That’s not to dissuade you or anyone else from doing it (I have continued!), but I think everyone should be aware of the very real danger. As they say, knowing is half the battle!
1 - https://www.npr.org/2022/05/19/1100068725/beach-holes-sand-c...
First time I went to the beach with her, I had this sudden memory blast: we should dig a hole. It is indeed a weirdly satisfying feeling which I had forgotten.
https://web.archive.org/web/20230515211304/https://toolhub.t...
It was made very clear that we were not to fuck with the creek or any other waterways, and it was serious business. We had to rip the dam apart and he told us to never do it again.
https://courses.hamilton.edu/beavers/conservation-and-destru...
> Even though the beaver destroys life, its actions give way to new life and help conserve the overall environment. The positive effects of the beaver on its environment far outweigh the negative effects.
So beavers could in principle also be damaging, but taking a long time to kill. (And, of course, nowadays a lot of organisms have come to depend on the once-toxic emissions of algae. Beavers might have a similar effect on the ecosystem.)
A good mash-up in building beach holes and water play.
The best I've done was a three tier well rounded circle about 15 feet across and it took the better part of two days for an entire house party size crew to dig. In tiers because it was sunken seating around an even more sunken firepit, to keep it out of the wind and solve the smoke-in-faces problem. While sitting on the first level your shoulders would be level with the surrounding ground. Far enough back to be above the tide, and when not in use we put traffic cones around it so it would be at least a little obvious in the dark and not a death pit. Filling it in at the end of our trip was a ballache but the only proper thing to do.
https://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/europe/hole-dublin-...
Only about 19.999 miles short if we’re talking about averages.