Seabrook Island, or (My time In Paradise) Day 2 Part1

The beach called to me..... and mom actually. After a great breakfast, we ran onto the sandy shore. The surf of the sea rippled against our toes, and I and raced into the sea itself, allowing the sea to drench the bottoms of my jeans.

At Camp Christopher, they don't think up creative names for the places, fields and buildings. Our meeting place for example; it is called The Place. (Not joking) On the way over I had found, what our new guide Jen said was a Horse Shoe Crab Test. Right now, the very same test is on my back porch, letting the rain and sun to peel the sand from it. It has been two weeks, it still hasn't come off. On our way to the beach, we tried the leaves off the tooth ache tree. Chew the leaves, your mouth will numb. The native Americans used the leaves for, you guessed it, tooth ache! But that wasn't all of the strange trees here, one is called the Something -vomitous. Ummmm, take out the something. The natives would make a tea out of the leaves of the --- vomitous tree and after a few minutes, they would throw up. They thought that would cleanse them. Also, it was good if they ate something poisonous! Especially since there was no Poison Prevention company back then! ;)

We found at least twenty jellyfish on the beach! I touched two of them, and held one of them. Now I know you think I am nuts, but these Cannonball Jellys aren't venomous! But just warning you, don't touch any others you see on the beach, UNLESS a Naturalist is with you. We also found: a few hermit crabs, shells, dead man's finger coral, sea weed, driftwood, but what was very very cool was the sea oats.

Sea oats are protected by the government, because so many people enjoy using them for home decorating. Now, you can not pick them, unless you want to pay $250 or more. Each stalk is worth $250 dollars you see. But the neatest thing was is that for every one foot of sea oats above ground, there is six feet UNDERGROUND!! That is what holds the sand dunes together! Now, before you move on off of this website, I have to tell you about the dreaded, MUD PIT! Those of you who already know about it, just go and move on. The mud pit is off the beach a ways, so we tromped through a bunch of soggy sand until the guide said, "Now adults, if you want, you can take off through the dry route, " some of the kids tried to head that way but..."And one adult must stay with the children, yes, kids, you must go through the wet way."

The only non-wimp was.....(drum roll please) MY MOM!!! In the picture, (which is not the mud pit ) my mom is the beautiful cute girl in green <3>

esquary afterward, which felt awesome in comparison to the mud . I hung out on the lodge deck afterward, with my MP3 player and The Tale of Despereaux. We went on a nature walk after lunch, with our new tour guide TJ .He was really nice, and helped explain all the hard, college style stuff in simple launguge! The woods were on top of the used to be sand dunes! Besides seeing the beautiful forest, rotting logs, ext. I loved the rope bridge!

The rope bridge is actullly used when the rainy season comes, because the ground below is flooded! I have learned from personal experience, go barefooted, it is way easier! If you leaned to much, on one side or the other, you will start to tip , and not to say much, but it can be embaressing. The girl in gray is me! Mom took the picture.

Right now I will leave you at a cliff hanger, because this post is not supposed to be over yet,

but, I need to do something else besides be online all day! I will write more about day two,

ASAP!

Sea Brook Island or ( My Time in Paradise) Day #1

It was going to be fun, I could see that. It was going to be tough at times, I could see that. It was going to be an adventure, I could taste that! Mom and I were going to go to Sea Brook island, of the coast of the lower part of SC. We were staying at the Saint Christopher camp. The camp was very Eco oriented, and a nature haven. Mom and I would take classes with other groups for three days, sleeping in lodges or cabins. We got the lodge, a two story hotel-like building on sturdy, elevated poles. (Flood proofing) The lodge overlooked the estuary, the place where fresh water meets the sea. We often would take walks along the beach, seeing dolphins, jellyfish, shells and even horseshoe crab tests! The classes were awesome! One neat one was animal tracking! Our guide, Lucy, showed us how to track, deer, raccoons, squirrels, ext. Deer are very easy, because of their big foot prints, and the marks they make on trees. She told and helped us find ant lions. They live in a little tiny indention in the sand. The ant lion waits for an ant or other bug to fall in, and he will eat them up! While tracking, we saw a little green rough snake in a bush. Rough snakes aren't poisonous, so she let us pet it. But that wasn't all of our reptile adventures!

One of my favorite classes was an Amphibians and Reptile class. I personally thought that the corn snakes were absolutely awesome. Have you ever held a snake? How about a big one? If you have, and you naturally love snakes, you can explain the wonderful feeling, of it gripping close to your arms, plopping its head against your chest; what a experience! The salamander was my second favorite. It has a covering of mucus on its skin, so that way it won't dry out. However, the salamander didn't choose me as his favorite. Oh, no. He scampered all over my hands, (slowly) until I had to pass it on so that way someone else could have the little beast try to escape them too. :) They also brought out an alligator and a pair of turtles. (Hate those turtles, they kept urinating all over the place!! ) The alligator cried practically the whole time he was out of his enclosure. You maybe are wondering how can alligators cry. They make a noise like "Ennn Ennn" and according to Lucy, that is how alligators cry. I have to include a picture of Lucy and the alligator . WARNING: The picture looks terrifying for people who don't like baby alligators. Yes, it was a baby. But still, if you use flash, and a face recognition setting, it will look rather scary. Oh, I touched it. :)