The beach

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coconut

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Joined
Dec 15, 2018
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1,680
Name
coconut
Is singing sand the same as barking sand? They have barking sand beach on Kauai. It sounds like the sand barks as you walk across it
Yes it is.

From wiki:
On some beaches around the world, dry sand will make a singing, squeaking, whistling, or screaming sound if a person scuffs or shuffles their feet with sufficient force.[4][5] The phenomenon is not completely understood scientifically, but it has been found that quartz sand will do this if the grains are very well-rounded and highly spherical.[6] It is believed by some that the sand grains must be of similar size, so the sand must be well sorted by the actions of wind and waves, and that the grains should be close to spherical and have dust-, pollution-, and organic-matter-free surfaces. The "singing" sound is then believed to be produced by shear, as each layer of sand grains slides over the layer beneath it. The similarity in size, the uniformity, and the cleanness means that grains move up and down in unison over the layer of grains below them. Even small amounts of pollution on the sand grains reduce the friction enough to silence the sand.[5]

Others believe that the sound is produced by the friction of grain against grain that have been coated with dried salt, in a way that is analogous to the way that the rosin on the bow produces sounds from a violin string. It has also been speculated that thin layers of gas trapped and released between the grains act as "percussive cushions" capable of vibration, and so produce the tones heard.[7]

Not all sands sing, whistle or bark alike. The sounds heard have a wide frequency range that can be different for each patch of sand. Fine sands, where individual grains are barely visible to the naked eye, produce only a poor, weak sounding bark. Medium-sized grains can emit a range of sounds, from a faint squeak or a high-pitched sound, to the best and loudest barks when scuffed enthusiastically.[5]

Water also influences the effect. Wet sands are usually silent because the grains stick together instead of sliding past each other, but small amounts of water can actually raise the pitch of the sounds produced. The most common part of the beach on which to hear singing sand is the dry upper beach above the normal high tide line, but singing has been reported on the lower beach near the low tide line as well.[5]

Singing sand has been reported on 33 beaches in the British Isles,[8] including in the north of Wales and on the little island of Eigg in the Scottish Hebrides. It has also been reported at a number of beaches along North America's Atlantic coast. Singing sands can be found at Souris, on the eastern tip of Prince Edward Island, at the Singing Sands beach in Basin Head Provincial Park;[6] on Singing Beach in Manchester-by-the-Sea, Massachusetts,[4] as well as in the fresh waters of Lake Superior[9]and Lake Michigan[10] and in other places. The central coast of Oregon also has singing sand.[citation needed]
 

oldnotdead

Legend
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May 16, 2019
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5,384
Some of my favorite memories are associated with the beach. Some of my earliest memories are my family having a fire on the beach in what is now a state beach in Huntington Beach. The smell and sound of the fire. Surf fishing with just my dad and I and how he talked wilderness survival with me. That was our quality time. I was blessed to grow up in So Cal during a time when kids were still allowed to be kids.

One of my favorite memories is fishing off Torrey Pines beach and having some tourist from Kansas talking to me about the wife's fear of sharks. I told them that sharks come into feed and can be found in shallow water you wouldn't think they'd be in. They watched me cast into about knee-deep water and just as quickly get a strike. They stood by and watched me beach a 4 foot shark and the wife just freaked. I just smiled and shrugged as I unhooked it. They asked if I was going to throw it back and I said no of course not. I loved thinking about all the people it had bitten so here I was being an indirect cannibal. They both freaked and scurried away. I didn't tell them that leopard sharks are just plain good eating and wouldn't hurt anyone. Sometimes that mean barrio kid comes out. But I don't like dirty tourists befouling my beach and wanted them to just go back to Kansas with a horrific story about the dangers of Calif beaches.
 

oldnotdead

Legend
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May 16, 2019
Messages
5,384
Raised_Fist: I used to live in Laguna Beach. Back then there was a fishing pier at Aliso beach. I used to go there after work on summer days. Then a storm damaged it. They were going to rebuild it but the guy that built the house inside the rock complained it blocked his sightlines. The pier was there decades before him but he had money and political connections.

One thing to know about that beach is that it shelves off real quick. Watch how close the surf breaks and that marks the drop off. Also more than once I've seen HUGE not joking white sharks cruising just at the shelf line. Don't ever swim there early morning or late afternoon because it's when I've seen them.

Back then I was a glass artist and showed my stained glass at the Saw Dust Festival every summer. I loved it back then. Now it's too crowded and foo foo for my tastes. Back then it was rich but laid back and quieter. I loved getting up early in the morning back then and drink my coffee at the breakfast table and watch the mountain lion watching me. He was okay because he ate the coyotes and the deer that were always messing up my yard.
 

Loyal

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I did like the beach when I lived in SoCal. But, we lived like 20 miles or less from it and hardly ever went...Prolly because it was too much of a pain in the ass for my parents, and there was a public pool nearbye that we could walk to....which we did several times a week in the summer.