You just never know . . .

. . . what the universe has in store for you. It's supposed to be the last decent beach day of your visit, by normal peoples' standards anyway. So you carry your chair out the boardwalk and arrange it in the sand. You've got your towel, your book, the camera and a couple of beverages. You read a bit and then take a walk up and down the beach to pick up some shells. You settle back into your chair and decide to amuse yourself taking photos of the beggar who's hanging around waiting for a morsel to come his way.

You vaguely take notice of a couple of young women who've appeared up the beach with a handful of small children. Soon they are joined by another young mom with her son and his grandpa. Interesting . . . they're not dressed for the beach and they've brought no chairs, no towels, no coolers. They're just watching the water.

Your attention diverted by watching the humans, you don't notice this until it is right in front of you. A Coast Guard cutter. With a big gun. Cool!

Soon another Coast Guard vessel follows along behind the first.

Hey, wait a minute! What's this? Looks kinda military, eh?

Whoa! Isn't that -- why, yes it is! A submarine!

Do you believe how close they are to the beach?

Incredible, eh? A once-in-a-lifetime happening, I'm thinking. All because we decided to skip doing errands and go to the beach.

You can read more about it on the Military Sealift Command website. Oh, yeah -- the small group of women, kids and the grandpa? Their husbands, dads and son-in-law are on the sub.