Rainbows

Some of the beauty here at Pea Island makes all of the wind, non-potable water and rust minor inconveniences. here are a couple of shots of a rainbow that our fellow work camper Diane took the other day. Tough life, but someone has to live it.

When you are looking at this kind of thing, it is hard to keep a blog current. Stick around because there is some really interesting stuff coming up.

Entertainment

There is something for couples and families to do around here everyday. The refuges alone have enough free programs for adults and kids whereby most families with kids would be hard pressed to turn up any boredom. Here at Pea Island there are bird walks lead by experienced birders, animal adaptations program, turtle program and a program called Sound Side Discovery. Kids love the Sound Side Discovery program because they get to use a seine net in the sound and come up with crabs, fish and shrimp. Then there are the fee canoe trips lead by the interns.

Alligator River Refuge has programs on red wolves and bears as well as offering canoe trips through a different ecosystem. Then comes the really good stuff. The North Carolina School of the Arts offers free plays, musicals, and showcases of various talents six nights a week.

Want a little more for the kiddies to do? The school also has a number of daytime programs for the kiddies at various venues which includes music and child centered plays. The educational opportunities for kids are fantastic. Bored yet? How about a little college summer league baseball?

I'm sorry that I didn't explain more about the plays and the Festival Park venue in Manteo. People bring their own chairs, sit on blankets with drinks,food, goodies of all kinds and just generally enjoy the evening with some first rate talent. So far this week we have attended "A Comedy of Errors" and tomorrow night we will attend a Red, White and Blue music program.



Okay, so the performing arts aren't your cup of tea. How about a sail board competition or a kite flying competition at the Wright Brothers Memorial? Don't forget, you can spend a day visiting the four outer banks lighthouses. Here at Pea Island we have a shipwreck from 1862 which is still visible in the ocean not far off the beach.

Tomorrow night we will be taking egg salad sandwiches, crackers, spinach dip and liquid refreshment to the Red White and Blue music show. We'll sit back, be entertained for a couple of hours and forget about the ills of the world. Wish you could be here with us.

Reasons for late posts

Somewhere between five and five-thirty each morning, Junior gets up and wants to go out to do the dirty deed. As a result, I've gotten into the habit of walking the boys for three to four miles each morning, on the beach.

We see some outstanding sunrises with lots of color and varieties of texture.

I thought I'd throw these in so that everyone can see how deprived we feel on a daily basis.This area is truly gorgeous.

Early in the morning, everything takes on a freshness or softening and, as a result, one feels renewed. I guess the relationship between mother sea and humans can't be overlooked.

Rough Seas

Last week we had some rough surf conditions with waves up to twelve feet. There was an awesome amount of beach erosion, which can be expected on such a dynamic barrier island.

Will, being the confirmed surfer guy, insisted on surfing in the rough water. We were concerned for his safety since the seas were really mixed up and just getting out past the breakwater was tough. Of course there were also rip tide warnings.

Patty asked Will to not go out unless someone else was with him, in case he got in trouble and help needed to be summoned. Being the level headed guy that he is, Will agreed and preceded to have a ball surfing. I got tired just watching him going through the breakwater.

He caught a couple of good waves and appeared to have a ball in the rough water. Since surfing means a great deal to him, we were pleased to see him have such a good time. Will is obviously in great shape to be able to handle these surf conditions for an extended period of time.





Our intrepid surfer came out of the water tired with a grin on his face, and Patty and I breathed a sigh of relief.

Sea Turtle Nests

Turtle patrols go out early each morning looking for crawls. The crawls are evidence of turtles coming onto the beach and then exiting. These are the first signature a sea turtle leaves when they come onto the beach to lay eggs in what is obviously a very laborious task. For some reason, not all crawls result in the turtle laying eggs because for some unknown reason a turtle will turn around and head back to sea. These non-egg laying crawls are called false crawls.

When a crawl is discovered, the intern on duty is notified and they contact a biologist. The intern and the biologist will usually excavate the nest and move it to a safer place on the beach. Data as to nest location, size, number of eggs, size of eggs and most importantly the type of turtle are recorded.Anyone who has dug at the beach knows this is hot and sandy work. Will and Kris are excavating a nest in this photo.

This is the way a turtle nest looks when the camouflaging sand is removed and the eggs are exposed. The eggs look very much like ping pong balls.