Sightings on the Sand

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I?d just settled into my lounger on sublime Ship Channel Cay in the Bahamas when three wild boars strolled out of the scrub. Snorting disagreeably, one aimed his snout at me. ?Just scratch his belly and he?ll go to sleep,? said Capt. Patch, whose boat had brought us here. Right. And pigs can fly. But a few moments into my scratch, he keeled right over into dreamland. I followed his lead. ? AV 

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The place was a tiny beach bar on Mustique?s Baie du Simon. The lady next to me was chain-smoking and knocking back red wine like water. I picked up the local newspaper and saw a photo of Queen Margrethe II of Denmark and her prince-consort husband ? the very couple sitting not 10 feet away from me. Slumming like the rest of us. No bodyguard nor lady-in-waiting in sight. ? Joe Yogerst

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We left Barbuda?s pristine leeward side for a walk on the windward side, where the ocean deposits all sorts of human detritus. We were mystified by an abundance of small, white plastic balls ? a bingo set washed to sea? ? but figured out they were from roll-on deodorant bottles. Funny, until I realized that none of this jetsam ? flip-flops, plastic bottles ? will disappear anytime soon. ? Ann Vanderhoof

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Shrieks of ?serpent, serpent!? erupted before I stepped off the boat at Amedee Island, just off New Caledonia. The isle is home to tricot ray�s, which are more venomous but less aggressive than cobras. The other passengers made way for the blue-and-black serpent. ?Live and let live,? a deckhand said. Later, I had to hop off my towel when one came looking for shade under it. ? Jad Davenport

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Landing by Zodiac on the beach of Antarctica?s South Georgia Island, I was greeted by half a million king penguins. I instantly went from being the tourist to being the attraction as hundreds of the 3-foot-tall birds waddled up to me, pecked pebbles from my boot treads, tapped at their reflections in my camera and squabbled for the right to lean against me with contented sighs. ? JD

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We go to the islands for the beach. Sure, hikes are nice. The food?s memorable. And the beer is good. But what?s all that without a pristine stretch of sand to sink the toes into? Punctuated by a purse snatching ... or grunting wild boars ... or machete-wielding villagers ... or venomous sea snakes. It has all happened to our intrepid contributors. But they?ll allow nothing to come between them and their sacred day at the beach.
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