Sounds like a movie title or a waterpark ride, but it is just the three Lavermans in the Atlantic ocean near Ocean City, NJ. We've swam in the Pacific (hard not to if you live on an island in the middle of that ocean like ourselves), but the Atlantic was a first experience for all of us. Impressions: saltier than expected, big and powerful wave action, clean beach but foot-scalding hot sand, many too many clams. And, wow, have I mentioned those powerful waves.In some ways we were foreigners to a new land, definitely out of place with our lawn chairs and "beach umbrella" (a large doorman's umbrella), and pretty clueless in a lot of other ways. We saw no point to investing in those things for a single visit to the beach. We did, however, get a boogie board for Justen (Hey, it was his 12th birthday!) Kevin managed to monopolize the time on it.
Another use for the beach, we discovered, was as a great big baptismal for new Christians. One of the churches we visited on a Wednesday night along the shore line, baptized a couple families in the ocean! An approaching storm made for some cold temperatures and big waves. Planting a Baptist church in Japan, we've had our own unique baptism sites, but ironically the ocean is one place we have yet to visit. A new one for my idea list.
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