Seashell search
It was a warm winter day in SoCal, low 70s by the coast, light breeze in the air. I decided to go for a walk down to the beach to take in a lazy afternoon.

When I got to the beach, I noticed that the waves were pretty tame, barely any..but as a small wave would come ashore, you could see a bunch of stones and seashells getting tossed around in the water.

I saw a couple other people at the beach, about knee/thigh deep in the water, constantly bending over and picking up something. I noticed they were getting some really nice shells - which is kinda rare for Southern California.

I decided to check it out for myself.

As it was a little chilly, I was wearing black Carhartt loose fit work pants, black Adidas shoes, t-shirt, unbuttoned flannel longsleeve, black Hanes boxer briefs, and a black cap. I took off my Adidas shoes, and tried to roll up my pants, but they were too wide and it became a losing battle as they kept unrolling themselves. So I gave up and decided just to cuff the bottom of them and see how it goes.

I started to walk in the water...surprisingly it wasn't too cold for January. As soon as I got about ankle deep I could see the shells just off in the distance. A few small waves came in, wetting the bottom of my cuffed pants. I spotted a few shells and walked towards them, getting my jeans wet to about shin height.

As I mentioned a couple of other people were in the water as well - about knee deep. A guy wearing silky gym shorts and t-shirt...a girl wearing leggings and work out wear. She was going in and out about waist deep, not caring getting wet. We made eye contact a few times, but she just kept searching for shells.

Seeing that the other people were a little deeper, I decided to go in a little bit more - this time to just above my knees. While my pants were loose fit, they weren't sagging, but I could feel them gradually get heavier and heavier.

I spotted a few more shells, rolled up my flannel long sleeves and picked up a few.

I saw a few more further out...and by now I was about knee deep, with small waves, lapping at my legs getting my pants wet. A this point, I was just like, what the heck, I'm already wet. I waded to about just below my waist, pockets filling with water and i could feel the bottom of my boxer briefs get wet.

But I realized the problem out here is that getting the shells is a bit more tricky since I'm about waist deep. I spotted a few more and just went for it. I bent over, realized the water was too deep, and submerged my full arm, wetting my flannel and the side of my t-shirt.

Got it. Got a really pretty shell. Worth it.

I kept walking around, trying to find more. Every time I bent over, my flannel was getting wetter and wetter. A few times I bent more at my knees and I felt the butt of my jeans getting submerged, fully soaking my boxer briefs.

I spent about 10 minutes finding shells...putting them in my soaking wet pockets.

All the other people were all just continuing searching for shells, no one blinking an eye that I was getting really wet...cuz they were too.

I got out of the water, walked back to my shoes, jeans dripping wet.
Packed up my stash of seashells and walked back to my car.

Successful lazy afternoon I must say.

Cool story bro! Love all your wet beach pics! Waited to read you dove in fully clothed and went all in haha. Got a similar story I'll have to tell you sometime.

Great story! Reminds me of my Grunion hunting days down in Long Beach, getting soaked fully clothed in the surf while trying to catch those small fish by hand, at night. The first Grunion run happens tomorrow, March 14, when the Grunion can be caught by hand only, as they wash ashore to spawn in the sand. You do need a fishing license. Here's the info:

https://wildlife.ca.gov/Fishing/Ocean/Grunion