The Black Sand

Took-off for a short vacation on the beach.

We were the only one occupying the beach resort.

It is rainy season. The waves are high. The sand is black.

On the other hand -- we have the beach for ourselves; the water is warm; the sun showed up, too.

Now the black sand. I thought the girls would find it 'dirty'. Well, that's what I thought.

The girls loved the black sand. They said it looks exactly like mud. It would be fun to build castles with; to lather themselves with; to throw mud at each other; to cover themselves with.

What a great idea! I followed their lead and came up with my own beauty and wellness regimen on the beach. I covered my body with the black sand and started massaging and rubbing  it all over. In fact, I got the attention of the girls that they offered to become my beauty and wellness assistants. We ended up looking like muddy wrestlers; but I guess we had more fun!

The highlight of this wellness massage would be facing the waves to wash the sand off our body. That was another good idea because that means the girls have conquered their fear of the waves. But of course, there were some precautions:

- Although we are alone on the beach, we always make sure that the lifeguard is present whenever we head off to the beach
- We take note of the color coding warnings if the beach would be safe
- Although it is rainy season, we never forgot to pack our sun protection items: sun cream, huts, t-shirts, tent and loads of drinking water
- We always watch out not only for the weater forecasts but also for the natural weather signs: the looming gray clouds on the horizon -- to let us know if its time to go back to our room

And yes, they got to play in the rain, too!