Last day on Cumberland...part 2

This was awesome! No one knows when or if you will see a sub leaving or coming in to the US Naval Submarine Base in St. Mary's. This sub just happen to be heading out to sea. Usually helicopters escort the sub out since it really cannot protect itself at the surface, but we think due to the weather, the helicopters were unable to fly. John says the continental shelf is 60 miles off shore, so the sub cannot dive until it reaches that point.




Johnathan all packed up and ready to leave with John. They are standing at the bottom of the steps leading to John's, borrowed, apartment above the ranger station. A neat fact...this apartment was built over Charles Fraser's real estate office. He is the man who developed Hilton Head Island and planned to do the same to Cumberland. With the help of the Carnegie family who owned a great deal of the land and the conservationists of Georgia, the island was never developed and became a national seashore in 1972 when President Nixon signed the bill.









Here, Uncle John is swearing Johnathan in as a Junior Ranger. He now holds a Junior Ranger badge and a Cumberland Island National Seashore patch.
The Junior Ranger Motto is "Explore, Learn, Protect."








The National Park Service emblem.


















This is actually in the ranger station, but we saw these egg cases that look kind of like a snake skin, all over the beach.











Uncle John, Johnathan, and I on the porch of the ranger station.












Grandaddy, Johnathan, John, Grandma, and I on the front porch of the ranger station.












This is the Dungeness Dock which is the first stop on the way in and last stop on the way out.












Goodbye, Uncle John! See you in a week!


















That sandy area is where we drove during low tide to the dredge piles. It's not low tide now, and not high tide either.











This is back on the mainland in a store. We're not sure if this alligator was ever real, but it's fun to take pictures with it. The guy even let Johnathan sit on it for a picture.

Last day at Cumberland

We saw these fiddler crabs from the dock at low tide. One claw is larger than the other. When they fight, that claw might be snipped off. If it is, the other claw will grow larger.










The Cumberland Lady leaving the island, headed back to the mainland.

















Uncle John trying to catch fish with a net. No luck!












Johnathan with his disappointed look that he hasn't caught anything yet.

















Grandaddy reeling something in....


















This is shark #1. Shark #2 was much bigger, but I don't have a picture of it on my camera. They were both sand tiger sharks.











This is Grandaddy's third catch, an eel. It kept moving, even after its' head was cut off.

No pictures of the 2 croakers and catfish I caught or the one that got away. (The catfish wasn't even large enough to eat!)











The Cumberland Island road. The spanish moss drapes the trees and the resurrection ferns grow on limbs looking dead, but when a good rain comes, they are bright green again.









A hog's skull. The hogs do not really have any natural predators on the island, so they are hunted under strict control.













A green tree frog on the back porch of the kitchen.

Last day on the island...2

The black triangle is a shark tooth.













Johnathan's megalodon shark tooth. It measures about 2.5 inches which means this shark, at the time it lost its' tooth, was approximately 25 feet long. That's a little over half as long as a school bus.









This is the tooth in Johnathan's hand. Megalodon is an extinct shark, larger than Great Whites. It lived 25 to 1.5 million years ago.













Johnathan with a Loggerhead sea turtle skull. The pronounced beak lets you know that it's a Loggerhead. Since these are endangered, you cannot remove any of these from the island.










Johnathan with the turtle skull on his head.


















The "Turtle Girls" house.

Last full day on the island

I'm a little late getting all this together and finished. We've been home almost a week now.

Another armadillo, maybe the same one, digging.













Johnathan (pretending) to fish.













Those buildings in the distance...are in Florida!













We were on our way to look for shark teeth in the dredge pile. This picture was taken at low tide. This area is covered with water during high tide.











White-tail deer.













Uncle John showing Johnathan how to find shark teeth.












Uncle John and Grandaddy.













Johnathan finding shark teeth.

The Highlight of Day 2 (Well, so far...)

This has been the highlight of the trip so far!!!!

Even, Even More 2 of Cumberland Island

Johnathan helping Amanda to dig a hole for the hatched eggs.













Sarah handing Johnathan the baby sea turtle. This one was alive in the nest but hadn't made it out yet.











Me holding the baby sea turtle.













Johnathan sat in the shade of the truck when he got tired.












Johnathan fell asleep on the way back.













Birds from inside the truck.

Even More of Day 2 on Cumberland Island

Johnathan helping with excavation. After the eggs have hatched, they uncover the nest. They count the hatched eggs, the duds, and any dead. Then they bury those behind the dunes.















Sarah, Johnathan and I working on an excavation. I'm pulling out the eggs.












Flowers on the beach. I'm not sure what their name is.













A Loggerhead sea turtle egg that did not hatch.













Johnathan helping Amanda put up the marker and materials used to protect the nest.