Today we had an awesome day on the water. The beach was beautiful - low tide - and we were on the east end with the place almost to ourselves. The strip of land above on the left is actually a sandbar - only a bit of it is out of the water at high tide, but at low tide you can walk from St Cat's to the sandbar - just be careful on the incoming tide - it comes in super fast!!!! OMG while I was almost on the sandbar Frank saw a shark in the water...right in front of HIM. He stayed on St Cats, but of course I was exploring & there was a lot of coudy water between me and him & I thought he was playing... NOT. It was probably just a little sand shark,,,he said 3-4 ft, but he still could have taken a nip at my foot just for a taste,,, so I admit I was more than a little nervous when I was up to my waist in the water and couldn't see my legs (no kidding - the water is really stirred up) Anyway, nerves aside, I was disappointed that he didn't swim my way --- or did he???? I'll never know.
Back on the beach I played Jacques Cousteau for a bit and chased the skates - they were all over!!! We finally netted one and got some photos - she was just a baby. I had a lot of fun trying to catch them though, and hoping I wouldn't step on them since they bury their bodies in the sand (and visibility is awful - like 2 feet) I'd see just their tails & think I was gonna step on them when they'd take off like lightning & leave me in a cloud of....well, cloudy, sandy water. 
I remembered to bring a mask, but still - with such stirred up water, it was hard to see anything unless you were right on top of it. Fun anyway - I'm NOT complaining.
I caught a nice blueclaw, but it was a female & we won't keep them. I'd love to get some pots to put in the water, but we'd have to have a smaller boat to check them every nite. Would be worth having fresh crabs for dinner! 
I also saw these critters, which I had never seen alive before. I find the shells sometimes, but at low tide they are all over the beach digging thru the sand.
There were sand dollars too. Just under the sand in the water -I'd feel them under my feet like I used to clam in NY. It took us a while to find any that were dead so I could take one home. We managed to find (& not break) one nice one - and it actually made it home without being broken. WOW are they fragile - not when they are alive though...I could step on them in the water, but managed to break 2 found in the tidal pools. 
We hooked up with Rich, Gail & Timmy too. I practiced throwing the cast net - Rich is a pro....I need a LOT of practice yet, but got a couple of good throws. As you can see, Rich was exhausted after showing me how it's done.
I need to get really good so we can go shrimpin' & bring home some sweeeeet Georgia Shrimp :)
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