Message in a ‘Bottle,’ Drakes Beach, Sand Dollars, Tom Lovering, and Limantour: Pt. Reyes NS… The Pacific Coast Series 5

/ Curt Mekemson

Have you ever found a message in a bottle or a tin washed up on a seashore? Or dreamed of finding one? We did last week on Drakes Beach at Pt. Reyes National Seashore.

I was walking along Drakes Beach with my friend Tom Lovering when he spotted a tin with a top on it in the sand. Peggy and Tom’s partner Lita were walking behind us. “Open it up, Tom,” we urged. He was already worrying the lid. There was a treasure inside. Someone’s comb with artificial pearl beads and seashells all held in by candle wax. And a letter! It had been brought in on the day’s high tide. Had it come from afar after weeks/months/years of travel. Or had a person thrown it into the ocean that morning with hopes that it would wash out to sea? There wasn’t a clue.

The letter. It was slightly damp and wrinkled but still easy to read. I’ve repeated the words below.

“Please help it all come to fruition. Please help it to translate. I know I am not wrong. Help me sing my heart’s song fearlessly and without doubt. The people I am meant to find, the life I am meant to live, the love I am meant to share— I know it’s all there. I work so hard toward it. I see it like a light in the distance. Help guide me to it. Help me go out and do it. Help me do it right and win this fight. I love you, humbly and without question. I’m depending on you. I know you won’t let it be a sad story, or a tragedy. Now help me to make it all right.”

One can only speculate on the sender, but I imagine a young woman (given the comb) asking for help. She is bright, and possibly troubled, but has faith and hope that her future will turn out right. Thoughts? Tom put the message back in the tin with the lid on it and left it on the beach for some other person to discover. We listened to Jim Croce’s Time in a Bottle when we got back to camp.

These towering cliffs are the same ones that Sir Francis Drake would have seen on his 1579 voyage around the world. They reminded him of England’s Cliffs of Dover. With his ship in serious need of repair, he had pulled into the bay. The belief that this is where he landed for repairs led to the bay being named Drakes Bay and the beach, Drakes Beach.
This is Tom. We go way back. “Fifty years” he reminded me. We met in 1974.
He had a bit more hair when this was taken in the late 70s.

He had even more in 1974 when I had walked into Alpine West, a popular outdoor gear store in Sacramento at the time. I was seeking a sponsor for the Sierra Trek, a hundred mile backpack trek across the Sierra Nevada Mountains that I had dreamed up to raise funds for the Sacramento Lung Association and future Breathe California. A hippie-looking 20-something was standing behind the counter. I walked over and asked him if I could speak to the owner or manager. “I am the owner,” Tom had told me rather stiffly. Oops! I introduced myself as the Executive Director of the Lung Association and explained what I wanted to do. “You’re crazy,” he had told me. “People may survive it but they will hate you and the Lung Association afterwards.” It wasn’t exactly what I was hoping to hear from one of Sacramento’s leading outdoor experts. But then he offered to sponsor the event… I left a little confused. If they hated the Lung Association, wouldn’t they hate Alpine West as well? We’ve been having adventures together ever since 1974. He’s been though several successful careers over the years. I’ll introduce his latest in my next post: creating a powerful, battery-operated blender. He couldn’t stop talking about it. But for now, back to Drakes Beach and another popular beach on Drakes Bay: Limantour.

We have been to Drake’s Beach many times over the years. The last time the beach was filled with elephant seals. Not so this time. But that meant we could actually go for a walk on the beach.
Several harder rocks had been more resistant to the ocean’s relentless waves. This one was heading out to sea.
It had a unique look…
And small depressions that caught seawater at low tide making mini-tide pools.
Two of the rocks provided a window to the ocean. Chimney Rock can be seen in the distance.
Peggy gathered seashells while I explored. Tom snapped our photo.
We stopped to admire a Velella (By the Sea Sailor), a type of jellyfish, that had just sailed in on high tide and was in much better shape than the ones we had seen at Point Lobos.
Limantour Beach and Spit is just south of Drakes Beach and also on Drakes Bay. Peggy and I explored it after Tom and Lita returned to Sacramento. Whimbrels, dunlins and brown pelicans amused us. This is a whimbrel.
We found them quite attractive.
Several of them were working the beach together.
On a stroll.
A small bubble suggests that dinner might be lurking down in the sand.
Whimbrels use their curved beaks to probe for small crabs and other sea life buried in the sand.
A little ocean water did not get in the way of finding a tasty tidbit.
A flock of dunlins and a sanderling join the whimbrels in their search for food.
Apparently, their search was successful.
Meanwhile, brown pelicans were skimming the waves further out at sea in search of fish. Amazing birds! Check the wing span.
A shot across Drakes Bay showed the cliffs above Drakes Beach.
Peggy took this shot across Drakes Bay to the Chimney Rock and the Pt. Reyes Headlands at the northern end of the Bay. The Point Reyes Lighthouse is on the opposite side of the Headlands. We will feature it in a later post.
Peggy posed for me as I took a photo south to catch the rest of the Bay. This is one long beach!
She continued her search for perfect sand dollars.
And goofed around! That’s it for the day!
Our next post will feature the historic Pierce Point Ranch and Abbots Lagoon. Tom, Peggy and Lita stand in front of three of the outbuildings.

22 thoughts on “Message in a ‘Bottle,’ Drakes Beach, Sand Dollars, Tom Lovering, and Limantour: Pt. Reyes NS… The Pacific Coast Series 5”

  3. Peggy has handfuls of sand dollars! So much fun. I think I would have guessed the same background story for the creator of the message in the bottle. That is some serious commitment to manifesting. ❤ The bird photos are my favourites, and the names of the birds, which are unfamiliar to me. The elephant seals look impressive, but I am glad you got to walk the beach instead.

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    • Laughing. Peggy never does any thing half way, Crystal. She filled up her pockets. Luckily, she ran out of sand dollars before she filled mine as well! That happens on occasion. The person with the message from the tin certainly went all out in her wish list.
      I think that Peggy and I are enjoying taking photos of birds as much as you do!

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  4. I just spent time with a friend of 55 years, Curt. What fun to get together with Tom and enjoy such a great setting. The message in a tin was intriguing. My guess it was a symbolic and powerful release of her (or his) request to the universe. :-) 

    The birds are a joy and you got some great pics. And I’d be right there with Peggy hunting for shells and sand dollars. Happy Travels!

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  10. I enjoyed all your fun finds at Drakes Beach, Curt. That beach has been closed for many months during the elephant seal season, so I’m glad to hear it’s opened now and you and Peggy and your friends had a fun time there.

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    • It was still closed off to the west, Jet. But as you know, there is plenty of beach on the east side. There are always treasures of one type or another along the beaches of Northern California!

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