Eastern Seaboard
8.5” x 8.5”
Soft Cover
88 Pages
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Some of my most vivid childhood memories were of the Oregon coast. The smells of saltwater and seaweed, the sounds of crashing waves, and the wonders of wildlife-laden tidal pools filled my youthful senses. Our family would occasionally escape for long weekends to explore the rugged beauty of the Pacific Northwest shoreline. By the time I was ten, however, we had relocated to southeast Texas, and the beaches of Galveston,
with their tar-littered shores and 85-degree bathwater, were a world away from the wilds of
the Pacific Northwest.
The absence of the ocean’s touch on my life left a void I didn’t realize until nearly three decades later. I remember one day reading about North Carolina’s Outer Banks. It was like discovering a hidden treasure, a thin strand of sand that wound its way out into the vast Atlantic. To me, this was a real ocean, untamed and endless. After our first stay in Waves, this American treasure of a coastline became a shared obsession for my family—the life-saving stations, the historic lighthouses, the rich maritime history, the diverse wildlife that calls these barrier islands home.
Over the years, we’ve returned to the Outer Banks nearly a dozen times. Our adventures took us up and down the fragile ribbon of land, exploring sandy dunes, marshy estuaries and remote beaches. We marveled at the breathtaking beauty of the landscape and the stories that echoed in every lighthouse tower and historic, shingled residence. We began to venture well beyond the Outer Banks too, traveling north to Canada’s maritime provinces. It was a journey that led us through the quaint fishing villages of Nova Scotia, the vast landscapes of New Brunswick, and the rugged coastlines of Newfoundland.
While exploring the maritime provinces of Canada, a chance encounter with a woman in rural Nova Scotia left an indelible mark on me. As she strolled by, she cautioned, “Be careful of the maritimes; they can get a hold on you.” Indeed, her words rang true. The raw, untamed beauty of these coastal regions was like a siren’s song, drawing me deeper into
their embrace.
The following photographs are a handful of highlights from our adventures. They span from the sandy shores of the Outer Banks in North Carolina to the coastal communities of the Gulf and as far north as the rugged cliffs of Newfoundland. Each image tells a story, captured moments of the love affair that my family and I share with the ever-enticing, ever-mysterious world of the ocean. It’s a love that transcends time and distance, connecting us to the beauty of the world’s coastal wonders.
★★★★★
After nightfall the face of the country seems to alter marvelously, and the clear moonlight only intensifies the change. The river gleams like running quicksilver, and the moonbeams play over the grassy stretches of the plateaus and glance off the wind-rippled blades as they would from water. The Bad Lands seem to be stranger and wilder than ever, the silvery rays turning the country into a kind of grim fairy-land. The grotesque, fantastic outlines of the higher cliffs stand out with startling clearness, while the lower buttes have become formless, misshapen masses, and the deep gorges are in black shadow; in the darkness there will be no sound but the rhythmic echo of the hoof-beats of the horses, and the steady, metallic clank of the steel bridle-chains.
– Theodore Roosevelt