I don’t know about you but I’m pretty beat this morning after spending more than 12 hours at the beach this weekend.

Berkeley Beach Patrol boat
Berkeley Beach Patrol boat (Kevin Williams, Townsquare Media NJ)
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It was THE perfect beach weekend with plenty of sunshine, cool ocean breezes, warm water, low tide at the right time, all the ingredients for a perfect 10!  It also appeared to me that there were more people on the beach than any other weekend this summer as parking spaces were tough to find in Seaside Park and Seaside Heights.

Sunday morning I ended up taking a long walk on the beach, from North Avenue in Seaside Park to Island Beach State Park.  I stopped in South Seaside Park to say hello to Tiffany Masuhr, who is now in charge of the Berkeley Beach Patrol after working under her father Ken for many years.  He has retired after 46 years on the beach and passed on the baton on to his daughter, who started lifeguarding as a teen-ager.  Nice to see the Masuhr tradition continuing.

During my walk I couldn’t help but notice the number of people who have large parts of their bodies occupied by tattoos.  This is nothing really new but you notice it more on the beach because in some cases so little of the body is covered by bathing suits and bikinis.  I’m not talking about the small tattoo on the shoulder or maybe ankle but ones that run just about the entire length of the back or side of the body and thigh and calf area as well.

I have seen young men and women this summer who have little skin area not covered by ink and quite often they are a couple. I guess those who get tattoos together stay together.

A tattooed model
A tattooed model (Photo by Oli Scarff/Getty Images)
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What one does to their body is their own business but I really don’t understand the reason for having most of it covered by figures, quotes and assorted other art work.  Recent statistics show that nearly a third of those admit to being addicted to ink and about 1-in-5 say they have some regret after getting a tattoo.  Amazingly some 40% of adults in America between the ages of 26-40 have at least one and

31% say it makes them feel sexy. I guess some of them don’t have mirrors.  Seriously,  it’s clear that tattoos are not just a fad but I still wonder how they will feel in their old age with all that colored and sagging skin.

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