Day 30: Friday 11th September
Jill’s cold has not improved much and we agree that another night or two here would be a good idea all round – not only is it a brilliant spot but it will give her a chance to recuperate in the sun and sand.
After breakfast I do more litter-picking from the more difficult spots under the trees while enjoying the early warmth of the sun.
There are six to eight freighters anchored in the straits. At first I think they must be parked up waiting for work but they have their lights on at night so must have engines running, and closer observation during the day reveals that the group is constantly changing. The area must just be an anchorage used while they wait to get clearance to proceed to Mariupol, Taganrog and Rostov to the north-east.
We set up the loungers and windbreak on the foreshore and enjoy the peace and quiet – reading, snoozing, pottering along the beach, etc.
The sea is a cloudy greeny-brown colour, a bit like the North Sea, possibly from sand disturbed by the waves or pollution from the ships and rivers feeding it. We discover later that the Sea of Azov is the shallowest sea in the world, at only 34 metres, and as a result is also one of the most polluted – highly saline and with lots of other poisons from industrial, farming and shipping waste being dropped into it.
A handful of visitors stop by the beach for short periods. Some swim and Jill sticks a toe in just to test it. I restrain myself.
The shells on the beach arouse much interest with all the visitors and us too. There are billions of them and it is easy to see the different layers of shells and sand where the sea has created a miniscule ‘cliff edge’ and one gets a cross-section of the mini-strata forming in the beach. How can Creationists not see how the Earth’s stratified structure has evolved through these processes over the millennia? The shells can be very tiny but all are brittle and crunch into pieces underfoot. It seems a shame to destroy them in this way but the waves have been doing it continuously for ages past.
A lovely relaxing day of sun and sand, snoozing and strolling – well earned after all the hectic travelling and touristic activities of the past month.
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