It's been more than a decade since the last time I walked in this shoreline. I guess I was still in college when I last stepped on this black sand and even after going home on 2020, it took me almost three years to really go to this black sand beach shore because most of the time when we visit this area, it's high tide but yesterday was different.
My husband rides his bike everyday except Sunday for his daily exercise but yesterday, I asked him if we could walk instead and so we did. We reached downtown, passed by the tire park, Matti played hopscotch a bit and then I noticed, it's low tide! Camiguin Island was showing clearly in the horizon, oh I had been dreaming to visit that island!
Anyway, I suggested we go down the seawall and walk in the black sand. My little one liked the idea and so we went down, found a few people also walking by but what's really amazing is the huge changes that time had brought to this part of our town.
Back when I was younger, there were no seawalls in this area. Just houses and the beach, there were fishing boats scattered everywhere and kids would run as far as the main town towards the end of the shoreline. My childhood afternoons were mostly spent in this place as we live nearby at that time and my grandparents live just near the shore, my father was a fisherman.
Looking at some kids looking for some sea creatures from afar, it brought me so many memories too as we used to do the same back then except that the shore when it's low tide back then was really wide and there were so many stones and corals showing which has a lot of sea creatures under them, we excavate the sand and we would find so many seashells which we would cook for dinner! We would find octopus and mollusk of different kinds.
I am not sure though if these creatures are still seen today. Sad as it may seem to be, change is inevitable and I understand that the seawalls were necessary because of the sea levels rising.
So, I am grateful for yesterday afternoon, for the opportunity to show my little one to the place where I spent my childhood days and I am thankful to my husband for capturing the photo of me and Matti!