The thing I liked most about Summer Bay is that there was always new things to discover. Sometimes it would be buried deep in the sand, hidden in tide pools, peaking out of the tall razor grass, or swimming in the shallow water. Most of my summers were spent exploring the beach while my mom would be busy fishing. She often went fishing with her friend, who liked to bring her grandsons and their friends with her. I would often hang out with her youngest grandson and we would always explore Summer Bay together.

One of our favorite things was to run down the sand hills and go swimming in the lake, which was connected to the ocean by a river that always changes. The only thing that separated the beach from the sand hills and lake was a dirt road and a rotting wooden bridge. Getting over to the sand hills was always a challenge because the second we would reach the beach, our shoes would be left behind in the car and forgotten. The gravel on the road was not kind to our bare feet. We would finally reach the end of the road, but the baby razor grass buds hiding in the sand were worse than the gravel. After the endless attack of grass spikes on our feet, we would make it to the soft warm sand at the bottom of the hills.

One day, we were having a mini competition on who could race to the top of the tallest sand hill and tumble back down. Soon we got tired of running up and down the hills, so we decided to head to the lake.  I loved going swimming in the lake, it was mostly shallow, and the water could only reach my waist when I went in before I would get scared off by a jumping fish. We eventually met up with my mom, my friend’s grandmother, and his brother accompanied by his friends. There were many other people fishing on the beach as well. If there wasn’t so many people fishing, then my friend and I would have been swimming at the beach, but we didn’t in fear of getting caught on a hook. There are sharp-edged rocks near the end of the beach away from all the people, so we decided to go hangout there.

Gigantic waves would form over by the end of the beach and the rocks were so high up you could climb to the top and the waves wouldn’t reach you. We spent our time searching tide pools in the rocks and looking for animals that were left behind. Eventually the tide rose and we made our way back to the others. On our way over, we saw one of the fishermen shouting about something, but at the time we were too far away to hear. Wanting to know what was going on, we ran as quickly as we could to the other side of the beach. By the time my friend and I got to the river, which was on the other side of the beach, his brothers had already helped the man. They were crowding over something, but being shorter than them it was difficult to see what. It took me a minute to figure what they were crowding over, but eventually I determined it was some type of fish. I was unfamiliar with the type of fish, its body was long and slim, with a dorsal fin that was wider than the fish itself, and its eyes were like deep blue marbles in size and color. It almost reminded me of a sword fish without a nose.

Our first reaction after observing the fish was to try to get it back into the water, as it was obviously still alive. It took all four of us to carry the fish to the shore, but the waves kept pushing the fish back to us. Then we decided to bring it to the river and let the current take it, but on the trip there all the contents of its stomach spill out. It had eaten some of the strangest things I have ever seen, like something small and yellow that resembled a pufferfish. Then there was a mushy clear purple goop which I guessed use to be a jellyfish, and something that looked like a sardines. I never even seen the fish it had eaten before, which made me wonder if it was even from the island. We decided to move quicker to the river in fear of killing the fish. By the time we got it in the water, it’s movement slowed down and eventually, after another two failed attempts, the fish died. We then decided to bury it in the sand far away from the river and marked by a makeshift driftwood cross. By then my mom and Gil’s grandma were done fishing for the day so we packed up and headed home. The next day we found determined the fish to be a Lancet fish, a type of sail fish found in many parts of the world.

This memory always reminds me of how curious I was in learning more about the fish we found. My summers spent at Summer Bay have always revolved around discovering new things, especially when it comes to the creachers that live there. The many experiences I’ve had like this have always increased my interest in marine biology, even to this day. I hope to still have this interest as I grow up, and maybe even have a career in it someday.