Sunset Beach

In Cape May, there is an attraction that, miraculously, doesn't include sand. At Sunset Beach, the beach is covered with ocean tumbled rock, many from quartz, and you don't shell there. You look for Cape May Diamonds instead. We visited for a few hours and spent our fair share of time searching for our own diamonds in the rough. First, Poppy gave instructions and then they went their own way, digging down to find what someone else might have missed.







There is a bit of history there as well. Out in the ocean you can see the remnants of one of only 12 experimental concrete ships. Yes, you read that right. Concrete. Ship. Made to float... But I digress. Apparently, this one was purchased on order to make a reef somewhere else but was pulled from its mooring and washed up towards Sunset Beach. No one was able to pull it out at that time so it has remained right where it landed, slowly wearing away in the waves. As you can see, it doesn't really look like a ship now, but it still makes one wonder just how the navy thought a concrete ship was a good idea.



As we retreated from the beach to visit the shops before moving on to the Cape May Lighthouse, Kayla and Jarryd came up. Both, obviously holding a small cache of Cape May Diamonds in their hands, looked at me and said "Now what? What do we do with them?" That is a question, isn't it? Now what? Hmmm... I shared that my Dad had a jar full of them at home, collected over many visits here. And that others took the bigger ones and made jewelry out of them - they could see the outcome in one of the shops. Or they could decided what else they might want to do with them. But for me, half of the fun is finding them and then knowing that when you look at them, they are a reminder of the peaceful day spent collecting them. I guess it is an age thing. :)