ball and chain

Portobello beach has been used by bathers for centuries. However it has also been abused by jetskis, wind surfers, sand surfers etc which infringe on the safety of other beach users. A couple of years ago there was an attempt to provide a safe designated bathers only area, and a volounteer coastguard was set up to provide support if required. Only the balls are still in place. I didn't appreciate how large these bouys were until today. There was an extremely low tide,after a spring high tide, and several were beached. I saw 7 or 8 different shell types. I was also surprised to learn that large seaweed attachs to shells. I always thought that it would attach to rocks, not things that move independently. One of these shells obviously had a living thing inside as I could see the trail of its movement in the sand for a short distance.