they do happen here - and can happen in twos or threes - my main emotion when he told me was to be mightily pissed off that i hadn't seen them. But as you didn't see anything as well and you were actually on the beach, then i am starting to think it was just those slender colums of rain out to see, which were quite beautiful in their own right, but not still not waterspouts.

What kind of conditions to they occur in, do you know? Do they happen in a calm wind, but stormy environment, or when there is other wind already around? It was pretty calm that day, but the skies did look dark and threatening and there was lightning about.