Fun at Shelltopia

We took an early morning ride out to one of our shelling spots. Unfortunately the wind and swell overpowered the low tide. We did manage to have fun, just minus the normal shelling jackpots and plethora of fishing hits. We were able to catch our first Hawaiian Mole (or Sand) Crab!!! When I caught it, I thought it was one of these Ghost Crabs that we see all over the place. La finally got to use her "new" tool (which we got a while back) - a stainless steel hand rake! It proved very useful and would have harvested tons of cowrie shells (if there were cowrie shells on the beach). Noe and I tried to catch a baby fish trapped in a small tidepool (but my skunk transferred to catching fish by hand - arggggghhhhhhhhh!!!!!!!) What was present in copious amounts were Man 'O War jellies. Here are some pictures La took (she likes the purple ;)

Beach Cleanup

My office sponsored/organized/coordinated a beach cleanup on Friday.

240 people participated and over a four hour period, they managed to collect 2.5 tons of garbage.

Everything from glass bottles, toothbrushes, plastic toys, slippers, fishing buoys, light bulbs, plastic bottle caps and much, much more lined the beaches.

A lot of the items originated from the tsunami that originated in Indonesia back in 2005.

Despite all the effort, the stuff keeps coming ashore - makes you wonder just how much is out there.

The saying "A journey of a thousand miles begins with one step" is applicable here.

And as always, the Man O War were hanging out (purple booby traps!).

Man O' War

This looks very much like the Man O' War jellyfish that used to blow into Kailua Bay while I was windsurfing there in the 90's.

Those boogers would literally jump up onto the backs on my knees while I was zooming by - talk about pain.

How ironic (or coincidental) that in the place I am trying to relearn to windsurf, these natural windsurfers and I reunite (although I hope in a non-tactile sense).

Oh - and isn't the name just so cool? Man O' War - I get all giddy just saying it (evokes a feeling of power and presence).