The eternal dance and Samalaman

 You can hear when the tide has changed. Instead of a greedy lapping, conquering the land, the sea starts to retreat - very quietly at first. When the tide comes in, the sea advances incrementally. When it is nearly full, you can hear the desperation: the will to come in and swallow the land. The sea submerges the rocks and deposits shells in the liminal zone: shells, the treasures of the shoreline. Water flowing and retreating makes a very particular sound; the chambers of these abandoned structures fills with water. Still it comes, the sea. Till

something happens: the land fights back. draw a line in the sand where the little waves come furthest: sit and wait. Every lap reaches a few centimetres less. The sea leaves its treasures for all to pick. The liminal zone shifts forwards. Slowly the land is getting the upper hand. All sorts of sea creatures left behind, are trying to moe with it, out of the reach of predators - the birds that are patrolling the shore.

More sand appears. Rock surface, barnacles shut tight and ready for a few hours of dryness. Sea weed, normally upright and waving in the current like grass waving in the wind lies deflated on the wet sand. Samalaman island can be reached on foot now - the channel is only knee deep, picking your way through the tender fronds of the seaweed that caresses your ankles when you wade through the clear water.

When the land has conquered the sea and the sand is dry and soft again, a change happens.  The sea sticks a toe in the water and starts advancing. Everything starts all over again: the eternal dance between the sea and the land.