Snail City and Crab House

Finally back online, yay! One doesn't really realize how often e-mail gets checked or how much fun blogging is until you can't do it for eight days. I'm glad to be back in action, with lots of pictures to share in the next few days!

First of all, the intertidal creatures seen at Third Lagoon as mentioned in the last post. It was very bizarre, there were no snails to speak of along the beach, then as some seemingly imaginary line was crossed they speckled the rocks everywhere! I couldn't detect any difference in micro-habitat, but there must have been something that made this end of the beach a better place to hang out for a snail. Look at them all!

Here's a close up. Luckily they were all below the high tide line so it was still possible to walk along the beach without crushing them.

What would compel me to do something like lift this huge cement block that found itself in the middle of the beach? (Okay, I'll be honest, I recruited Keith to heave it up - that sucker was heavy!) Why, to look for critters underneath, of course!

We were rewarded with the sight of five little crabs that were taking shelter in the moist shade underneath. We made sure to carefully replace their house after snapping this picture of one:

Next up, some of the spring wildflowers blooming here on San Juan Island!