Prompt Entry #6: Monterey Bay, CA

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My dad's side of the family used to spend a week in Monterey Bay each summer. The bay is located along California's central coast. I can't remember a summer before we started going. I can only remember the first summer we didn't go. We always stayed at Pajaro Dunes Resort. The cozy rentals were nestled among rows of dunes that flattened out to meet the ocean. Shaggy grasses grew in the sand and whipped wildly with the wind. I remember the Lampranthus cloaking the dunes with their plump, waxy leaves and bright purple flowers. Audrey, my cousin closest to my age, and I called them banana plants because we thought each leaf resembled smaller versions of the fruit. We liked to pluck the leaves and punch holes in them. We'd loop them on a string and wear them around our necks.

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 My cousins and I were best friends during those weeks at the beach. We broke into pairs and built sand castles. Audrey and I usually created large castles with several towers surrounded by a deep moat. My brother and Amy would build one towering mound of sand and stick a seashell on top. My youngest cousins would start putting sand in buckets but grow bored and splash in the waves instead.

I have a fear of sharks and jellyfish, and I believe those fears started during one of the trips to Monterey Bay. My uncle Terry, Audrey's dad, took a group of us deep into the waves. When the waves crashed against our necks, we almost stopped. Terry released our hands and walked a bit further. A sandbar rose beneath the water, and we watched him leave the deep waters behind him as he walked further into the ocean. We followed. We gripped hands and jumped over the waves as they plunged toward us. I had no fear of the creatures that could be lurking around our legs, but that changed when Terry yelled, "Shark!"

A dark gray dorsal fin popped up just beyond the sandbar. I remember the panic crashing into me like one of the waves. I lost my ability to think. I ran. The shore looked distant as I stumbled and splashed my way through the water. My mom, who had been tanning on the beach, stood near the water's edge and laughed.

"There was a shark," I said as I struggled to breathe.

My mom pointed out to the ocean. "It was just a dolphin," she said.

I sank onto the sand and tried to laugh. Eventually, I went back out with Terry, my brother, and my cousins. Soon after we reached the sandbar, we saw a translucent blob moving with the water. Again, we ran to shore. The jellyfish had stung Audrey on her hand. We didn't go back out in the water. Every time I swim in the ocean, my fear of lurking sharks and jellyfish remains firmly in my mind.

When my mom and dad got divorced, my family still went to Monterey Bay. My grandma wanted to keep her family together and carefree. I still had fun with my cousins, but we were getting older. The beach house we always rented started to feel small. Still, despite our growing differences, the memories in the dunes and beach drew us together and brought laughter. My grandpa died on 9/9/99. We didn't go to the beach again. Our family started to grow apart. I only see my cousins at occasional family functions, and our conversations remain shallow.

If I have kids in the future, I'd like to take them to Pajaro Dunes. That place formed a bond between the ocean and my family. The ocean has remained a source of comfort. Monterey Bay also planted a fear in me that I still carry. I hope my cousins and I can return to the dunes one day. Maybe we'll walk out on the sand, and the waves will pull us back together.