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 ;)

What we did catch

One Ghost Crab. Pretty interesting camouflage on these guys when they are young (the older ones are more or less pale yellow or off-white) Tons of Mole (Sand) Crabs. Most had eggs (as this is the season...)

Pelicans, Kites, Sand Crabs

Pictures of the pelicans squadrons. Pictures of the 3m Trainer Kite (pulls like a tractor - should be really fun in a wide open parking lot with a skateboard). And a picture of Marlon catching some last minute sand crabs. We love this beach! We left after this for Reston to get the house ready for turnover and make preparations for our extended summer vacation in the camper trailer.

More Way Late Posting (Virginia Beach Entries)

We've been on the road and I have not had steady access to high speed internet. Right now we are in Lakewood, NY and eating dinner in a Wegman's (free Wifi). These pictures are from our last trip to Virginia Beach. In between hanging out and bodysurfing, we did catch some Mole Crabs (Sand Crabs). With the water all warmed up, lots of life is in the area - small bait fish, pelican diving in for the bait fish, kids bodysurfing and sand crabs!!! Nice eyeball stalks. And a big pile of eggs. The future (of these guys) looks bright (orange).

Winterized Sand Crabs

As the water is way cold, Marlon and Noe passed on the surfing/salt emersion. But Marlon did dig a number of holes. One of those holes that was closer to the surfline had water fill it up from the bottom up. And after a few minutes Marlon had noticed there were Mole Crabs moving around in the flooded hole. Definitely smaller ones than what we catch in the Summer - and very interesting to find out that the Mole Crabs are still around, just much deeper than their summertime surface jaunts.