Wednesday, June 1, 2016

We walked along the boardwalk this morning to Neptune's Park.  There is an enormous statue of King Neptune there.  I posted a picture of it to Facebook.  I haven't tried to upload pictures to the blog yet.

After we got back, we got ready to go out on Cheseapeake Bay to look for shells.  Becky's brother, Richard, picked us up at the parking area just before you go across the 18 mile bridge that also has two tunnels.  Becky's son and two grandchildren came also.  When we got to the boat launch, the weather looked threatening and the water was getting quite choppy.  Two boats came in that were quite a bit larger than Richard's and the guys who were planting oyster beds recommended that we not go out with a small boat.  I think his looked like it was about 14', maybe 16' at the most.  Anyway, when Captain Buddy got there, they huddled and decided to go anyway.  He had a much larger boat so 5 of us went with him and Becky and Richard went in his boat.

We bounced along and went to a small island to pick up shells.  On the way, the 5 year old asked me how deep the water was.  I said I didn't know because I hadn't ever been there before.  Not 5 minutes later, Buddy cut the engine.  A minute after that he wades past me pulling on the boat!  Then Scott walked by on the other side pulling the boat.  The water was about two feet deep and we were on a sandbar because our captain went around the wrong marker.  It finally got deep enough for us to continue on.

When we got off the boats, the kids and Stella and I started looking for shells.  Tons of shells were there.  All kinds of shells.  Richard carried a bag and I put in at least 10 conch shells, as well as smaller ones.  It was amazing.  Stella had a bag and the kids, 3 and 5 years old, helped her fill it up.  Scott, their dad, had a 5 gallon bucket that they almost filled.  He could barely carry it but they were so excited to pick things up that there was no stopping them.  It rained just a little for a few minutes but we were lucky that the storm went around us.  It was still stormy looking but hadn't rained when we got off the water.  We then went to Stingrays to eat, a local restaurant that had great seafood.

We were all tired and wind blown when we got back but it was a great day.  After visiting in Florida, North Carolina, and now Virginia, we are beginning to understand just what southern hospitality means.