Barmy Beach People: Mike

My friends told me I should start writing about some of the beach characters I have met-find-know on the beach. One of the first characters I got to know, was this guy named Mike. Mike wasn’t homeless, he was a happy go lucky guy that went through a bad divorce, came home and never left again… or really grew up. Mike was the ultimate salvager. When he first came back to Pacific Beach, he started salvaging to ‘pay rent to his father’ He was out at the beach everyday, collecting wet suits, surfboards, boogie boards, towels, fins, masks, goggles, toys, sunglasses and later Go Pros. He used to take them to Tourmaline Beach, lay them out on the sand and people would come by and purchase their needs. Mike got to like this life so much and love his salvage, that he actually became a hoarder, which is when I met him. There went the rent to his father.

Everyday, depending tides Mike would start at Tourmaline and cruise down the sand on his bike, flashlight in hand picking up whatever. He would be out at 2 am and 4 am, he would go out at 3 pm. If there was a minus tide he would start north and hit the rocks at Bird Rock, where he would find surf gear and lots of sunglasses. He was out all day when it was high surf along with all the other salvagers.

Tourmaline Beach, the rocks at the north end (Bird Rock) are a salvagers dream. This is were all the lost gear washes up.

The funniest story of Mike and shows you how small the world is, he used to play Little League against my brothers Little League team. Without going into detail, he had an interesting life, raised by his grandparents, issues with adopted sisters, hippie mother who died of AIDs, a brother that he thought he was close to and an addicted daughter.

Mike’s problem was he never took anything seriously, which is why in his choosing to remain naive, he let his father support him (around 60) for something like 17 years. An off the grid person, (nothing in his name), no cell phone and only got an email account because he needed it to sell his Go Pros.

After Mike’s father died and left him nothing and I wouldn’t let him move into my house, he decided to move back to Arkansas to continue his studies to become a minister. (Who Knew?) I have no idea where he is and I and the other beach regulars miss him.