I’ve been mooned!

Betsy and Terry were here for the last great week of kayaking in the gulf. 

 The water was crystal clear and the surf was low. We kayaked for hours over fleets of manta rays, scuttling  blue crabs, and silly leaping mullet. And Betsy even paddled within 10 feet of a family of  dolphins frolicking just off the sand bar. It was amazing. 

But Ida had ushered in the jelly fish, and they were always at our elbows as we paddled about in our recreational kayaks, just inches from our hands.  ACK! 

Terry had been intrigued by the gelatinous creatures and assured us he had stepped on several, with no adverse effects – he lied! 

On Friday we resolved to take the ferry across to Dauphin Island, but it was COLD .  

Betsy & Terry on the ferry

 When we arrived on Dauphin Island we headed to the Estuarium.   http://estuarium.disl.org/

 My boys were grown and gone by the time it opened (and I was traumatized by repeated visits to the USS Alabama in the heat of August) so I had never visited the aquarium on Dauphin Island. I’m sorry, I had missed an amazing experience  ’for want of  a child’!

 The Estuarium was fabulous, but a display of moon jelly fish was educational. They do sting!  http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Aurelia_aurita

 

 Later,  we took off on the scenic Dauphin Island bicycle paths for lunch at Barnacle Bill’s (call to be sure they have crab cakes), then to the Audubon park before returning on the ferry.

 I would recommend the trip as a 4-star destination! 

(It sure beats my adventure  with Betsy into the Bon Secour Wildlife Area where she stepped on a Pygmy Rattlesnake or our attempts to collect driftwood!  )

ACK

Moon jellies

Growing pains

My poor Stone Crab has been raised on shrimp and flounder (poor guy) since he was rescued from the drying driftwood last fall. But last week the storms dislodged some barnacles and he had fresh shellfish for the very first time!   I found a little clan of shells on the tip of a bamboo stalk and he attacked it like a kid with cotton candy when I dipped it in the aquarium.

Barnacles on a stick

 

The tank was littered with little shells within minutes and he crawled under the giant cockerel shell for a siesta.

Yummy!

But two days later he had completely removed every pebble from his corner of the little tank. No mean feat when each little rock has to be transported individually to the other side of the aquarium!

And he started to molt, again.

The next morning I was confused when I looked at the tank, he seemed to be sitting on top of his driftwood – normally he hides for a few days after molting. 

Then I discovered he had carefully taken his discarded shell and arranged it on the top of his driftwood!!!!  What????

I left it just as he arranged it, but the next morning it was dismembered and scattered throughout the tank. What?????

Ouch

I doubt anyone has made a study of crab behavior that would explain this bizarre action.

But then I doubt there are many people with a little crab in a tank next to the computer  observing the daily comings and goings of an adolescent Stone Crab….

Absolutely bizarre – maybe I should write a children’s book about my little under-water spider….. “Charlotte’s Shell”

But who would believe it??

My decorator crab

Cat’s Pause

In preparation for my trek north to Kentucky this weekend, Sarah’s home was changed to protect the innocent (from the hungry). I don’t think the crabs will starve in one week, but if they get hungry the roommate might look attractive – and not in a good way! It’s safer to put Sarah into the crab protection program than to try to devise a way for her to hide from Blue… 

So I moved Sarah into a bowl with sand, driftwood, and seashells and relocated her to the glass table where she seemed to be very comfortable – until Isabelle caught a glimpse of something moving.

She watched patiently while Sarah made herself at home in the new bowl, then she pounced and discovered, to her surprise,  that Sarah lived under water… darn it.

Crab Cocktail

So she investigated a little further and decided she would try to drink her way to the crab  (that’s my girl!).  

But I forgot to add tequila to the salt encrusted on the rim of the bowl, so she gave up after only a few minutes.

I was busy packing, so I put the camera down and left the room for a while.

 When I came back in and saw her, I realized suddenly that my Isabelle was truly an ‘old soul’ who understood advanced spacial concepts and the value of a good crab dinner. She had decided to try an ‘underground’ attack through the pane of glass.   Even Sophie was laughing with me!

A radical approach

 Isabelle  didn’t get crab that night, but she did have several steamed shrimp for dinner! 

 

Editor’s note: I tried to post this repeatedly before I left for Kentucky, but CenturyTel was having another bad day…..