Everyone needs a protector, especially turtles

June 4

Let's just say that "gentle coercion" has taken on new meanings for me in the past few days.  Getting Arnie into his crate has become a timely ritual of him watching me put treats into his crate, him pretending like he is not interested, walking around the crate, trying to sneak the treats out without actually going in, going in halfway and scooting out backwards, me ignoring him, and finally him warily entering the crate after about 7 minutes of the ritual.  Me closing the gate behind him and pretending like I don't see those huge puppy dog eyes looking at me.  I wish we didn't have to crate him, but believe it or not, I think he rests better in the crate than roaming around the house or apartment (who knows where we live these days, we've been traveling so much).  There is proverbial light at the end of the tunnel.  Today, after a particularly long game of pretending not to see each other, I left the room, and Arnie, after another minute, resignedly walked in to the crate, sat down and waited for me to close the gate.   It felt like a small measure of success. 

In other news, Sunset Beach is wonderful. This part is especially for my family, who know surrounding details of all of what I might say.  The one lane bridge is no longer.  Massive, futuristic two lane bridge is open and running, and surprisingly, might actually be better for the island.  No more waits, no more man power on the one lane bridge all the time, the whole structure is gone, and the little house in the center that regulated opening and closing, now resides in a parking lot behind Sharks.  Sharks on the other hand, is still there, and is still having it's closeout sale.  The Kindred Spirit mailbox is also missing.  Today I walked to the South Carolina border, and could find only an American flag, no poetry or notes.  It was a little sad, but this trip seems to be about change for me, so it symbolically fitting.  Also, it being the 4th of July weekend (week) the beach is the busiest I have ever seen it.  Today we drove down to the 40th street walkway, just so we could get out of the thick of it.  Walking towards Bird Island, we found some space without another family or couple on top of us.  We had an unobstructed, direct view of the ocean.  And then some kids showed up.  It's the way it goes.

I am hoping that I just couldn't find the  Kindred Spirit mailbox, maybe it was covered by sand, or I didn't walk far enough.  Too much change in one year is hard to take.  (Internet photo)

I finally went to the Sunday night Turtle Talk, that I've always wanted to catch in all the years we've been coming here.  It was geared toward children, but informative, and now I know what loggerhead turtle tracks look like leaving the ocean.  There are so many nests on the island that have been identified and protected, it is a really safe space for the turtles to bury her eggs.  The turtle society of Sunset Beach is on call all day and all night to come and protect the turtles leaving the ocean and laying eggs.  When the hatch begins, it's the same.  A turtle protector will help transport the baby turtles to the water by keeping the predators away and by digging a trough to the ocean.  Only 1 in a 1000 loggerhead turtles makes it to adulthood, so it's imperative that all of them get a chance in the water.  The society also protects the nests from the ghost crabs, gulls and unkind tourists by building barriers around them to ensure that people know it's a nest, and that critters can't dig up the eggs so easily.

The lady at the turtle talk said that it's safe to walk next to the turtles.  (Internet photo.)