That looks like a nice, peaceful sunset there, Caitlin! You certainly did a great job at hiding the fact that the beach was crowded with tourists! 🙂
My main thought compositionally is that the walkway on the pier essentially merges with the horizon, so it may have been nice to position yourself so that was a little higher. This also could’ve potentially helped put a subject in the upper half of the photo, rather than basically having an empty top half and full bottom half, although I’m not sure that I mind how simple/empty the photo is.
I do think the simplicity is one of the facets that makes me think this photo portrays a mood (of peaceful calm) more so than a scene (of a sunset at a beach), which is good since the sunset isn’t naturally all that spectacular anyways. 🙂 I also really like the progression from bottom to top of tones: warm (sand), cool (water), warm (sunset), cool (sky beyond).
Nice job!