I don't like beaches. I hate getting sand in my shoes and underwear. I don't care for ocean water. I like woods and fresh water and snakes. That's why, when plans to meet a friend at Walden Pond (a snake-tastic place that we've not been to this year) changed to Castle Island, I was a bit grumpy. Screaming kids, exposed skin that should be always covered and no snakes. Pleh.
While we waited, at least we saw some Cormorants commandeer a small boat.
I happily pictured the Captain with his eyes pecked out, laying in a pool of blood and salt-water while this crew heckled him from the dock...
Finally, as it looked like we weren't going to meet our friends after all, Andrea went and got all logical on me. She said we should enjoy ourselves since were here. "How?", I thought... then she suggested looking for crabs.
My only real contact with picking up a crab was in the "Touch Tank" at the North Carolina Aquarium, where they had some kind of Spider Crab or King Crab or something that, when I picked him up, pinched my thumb so hard that a blood blister formed immediately under the nail! So, I approached these local guys with caution...
The shores and rocks were littered with shells and barnacles... I mean just alive with shells. Andrea found the first crab...
I got up my courage and grabbed this mellow one... it was just a molted shell...
Then we started catching live ones!!! (that first one is on a penny...)
As you see, once we realized that they don't pinch much, we weren't pussies anymore!
There were hermit crabs there too!
This guy took a stroll up my arm and it tickled!
Nature shot!! Check out that camouflage!
More Hermit Crabs!
More crabs!
Sometimes, when we lifted rocks, crabs would scurry and try to get under our shoes! (Here's my gratuitous "new hiking shoe" shot...)
These photos look like we're squashing them, but we were very careful NOT TO!
Some other things along the beach...
(Razor shell)
Sandworms... as seen in SQUIRM!!! AAAAHHHHHHHH!!!
These really long (the white part above is part of the pink part below) and gross worms...
And these tubey worm things that squirted when you poked 'em...
It looked something like this:
There were lots of Seagulls hunting crabs as well.
Imagine that... me having fun on a beach!! Once we left the "family-fun-zone" and started exploring on our own, it was a blast!! The only one more surprised than me is the Al Feldstein character on my arm!
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