Beach Trip: Part Three

Assateague Adventure!

We had our first boatride! We chose the Assateague Adventure, which includes a landing on Assateague Island halfway through. The boys were so excited! They were very patient waiting for the boat to head out to sea.

Joey and Andy liked looking out and watching the water slip by, and the houses and boats in the harbor. Joey liked the patterns the water made as the boat slipped through it. We also passed the Duckaneer, a boat that looked like a pirate ship. Maybe we'll go on that adventure next year!

Andy also liked to show his brother stuff, like the ponies on Assateague, and some of the big boats. He also liked exploring some of the tanks on the boat- with horseshoe crabs and urchins in them! Fortunately, once the boat got going, the boys didn't have to stay seated, they could walk around the boat. Andy would have gone crazy.

My handsome boy sure liked being on the boat, even if it made him a little sleepy. It was also a little chilly, but we did OK in our long clothes. Some of the other folks on the trip looked cold.

We toured the Ocean City harbor before heading out to the island, so we got to see the big fishing boats and trawlers. The guide pointed out boats for fishing, clamming, and even collecting whelks. Andy got to show a whelk shell to the rest of the passengers on the way home.

The boat landed at Assateague, and we disembarked with nets to catch stuff in the water and check out what we found. Everything had to be left behind, though. Andy was eager to get out there and start looking!

We had to take off our shoes to keep the sand off the boat. When we came back, they hosed everybody off and checked to be sure everything we found was left behind. They let a couple of kids take some shells, but all the seaweed and sand had to stay put.

The boys wandered along the edges of the island looking for stuff to net. We rolled up the pants and got busy searching for cool stuff!

Some of the other passengers went into areas marked "closed for preservation of endangered species", which we didn't appreciate. We stuck to the shore, off the grasses and mudflats. Assateague is a barrier island, so it is constantly changing.

We got to see some of the ponies and some herons, but not the deer we saw last time. that's OK. We'll be back!

Joey found a few shells, including a spider crab shell and some clam shells. On the boat, he also got to touch an urchin, a starfish, and a horseshoe crab!

Andy's great finds included several kinds of seaweed and clam shells. This red piece was his favorite, but we also found some brown stuff, and some bright green kelp, and some seagrass (which the crabs need to breed!)

We made sure to carefully put everything back in the water that we found in the water. Andy wanted to keep his red seaweed, but we talked about how seaweeds help feed other animals, and he put that back, too. But I made sure to get a photo of it for him (which made him a lot happier about putting it back.)

Then we wandered back to the boat, and to the beach. We looked at all sorts of cool things on the boat, too. I think the boys really liked the Assateague Adventure, which was pretty cool for a first boat trip!