hi everybody. Im back! One thing I've done so far... I touched a SHARK! It was slimy and a little furry feeling. Eww. It was a baby but we also caught a 2 foot one. Today... June 24, 2012...day 21 ... we got on the road at 7:30 and drove. We have been driving all day while I was sleeping soundly having dreams in the back seat. My dreams were mostly simple ones. I don't remember what they were. But o'well. Tomorrow we are driving home, I'm planning to sleep, and we are all excited for being home. I know I will be able to share many endeavors with family and friends. My mind feels like it is about to explode with all of the exploits we have shared in the past 3 weeks.
Last week we went shrimp trawling and we ate the shrimp we caught. And opa had the job of popping the heads off. May I remind you it was with his bare hands and sometimes the eyes popped out first. Thats just gross. Then the next day the grandparents toured and the kids went to the beach to go seigning ...thats fishing off shore with a net. The kids also got to swim. Erica, Andrew, Harrison and I went body surfing though. That was really fun. Erica and Andrew are twins so it was fun to hang out with them. Erica and I are friends. And then after the separate activities we all met up for lunch. We ate lunch at R.J Reynolds mansion. We had a bafet. In the basement there was bowling alley so Erica and I got to set up the pins. In the upstairs was a circus room. It was like kid paradise. On friday we learned about reptiles, and that lunging snakes swallow a frog whole, waiting for the frog to inflate its lungs in defense, to finish the meal with popping the frog in the snakes mouth. I gaged when she told us.
What I thought about the whole experience....
Well first off I think the whole friendship and kids was the best part. Everybody was nice and made friends. A boy told us that the best part of the trip for him was meeting and becoming friends with all of us. I had to agree. It was fun meeting everyone. I loved the leaders. Annmarie and Rusty. They were so funny and nice. Rusty and Annmarie made the trip 10 times better. If I would have to rate the week 1 through 5 it would be.. 5 out of 5. it was that good. I recommend it. Well love you all
Bye,
Tori
Susan
At the end of a 22 day Road Trip nothing is as orderly as at the beginning...
Nothing has felt quite so dark as the beach ...at night...with NO moon. However, Mother Nature had a surprise for us: "biofluorescence"! an organism in the seaweed that you will have to google since we were allowed NO FLASHLIGHTs so we would not disturb any Mamas we might find, and thus, no notes to write down a multi consonant word. We had a perfect Milky Way above us and felt we could see the curve of the earth on the wave line before us. ...and biofluorescence to guide our feet. What more can you ask for?
There are volunteers in jeeps patrolling dusk to dawn to see, tag and protect the mothers beaching to lay their 120+ eggs. These clever people also had cell phones to call our naturalist to beckon us to just the correct spot.
There are no photos of this once in a lifetime event for us...only the red lighted naturalists could illuminate the site...turtles don't see red and so we don't disturb them.
She had come here the night before and decided not to stay...thought better of it and returned. She laid her 2 foot deep nest-ful of eggs in 10 minutes! a seasoned mom for sure!..( they can take 45 min to 6 hours) We watched her cover her tracks and then laboriously but efficiently take her 250+ pounds back to the surf. By the end we were all quietly urging her on. She will not return to these eggs and they will hatch in about 60 days (protected by the locals against predators of all sorts). She might repeat this process 2 or 3 more times this season, and then take 2 or 3 years to regain the strength to do it all over again. One out of a thousand will survive to be a 35 year old mama hitting the beach for the first time. It was AWESOME.
We quietly returned to the bus...saw a golden orb spider nest on the way (wow)...and went home to bed...Nature is more than incredible
the spider web
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