand, all of which I collect. Volcanic black sand from Montserrat, olivine green sand from Hawaii, purple sand from Big Sur, coral pink sand from Bermuda. I have a sand collection (in storage) from some of my favorite beaches in the world. But before you think me completely mad, there is actually an International Sand Collectors Society. I do not belong to it but it exists. They have meetings and everything!

my mermaid grotto! It even lights up!

I put most of my treasures in bottles or seagrass baskets, framed them in shadowboxes or sat them on shelves or tabletops at the beach house. They were very decorative and looking at them would instantly take me back to a great memory or vacation.

Sirene, Stella Maris

Sometimes they became the inspiration for a craft project like this collage of a mermaid gazing at herself in her hand mirror made from shells, driftwood, seaweed, a skate case, and fan coral. My sister and I always had some beach project going at our beach house every summer! She is a very talented artist and I am a very agreeable assistant. Alas all our projects are in storage as well waiting for another beach house to decorate someday.







 

 In the meantime, the treasure-hunting tradition continues! When we were last in Cape Town, Vince and I came upon some interesting bean pods on the beach near Cape Agulhas. I brought one back to Joburg with me to dry and save. It is about 3 1/2 to 4 feet long! I did some research and found out they are sea bean pods from a river tree which grows mainly in East Africa and Mozambique called the Entada Gigas Creeper or the Monkey Ladder Tree.
 



Inside the pods, there are shiny brown seeds that can be round, rectangular and even heart-shaped. The seed has great value among African witchdoctors who use it in the divinatory ritual bone-throwing and other magical practices.

The Monkey Ladder tree is a type of drift seed plant. To propagate itself, this creeper drops its seeds into rivers which carry them down to the sea. Sometimes after years of travel, these seeds have been known to come in on the tide onto beaches as far south as Cape Point where is just where I found it!

The pod is so architectural and I love the warm brown color. I will hang it on the wall to remind my of the ocean while I am landlocked in Joburg. It will instantly take me back to the sea!