Day 283, Year 8: Mudflat Mania!
Date: Tuesday, August 13, 2013
Weather: Overcast Skies with Rain Mid-afternoon
Location: Eel Pond, Woods Hole, Massachusetts
Mudflat Mania! That’s the name the Cape Cod Museum of Natural History gives their guided ‘marsh mucking’ adventure at low tide. ‘Marsh mucking’ is Sam and Jonah’s name for it. Whatever you call it, we had a fantastic time doing it today along with a hundred other people. It was totally overcast and the guides kept saying that this is the perfect weather as the hot sun was not beating down us. It is about a fifteen minute walk through the marsh to get to the mudflats and then we spent well over an hour mucking about. The guides are volunteers and they are wonderful. They quietly teach the children the tricks of the trade and impart a great deal of knowledge. And there were lots of them. One guide was displaying the moon snails she had found. When we asked how she found them, she told us to look for the trails in the sand in shallow water and at the end of the trail to look for a hump of sand. She then said to scoop the hump of sand up with your hand and that you will usually have a moon snail. Sam became a moon snail maniac and collected them like crazy. Jonah and I were a little slower to catch on, but we finally found a few without Sam’s help. Before the moon snail mania, Sam and Jonah were both catching big green crabs and collecting them in their buckets. And before that it was hermit crabs. Collecting hermit crabs is something that they can easily do out on Devils Foot Island in the harbor here in Woods Hole and they have learned to catch green crabs at Woodneck Beach which is close-by, but the moon snails were new to them so they spent most of their time collecting those. I loved the way they would take off to show the guides what they had found. They are both very independent and all I have to do is hold the extra equipment, keep visual track of them, and take photos (not so easy while holding shovels, nets, and buckets). I was taking a photo of a crab they caught in a net and I noticed a small shrimp in the net as well. The boys were delighted with that find. At another point, a pre-teen boy yelled out that he had found a pregnant shrimp. Indeed, in his net he had a clump of babies. I don’t think the mother was pregnant any longer! I learn along with Sam and Jonah and I love it.
Around noon it started sprinkling rain so the whole group started heading back. We were among the first to leave the mudflats but almost the last to return as Sam and Jonah wanted to stop at every by-way and do a little exploring. We found a miniature Stonehenge that is a solar calendar for the seasons. We found an old red cedar forest being taken over by oak trees. And we just generally enjoyed our walk back. After cleaning up a bit and eating lunch in the car, as it was now raining too hard to enjoy lunch at the picnic tables, we headed into the museum. It was almost time to head home so Jonah could get a nap, but we stretched it a bit and explored some of the things we had not seen there last week. Their indoor tide pool is not a touch tank which was a bit disappointing, but the huge blue lobster and the moon jelly tank were both great. We watched a bit of a film about great white sharks, made paper helicopters to fly in a forced-air column, and on and on. I promised the boys we would return on a day when we don’t have a program to attend and just enjoy the museum at their pace. The museum is a wonderful resource and I’m so glad that both Sam and Jonah really enjoy it. We might have to bring Ollie with us next time as I think there are lots of things he would enjoy as well.
While I was out and about with Sam and Jonah, Mark was back on Windbird working on boat projects. He installed a new thermostat for our refrigerator, but unfortunately he doesn’t think that is going to solve our problems. If it doesn’t, we will need to install the new compressor that currently sits under the port side of our main cabin dining table. Mark was hoping to return the compressor and save $600+, but at this point, it’s looking like we’re going to need this compressor. Mark also worked on his consulting job and gave more thought to prioritizing boat jobs. Again I say, so much time and so little to do. But in between jobs, Mark took time to watch a mother Mallard and her new clutch of baby ducklings. Seems late in the season for new ones, but Mark sure enjoyed watching them. One little guy took off and jumped in the water. He swam out to Windbird and then went back to mamma and her other babies on the dock. So cute.
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| 130813 Day 283 Cape Cod, USA–Mudflat Mania |
