Got onto the beach. Really, really quiet. Low tide at about 10:00 am with the high tide around 4:00 pm. Perfect.
I had been working with spiral cairns for the last two visits, but the last one had completely collapsed through being too large and too steep sided. Lesson learned.
Found a flattish rock and started work. I had to carry the materials some distance but it went very well. Feeling of completeness when done. Looking into the view I saw that there were two points directly in line where it was possible to put some balanced stones. The first one was o.k., but when I got out to the second there were no suitable stones to balance. It was far too far out and far too tricky to try and carry one there so I had to make do with a fairly small stone, but they were in a perfect alignment with the top of the cairn.
Several people wandered by during the afternoon and took photographs of the cairn while I was waiting for the tide to come in. One couple did have quite a long conversation when they discovered that it was me who had made it. They stayed for about an hour for the tide to come most of the way in.
I could have stayed with this sculpture for longer but waited till about half an hour before high tide. The only things visible were the top of the cairn and the balanced stone in the middle of the bay. Sitting, contemplating a sculpture after it is finished is very satisfying, especially when it has gone well.
Went back the following morning to find that the cairn was still standing although it had slumped a bit from the sand in the core being washed away. Only the top layers had been really disturbed. It looked rather poignant, but still had a power that connected the cairn to the earth. A marriage of stone and water.