Calling All Nature Lovers: Our Neighborhood Dock Is the Place To Hang Out!
One day I woke up and said to my husband, “It’s time to move. But I don’t have time. Can you handle everything?” [Warning: this moving story has nothing to do with the real point of this post, but it gets good, I promise!]
And my husband said, “Yes. I’ll handle everything.”
So he did, except for the choosing of the new house. I did that, but of course I made sure he liked it, too. It’s in a neighborhood filled with people From Off, as they say here in Charleston. That means they’re probably from New York or Ohio. They’re great people, but we really moved here to have access to the neighborhood’s community dock.
This dock is awesome! It’s right on the Stono River. You can catch blue crab from the dock. You can also see dolphins.
Recently, this is what we’ve seen! (By the way, all these photos are courtesy of my neighborhood Facebook page. We are so into sharing our wildlife pictures–and warnings about dog poop that didn’t get picked up properly).
Alligators don’t usually like saltwater. They live in fresh or brackish water, but sometimes they find their way into saltwater. This guy has been hanging around at least a week. So I’m thinking we might need DNR to put him back to a safer spot for him. DNR means Department of Natural Resources for those of you who don’t know. You call them when you have a stray alligator on your porch (as this person did in Charleston a few months ago) or if you want to know what to do about an owl with a broken wing that is hanging around your door. Things like that. The DNR folks are awesome and care about every living thing.
We also had this toadfish. Isn’t he so ugly he’s beautiful?
Yes!
But he can also sting you with his little prongs!!
And then here’s a baby stingray. He’s very cute. Don’t say a word against him! It’s not his fault that a much larger version of himself killed the Crocodile Hunter. I honestly don’t say that lightly. I myself have hated stingrays ever since, and I’m trying to get over it. I still hate thinking of the day I found out the Crocodile Hunter was killed, and in such gruesome fashion. I’m so glad his family has gone on to find happiness again. And he himself would never want us to “hate” nature in any form, especially an entire species just because one stingray was behaving the way stingrays are supposed to, and sadly, the Crocodile Hunter got in the way.
Dolphin fins abound, too. Honestly, THIS IS NOT A SHARK!!!
I love our dock. I love meeting new people on it, too–young and old, middle-aged, even furry people like all the neighborhood dogs. And I especially love encountering the underwater world! I haven’t even talked about shrimp, how to catch blue crabs, and how awesome it is to hear those tiny fiddler crabs scuttle around the mud flats of the marshes as you walk over them on the dock!
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