Matanzas Adventure!

my sister sifting

For Christmas me and my sister got sifters which my Dad made. My sister Juliana took her`s to all the beaches. She found a lot of shells and a couple shark teeth.

the shells left over

Juliana and I found a lots of things in our sifters oyster shells, clam shells and shark teeth.

the tidal pool 

me making a sand girl

   At Matanzas inlet I did a lot of sculpting in the sand I called all the girls I did sand girls. I learned that the rough waves can get in some place but not others.  

Cumberland island here we come!

Cumberland island is really fun! I found so many shark's teeth so did my family we found big ones and little ones. My mom found the jackpot it was huge (the right by my sisters hand)! The black shark teeth are fossils and are between 3 and 6 million years old.

Sharks lose teeth all of the time so that they can grow in new ones. The teeth become fossils if they are covered by sediment immediately - as the tooth dissolves minerals replace the original material.  We found most of the shark's teeth on spoil islands. These are made when they dig the channel for giant submarines as the bottom is moved to the side of the channel by dredges.

Can you find the shark tooth on this spoil island beach?*

This mansion is in ruins. It dates from the Gilded Age, just like our mansions in Newport. You can't go inside this one because the mansion might break even more when you are inside. Newport's mansions might look like this if they had not been kept up. This one belonged to Andrew Carnegie and is called Dungeoness.

My sister and I got to ride on the beach

Me and my family even saw wild horses they were so cool! But we did not get close enough to get any good pictures. There was also a trail to the beach. On the road you could also find shark's teeth.

In this picture I am driving my Grandma to the beach

The boardwalk to the beach has a telescope. My sister and I went crazy for them!

A sunset taken from Lyra at Cumberland Island. I love all of the pretty colors that glow. It reminds me of the book "Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs" with a piece of butter on top of mashed potatoes.

My sister inching along a live oak branch

The entire family climbing in a live oak tree. My dad used to climb this tree when he was a little older than me.

*The tooth is the black triangular object in the middle bottom of the photograph

Beaufort SC Adventures

To get to our destination we went on the intra coastal waterway (ICW). It was really fun! We went through lots and lots of marsh. We were coloring wile my dad was driving the boat. We wore harnesses.

Our navigation is set up on our tablet and computer and there's a lots of marsh on those maps! We anchored not far from land. We went exploring in the dingy, we saw dolphins too!

Beaufort is just as fun as Charleston! We went exploring and we went into a really cool looking toy store I got a rock for digging crystals and my sister got a duck quacker. The duck quacker my sister got was so funny! She would go outside and blow in it all day long!

We are homeschooling. We study math, reading, writing, science and geography. I learn about the different kinds of animals that we see along the way, such as herons, cormorants, pelicans, dolphins, sand pipers and ancient sharks.

Charleston Ahoy!

My first watch

We left Southport on Thanksgiving day. When we were sailing I saw dolphins and plankton at nighttime! It was beautiful. I stood my first watch ever. Standing watch means taking care of the boat while it is under way. I made sure we were still on course and kept a lookout for other boats and objects on the water. There is a remote that lets me steer by talking to autopilot. My first watch was one hour. It was fun to be responsible for the boat and it felt like I had a lot of privileges.

My first sunset at sea

Charleston is amazing! When we got on land  we went to the market I saw people weaving baskets. I saw other stuff to like butterflies and jewelry. Then we went to a Charleston grocery store called Harris Teeter's. It was huge!