Turtles!

Sunday while visiting family staying down the beach from us, we chanced across the turtle hospital staff releasing 90 newly hatched sea turtles. The nest failed to hatch on its own during the full moon a few days ago so they uncovered it, took the eggs back to the hospital, "shelled" the turtles for lack of a better word, and were in the process of releasing them while we were taking our evening stroll. There were about 70 people lined along the runway (It looked like some sort of cult) they smoothed out for the turtles and while one worker stood in the surf holding a flashlight, simulating the full moon, a few others were prodding them along the runway. The photo above is one borrowed and not from the night of the release. "Go squirt! You totally rock dude!"

Link to the sea turtle hospital - http://www.seaturtlehospital.org/photoalb.html

We've actually seen nests hatch naturally in the past and it's always been a brief event lasting about 15 minutes. These little guys in this group were definitely in no hurry. We were there for about 40 minutes before they all crawled in. The down side of that is that those turtles had better show a little more initiative in the water because there are plenty of predators waiting for them and the odds are against them. The up side is that the kids had a long time to take in the experience. Seeing how small they are as hatching's really made them see just how vulnerable they are.

Lisa's been having a blast. I promise pictures will be coming soon. 50 SPF all the way for this kid. Fits right in with the rest of the McMaster's in that regard. Thomas and Chrissy are already a golden brown using the same lotion.

Hurricane Bill was a no factor for us if you don't count the high surf Friday and Saturday. We might have had a rain shower here or there complements of Bill but that's about it. It's been 90 degrees just about every day with very high humidity. With the strong inland breeze and the crashing waves and awesome view it's quite tolerable. Quite.

Other highlights? The water is about 80 degrees and even Chrissy can stay in as long as she wants without getting cold. The kids enjoy boogie boarding and playing in the waves for hours each day. Digging up baby clams and sand bugs is another pastime. Sea you soon!