My favorite part of The Beach Life is reliving weekends past. These past few days were particularly memorable.

On Friday, Ocean City was invaded. The marauders came by the thousands and reportedly covered the beaches from Cape Henlopen, Del., to Myrtle Beach, S.C.

They came by sea, washing up on the sand like Navy S.E.A.L.S. preparing to attack a domestic enemy. Children threw sand at them and girls ran away screaming. The intruders swarmed and moved up and down the beach at will. The northeasterly winds aided their flight to the dunes.

Grasshoppers. By the millions. Everywhere.

No one knew why they were here. Usually when Ocean City is invaded by bugs, it's when the wind blows from the west and the flies coast in from the Eastern Shore farms. This time, the grasshoppers seemed to ride the waves to the coast. (Just to make sure I wasn't crazy, I checked around the Internet, and found this blog that said there were 'hoppers in Fenwick Island, Del.)

Around 4 p.m., the sea gulls showed up and chowed down on the grassless grasshoppers. These were lazy birds, and they only ate the dead insects that they stumbled across.

The bugs were mostly gone on Saturday, but a few latecomers stuck around for the weekend. Here's one of the little critters from Friday.

I rejected the bars and clubs on Saturday night for a night of surf fishing with a few others. We wanted to catch a sandshark (dogfish) or a cow-nosed ray. Big hunks of squid and menhaden were the baits of choice.

We had each tangled with a few foot-long sharks when we were ready to pack up. With all but one fishing rod ready to leave, we heard a scream from one of the rods. After a 10-minute fight, which included a few jumps from whatever it was, the beast broke the line just behind the hook. When you have "the one that got away," you are allowed to pretend it was anything you want, so I'm going to assume that we hooked into the biggest fish in the ocean. It's the fisherman's way.

Here's an awful cellphone photo of one of the toothless sharks we landed. It was about 14-inches long, which is not a prize by any standard.

If you're afraid of Jaws, don't worry: these sharks are harmless. They don't have teeth and were smaller than your arm.

The weather this weekend was beyond beautiful. South winds tend to make the water chillier, and luckily, we had northerly breezes. Sunday was the perfect night to have burgers and hot dogs on the beach.

Jah Works performed at Seacrets on Sunday night, and the show was decent. There's no cover on Sunday nights, so it was nice to go and watch a quality band perform without worrying about an entrance fee.

This week is White Marlin Open week, so most of The Beach Life posts will focus on the world's biggest billfish tournament. The boats left at 3:30 a.m. Monday morning, and watching them chug out of the inlet is always a blast. Check back later this week to check on the tournament progress, and especially stay tuned on Friday, as I'll post the winners as soon as the scales close.

To watch the weigh-ins, head to Harbour Island Marina on 14th Street from 4 p.m. until 9 p.m. The most fish are on the scales between 5:30 and 7:30, but traffic and parking are absolute nightmares. Park at the Convention Center at 40th Street and hop on the trolley for $2. They'll drop you off right in front of the marina.