Family Adventure - Day One (Thursday)

Thursday morning my family arrived for their Ossabaw Island adventure.  Don't get this confused with a vacation, as there's not much time for relaxing around here.  Immediately the fun began as the boat left the dock.  As loud as it was the wind, my Dad couldn't help but ask lots of questions.  Once on the island, I drove them around in the pickup, Jen and Kevin getting their first taste of the bumpy ride in the back.  We went to the guest house to drop off the luggage.  Soon Steve arrived home and my Mom was antsy for some action.  Everyone decided that we'd head for Bradley Beach.  We put some benches in the back and hopped in.  I sat in the back with Dad, Jen, and Kevin.  They got their first sights of the uplands and marshes as we traveled the 45 minutes to the beach.  There wasn't a plan once we got there, so Steve drove north, showing them our 100+ nests and a recent turtle crawl.  Immediately after my Mom was out of the truck, her beach combing began.  She was excited about the things she started finding, and that excitement never waned.  Lots of shells, sand dollars, and other neat things were collected during her time here.  By the time we hit the north tip of Bradley it was about 1:00, and very, very hot.  We all agreed to get out of the heat so we headed back to the house.  

Once back, we came up with our next game plan.  Steve and Dad headed to the culvert to bait and set lots of traps, hoping to have a blue crab feast one night.  The rest of us went to the midden to collect mussels for dinner.  Upon arrival at the bridge, only Jen had the guts to follow me into the mud.  After some hesitation, she maneuvered to the spot and reached in.  Jen quickly got over the slimy mud and was pulling out large groups of mussels.  Since I was the only one with proper shoes, I tried to collect mussels away from the common spot.  I ended up in mud past my knees, and later, even though she tried not to, Jen was knee deep in mud too, even losing her flip flop (which we soon recovered).  While we were hunting/gathering (both seem to fit), Mom and Kevin walked to the shell midden to look around.  When they got back, Jen and I cleaned off the mud and we walked back to the truck.  By this point, we all needed to cool off.  We split up and I went home to clean the mussels for dinner.  Soon I was joined by Steve and we finished scrubbing each one.  Steve continued prepping dinner: mussels and spaghetti for us, and grilled burgers for Dad and Codey.  Lots of beer and conversation passed the rest of the night and by 9:00, we called it as everyone was eager to hit the beach early with hopes of finding a loggerhead nest the next morning.