Shipwreck at Stockton

I keep seeing posts of friends back home who are beyond excited for fall, which means sweater weather, pumpkin spice lattes, and of course, Halloween.

Well on the other side of the world, it may not be fall, but Halloween is certainly this month. It just doesn't seem to be quite as big of an ordeal as it is back home. Sure, the other day I started seeing a couple stores with a small display of bagged candy and a skeleton or two, but that's nothing compared to the 5+ aisle Christmas display that began to take over Big W nearly a month ago. And don't even get me started about the Santa Claus pictures taking place at Redhead Beach today. (And I thought America was bad about starting early...)

Anyway, maybe it was a craving of the familiar mixed with (as per usual) a craving of adventure that drew me to Stockton this morning. You see, Stockton is home to Pirate Point and the Shipwreck Walk. These are not seasonal offerings for Halloween, though. 

To get to Stockton, you must take the ferry boat. Sure, there are ways to walk there, and if you have a car, you can drive there, but when there's a chance to take a ferry boat, why not take the ferry boat? (For anyone who's a fan of Grey's Anatomy, I think Derek Shepherd would be proud.)

Once you make your way to Stockton, you walk along the break wall. Now, there's a little sign basically telling you not to go any further and that it's dangerous and a bunch of other stuff I'm sure no one reads since there were more than twenty people farther ahead of me. 

(Note to Mom and Dad--it was dangerous because of waves and it was a quiet day on the waters so I WAS FINE.)

Anyway, I kept walking down the break wall, and I started to see little memorial plaques on some of the rocks. This was strange to me, and I'm still not sure if these were people who lived in Stockton, people who were out on the water when it was dangerous and got killed, or people who died in shipwrecks. It was a little too eerie to think about, so I kept going. 

Soon I saw the outline of a ship. I honestly assumed that it was a replica or piece of art someone had installed for the walk, but as I got closer, I began to see these plaques with the names of ships. 

It was then that I realized this was legitimate. Ships really did wreck here. Then, I saw it. A real, wrecked ship that had washed up onto the break wall. 

When I walked onto the lookout point, I could see that the rest of the ship was underwater. 

 In all of this, the creepiest thing definitely should not have been a little girl singing Under the Sea from Disney's The Little Mermaid, but just imagine that for a moment. Creepy, right?
(And for those of you who have read the Hans Christian Anderson version, you'd probably agree that this ship is better fitting for the tone of the story.)

Like any good Disney princess, though, I attempted to make friends with the birds who appeared to be guarding the ship. They seemed less than thrilled by this.

After I'd read the stories of the half dozen or more shipwrecks that had happened here, I decided I needed more happy sunshine back in my life, so I headed to Redhead Beach. These weren't like the Titanic, but still, I can only handle so much of this stuff.

It doesn't appear to have phased me too much, though.

P.S. While the sea gulls seem to have retreated somewhat in the Seagull Conflict of 2016, there have been reports of mobilization of the gull fleets and attempts to reboot their marine forces. Updates will continue to be reported as they are received.