The late sleepers awake and get right to the blog. Our plan is to work first and then by early afternoon be down at the beach. We need coffee, tea and some type of pastry to fuel our plan. Dave throws on some shorts and has the task of locating such goods. He walks down the promenade where the night before we saw a busy restaurant - it’s closed. His best guess is to cross the bridge into town and luckily just over the bridge there was an open cafe. The bakery items are chosen, and the take-away caffeine drinks are ordered, but only one guy is working and there are several orders ahead - so, he waits. There is a couple in line speaking English so naturally Dave asks them where they are from. The woman lives here in San Sebastián and her boyfriend is from Holland (it is not known why they are speaking to each other in English?). They ask Dave about the political T-shirt he is wearing. It opens up a twenty minute discussion about world politics. This isn't a problem because the guy making the drinks seems to be having difficulty. They want my thoughts about the US election and Donald Trump. The discussion turns to Brexit and then to the whole European Union. In their view, the EU is not working either. They explain that it lifts up a small country by giving them more trade options but later on the union takes more than it gives. The money is apparently controlled by politicians in Brussels that don't understand the actual needs of each individual country and how the money is distributed doesn't always work as planned. We all agree that things are getting crazy around the world and people need to build bridges for connection not walls to keep the so called “enemy” out. (Are you listening Mr. Trump? - our guess is no) The caffeine drinks are finally ready and Dave heads back to the hotel.
At 13:30 we are outside sporting swim suits under our clothes. We look at several outdoor cafe's on the way but cannot decide on one so we continue onward. At the beach there is a big hotel at the peak of the cresent-shaped boardwalk with tables outside and a great view. A table opens up so we sit and place our order. We share a salad and pizza. It was good but the four cheese pizza with walnuts has a little goat cheese in it that Monique truly dislikes. She focuses more on the salad and Dave nearly finishes the pizza. There is a small trunk show inside the hotel so we enter looking for some type of material we could use as a beach blanket. We find something that will work and it cost only 5.90 euro. Monique even finds a nice striped shirt and makes a purchase - she tossed a couple shirts and needed a replacement. Then down the stairs to the sand and water.
We pick our spot in the sand and relax in the sun. There is a thin overcast of clouds which works in our favor. It is hot but not roasting chicken hot. The Mediterranean water is warm and there is a lot to look at. Quite a few of the woman are topless, which Dave doesn't mind, and there are a lot of naked kids running around. The beach is busy and the people provide plenty of entertainment. Monique starts making a turtle in the sand. Dave joins in to dig a hole below to add turtle eggs. A big wave comes in and we notice the tide is rising and rising fast. We both work hard to build a retaining wall with areas to channel the water away - at least long enough to get some photos. It works for about 15 minutes but the tide waits for no one. Monique gets a picture as the ocean reclaims the sand and our turtle. We are forced to move up the beach four or five more times to avoid the rising water.
After we finish the bottle of wine we brought from Barcelona a decision must be made - should we stay or should we go? We both decide this laziness is hard to beat. The problem we have is we need food and more drinks so we walk inland to find a grocery store and pick up meat, cheese, crackers, fruit, a couple of cold beers and another bottle of wine. We return to the beach and choose a new position.
We swim, eat and watch the sun go down as the beach crowd thins out on this Sunday night. It is a magical place. We continue to swim in the dark when all of a sudden the large lights turn on lighting up the whole beach. We forgot that last night when we arrived it looked like this. It changes the mood but we adapt and continue to swim. A couple jumps in right by Dave and a big wave takes the woman's glasses off. She is upset and we all try to find them using our feet. The waves win and she learns a good lesson about the ocean. They leave and we stay on. A couple of guys arrive with their metal detectors searching for treasure - we guess they will find it. The tide starts receding at an amazing rate. We believe we will be lucky and find the glasses but finally give up. Time to go.
As we walk to our new hotel home we get off track and need to use google maps to set us straight. We are tired from the day and the walk seemed like it took forever but we finally arrive and both jump in bed. Lights out and snoring begins. Tomorrow we want to sightsee. We are thinking about a visit to the aquarium and also a visit to the fort at the top of the hill. This fort protected the harbor and has a the large statue of Jesus that looks down on all of San Sebastion. Another day of fun awaits.
You need to time your jet skiing just right - at low tide the river is so shallow that much of the river bed is completely exposed and the rest is extremely shallow.
A view from the sand couch - hard to beat.
The sea is taking our turtle, however we fought it off for about 15 minutes with a wall and trenches - just enough time to snap some photos.
Dave has the timing just right to body surf the waves into shore. Take a deep breath!
Thank you mother nature. The perfect ending to a perfectly wonderful day.