Hobe Sound

Peeling coconuts!

Sisterly love...

Gopher Turtle

Praying Mantis

Pelican

Miss you all!

Is there something on my shoulder?

Hi Everybody!

              We're anchored in a cool place called Hobe Sound,  It is really beautiful here!  There are little sand beaches all around us.  Yesterday, Wren and I found some coconuts.  They were washed up on the sand beaches.  We peeled the husks with the claw of a hammer.  Then we split the nut open with a chisel.  It was hard work.  We tried banging them open with a metal bar that was poking out of the ground, but that didn't work.  The insides were pretty nasty.  The first one was completely empty.  The second was rancid.  We are determined to find a good coconut in our travels.  Yesterday, we just didn't have any luck.  Anyway, now to what I actually wanted to talk about.  Our trip to the beach!  So we packed a snack and all piled into the dinghy (ding-ee) and headed for shore.  Once we got to land, we discovered a trail.  My mom and dad insisted we follow the trail but my sister and I wanted to explore the beach a little bit more.  We all eventually decided to go on the trail, which I personally was very glad we did.  We followed the path until we came to a sign that said, "trail",  that led in another direction, for not we just ignored the sign and went a little bit farther.  I was being a little bit jumpy because there were a lot of things I hadn't seen before, like prickly pear cacti, and also I didn't want to come in contact with a black widow spider.  If you haven't heard of them before, it's a good thing.  They have enough venom in them to kill 10 men.  And to make matters worse, they are very territorial.   They are just about the only creepy crawly that freak me out.  So, where was I?  Oh yeah, that's why I was jumpy.  We explored more and then I found a turtle den, or burrow, with a turtle in it.  He was awesome!   Later I found out he was a gopher turtle.  There were signs on the side of the trail that told you what things were nearby.  There were lots of sand dunes that we walked over.  I looked up at the trees and thought about how many hurricanes and storms they must have survived.  Some trees even need forest fires to disperse their seeds.  The trail did a loop and we ended up back at the gopher turtle's burrow.  There was one more path we hadn't followed yet.   As we neared the end of the path, we came upon a building.  It was a nature center!  It was actually the Hobe Sound National Wildlife Refuge.  As we went in, there were all kinds of cool animals.  There were some awesome tree frogs, bug larvae, crickets, a corn snake, and best of all, a boa constrictor!  A lady came out of a room and welcomed us.  Then she asked us if we wanted to hold the boa!  Of course we both said YES!  So she took the boa out of his tank and handed it to us.  She explained that the snake was harmless and was once a pet.  He was so thick and big.  He wrapped around my arms.  Then it was time for him to go back into his tank so we moved on to the next room.  She said we were lucky to be here when we were because the birds were here.  We saw what she meant when we entered the next room.  On a fake tree sat two cool birds;  a red tailed hawk and a barred owl.  They were really neat.  She also showed us a box turtle and another gopher turtle.  There were also other animals like a cute spotted skunk, sea horses, and some cool lizards.  There was also a crocodile and two alligators.  She took them out of their tanks and let us pet them.  It was a lot of fun.  There was also a gift shop.  All too soon, it was time to go.  We said goodbye to the animals and hiked back to the beach.  We all got in the dinghy and motored back to Kiawah, ready for tomorrow's day of fun. 

Love you all,

Riley