Gifts from the Sea

Portuguese Man-o-War. The very names strikes fear in the hearts of men. The stinging pain of their tentacles is legendary. I have seen the scars on the feet of a friend stung while swimming off the shore of Bermuda. Yet they are beautiful in a diaphanous sort of way. My cousin and I walked along the beach in the brightening day picking up shells and in general marveling at all of the things tossed up by the sea at night. The further out to the point we got, we discovered the beach to be littered with pale blue balloons of various sizes. She whooped with delight proclaiming them to be Portuguese Man-o-War. I had never seen one and was frankly incredulous. But having looked them up them I got home; it is true. I expected them to be larger and less lovely I guess.