How does Robert Browning describe the beach in the poem "Meeting at Night"?

In the first stanza, the speaker describes the beach from his perspective in a boat heading back to the shore. He describes "the long black land" and then, as he gets closer, he describes the boat "quench(ing) its speed i' the slushy sand" of the beach. The onomatopoeic consonance of "quench" and "slushy sand" creates a rather tactile impression of the soft, wet, sticky sand.
In stanza two, the beach is described as welcoming and idyllic. It is "warm (and) sea-scented." Here, Browning draws upon multiple senses to evoke a vivid, immersive impression of the beach. However, the speaker does not pause on the beach, as one might at first expect, but instead hurries across the beach and then across the fields to be once more united with his loved one on the farm. Thus the beach becomes significant not as a place in its own right but rather as a symbol of the speaker's homecoming. It represents the welcoming, warm embrace of his loved one, and "the two hearts beating each to each!"