Malaquite Beach, Padre Island National Seashore. (613 hits)
Category: NoneLabels: Best
Rating: 2 on 8 reviews (Rate this item) (V)
Submitted by That Is My Stapler (View user info) at 2005-08-25 11:25:55 EDT
Malaquite Beach, on The Padre Island National Seashore, was my refuge during my teen-age and college years.
I could drive out there in my car with my dog, my surfboard, some sandwiches, a camera, some bottled water, and be completly away from the crushing pressures of high-school, college, family, humanity, life.
It was/is a place of unspoiled beauty. Few people went there. It was a protected area that you had to pay to get into. I suspect, now, that it is much more "developed", and "discovered" by the masses, much like South Padre Island, though I don't know as I have not been home in over 15 years.
Padre Island is seperated from the mainland of Texas by Laguna Madre, a lot of which is very shallow. There is an endless array of sea life in the lagoon. When you come up to the Island from it, there is a huge barrier of sand dunes you have to cross before you get to the actual beach on the Gulf of Mexico.
I loved the flowers, grasses and vines that grew on and stabilized the dunes. I loved the foxes you would occasionally see. I loved the snakes you needed to keep look out for. I loved the insects and the jellyfish. I would sit on the beach and endlessly observe the shell life that would furiously burrow themselves back into the beach, over and over and over, everytime the waves went back out. I surfed, with my dog on my board with me. I loved watching the dolphins further out on the far swells.
At any rate, it was my haven. It was where I went when I broke up with girls. When my family was fighting. When I was troubled for whatever reason.
In 1991, right after I gradated college, and two months before I went into the Navy, I was out at Maliquite, with my dog, per usual. Since I knew I was soon leaving for a very long time, maybe to never return, I decided to drive as far down the shore as I could; to find a place I'd never seen before.
That's risky, because it's very easy to get stuck in the sand out there. These were the days before portable cell phones, so if you got stuck, and you were alone, you had to wait for a park ranger to find you, or begin a VERY long trek back to the park ranger station. And the Rangers were never very happy about some jackass being trapped out there alone.
We made it, Mack the dog and I. I had probably driven 15 or 20 miles down the beach. Sure lots of people go further but for me, in my 1968 Buick Skylark, that was about the limit of it. And we made a day of it, by golly. We surfed all day. We wandered around in the dunes. We walked up and down the beach, Mack sniffing around logs, debris washed up, dead fish and other creatures, myself watching the sandpipers run back and forth with the tide, looking for perfect Sand Dollars, collecting a rainbow of sea shells, enjoying the sunshine and salt air.
Mack would occassionally run up to the dunes. I always let him roam because there were seldom any other people out there for him to bother. I usually kept walking, and sooner or later he'd come bounding up behind me, happy as only a dog can be to see you, tail wagging, tounge lolling, in love with life and me.
This time, my last time on Malaquite beach, Mack took off as usual for the dunes, but at more than usual breakneck pace. I figured he'd spotted an animal or something, and kept on walking, as per usual.
After about 15 or 20 minutes I realized that Mack hadn't caught up with me. I looked back and he was nowhere to be seen.
"Damn dog," I muttered, and turned around to go back and find him.
Of course it took me a while to get back to where I thought he had taken off from. I eventually found his tracks in the sand, and followed them up into the dunes. I could smell rotting fish. I followed his tracks over three dunes and valley before spotted him. Oddly, he was just sitting, looking in one direction, not moving. I called his name and he turned his head to look at me, then turned his gaze back in front of him. That was VERY unusual for my dog.
I approached him and said "Mack, what is it boy? What's up Mack?"
That smell was very strong at this point. I followed Mack's gaze, and froze in horror.
There, 5 feet away, was a dead girl, perhaps 18 years old, half buried in the sand, decomposing. Probably about 4 or 5 days into death.
Mack and I sat and looked at the poor thing, not knowing what to do.
I threw up.
Finally, I went back to the beach and dragged an enormous log to the pathway leading to the girl, as a marker. Mack and I walked back to my car. We drove to the Ranger Station, told them what we'd found, led them back out, and the investigation began. It took them three weeks to clear *me* of any involvement. Once they did, I was cut from the loop, and I never learned who the girl was, or how she met her fate, I only knew that it was a murder.
I lost my innocence that day, and it was the first time in my life I ever felt genuine fear and loathing for my fellow mankind, and dread for the future.
I've never been back to Malaquite Beach.
User Reviews
Submitted by Director (user info) at 2007-02-05 16:00:10 EST (#)
Ranking: 2
I rock.
Submitted by Merlina (user info) at 2005-10-19 02:46:06 EDT (#)
Ranking: 2
See, now this is lovely - why have so few people rated? I hate it when this happens and people constantly click on alter crap..
a much deserved +2
Submitted by sebcharrot (user info) at 2005-08-27 11:44:05 EDT (#)
Ranking: 2
sorry: http://www.ubersite.com/cgi-bin/message_get.cgi?message=112515044313825800#1554400
Submitted by DanielH (user info) at 2005-08-25 13:34:49 EDT (#)
Ranking: 2
Here, have a look at what it's like to grow up in such a place: http://www.ubersite.com/m/73878
Submitted by CookieLass (user info) at 2005-08-25 13:24:08 EDT (#)
Ranking: 2
I hate it when people do the "no comment" reviews, but I can't think of anything to say besides giving you a +2.
Submitted by ajanssen (user info) at 2005-08-25 13:14:55 EDT (#)
Ranking: 2
Great post. I used to spend summers in Padre and would make money charging $50 to pull stuck cars out of the sand with my Jeep. I don't think people realize how beautiful the beaches are in Texas.
Submitted by Jeanneee (user info) at 2005-08-25 13:03:09 EDT (#)
Ranking: 2
Outstanding. I logged in just to rate this.
Submitted by WildcatMcGee (user info) at 2005-08-25 11:44:24 EDT (#)
Ranking: 2
Wow. Just wow.