The last two days have been rather uneventful. We swam, walked the beach, and went shopping. Jacob's 18th birthday was Friday (the 13th) so we celebrated with chili dogs and cookie cake.

It's Saturday morning and we made it out of the house more than 30 minutes earlier than planned. Someone needs to call up Guiness Book of World Records, Dad was early for the first time ever.

Now we're back to good ole Cincinnati, Ohio and I can't wait to be home and comfy in my own bed. Signing out for now!

It looks like I need a vacation from my vacation. I could have slept until 3pm. Instead I got up, ate, socialized, and participated in a nerf war! That one was fun.

The whole family left the house right at our scheduled time of 3:30 to head to Callabash where we went shopping at Callahan's. The seasoned veterans of the area played the store up to be a lot cooler than it was. If you are interested in stores crammed full of tourist trap items, it's a great place, but I was very overwhelmed by it.

We then beat the dinner rush to Cap't John's for our one dinner out. Dad and I shared a pitcher of Long Island iced tea and a basket of calamari. For dinner I had sautéed Grouper and I've never tasted a better cooked fish. 

We came home for magic bars and hanging out. Mom and I took a walk on the beach. I think that is what I will miss the most: calm walks on the beach with the sound of the waves and a really calming breeze.

Today we drove to Wilmington to see the USS North Carolina. I expected it to take a few hours out of my day, but my father decided he needed to read every word on every plaque in the ship. A two hour trip quickly turned into a five and a half hour trip.

The USS North Carolina was a battleship commissioned in the 1940's  that fought in every major water battle of World War II. It now sits in Wilmington, NC where we were able to tour through 9 renovated levels of battleship.

In the tour, we were able to see where people ate, slept, bathed, and worked on the ship. My favorite room was the machine shop where I was able to view pre-CNC machine tools and guess what each machine's purpose was. I may be more of a dork than I previously expected.

We got home just in time for dinner which was followed by a turtle talk. Amanda, Mom, and I got to learn about the main types of turtles that frequent the area and how everyone can help protect them.

Loggerhead sea turtles are the most common to lay nests here on Ocean Isle and very important to protect. The OIBSTPO (Ocean Isle Beach Sea Turtle Protection Organization) is an all-volunteer organization whose goal is to protect these sea turtles. From May to September they scout the beach every morning in search of signs of new nests. Each nest has a parent to watch over it as the time goes on.

When a nest is found, OIBSTPO determines if the nest is in a safe location and takes inventory of how many eggs are in the nest. The first egg is removed for DNA testing. If the nest is in an unsafe location, the organization take measurements of the nest so they can recreate it in a safer location.

The nest is given a parent and a name and is blocked off for protection. When the nest becomes active, the parent and team watch it from 7-11pm or longer to help the hatched turtles find their way to the sea. Unnatural lighting (flashlights, porch lights, camera lights, etc.) can confuse the hatchlings and cause them to migrate in the wrong direction. To overcome this, infrared lighting is used to guide them to the water.

Once the hatchlings make it off the beach, they swim for 36 hours to reach an area of seaweed where they will begin to grow. Male turtles never naturally return to land so they cannot be tracked, but a larger organization uses the DNA testing of eggs to track where mothers lay nests. Contrary to original beliefs, the mothers do not return to the same beach year after year and could lay eggs on a northern island of North Carolina one year and the southern end of Georgia the next.

To help fund this wonderful organization, I adopted a turtle. His name is 水足 or Flipper and after adopting him I went to see his nest. I can't wait to hear back from OIBSTPO when he hatches so I can see my baby.

Mom, Alan, Ange, and I got up early and drove to the pier to watch the sun rise. It was a bit cloudy, but I managed to get some pretty cool pictures. Fortunately my uncle Alan has used his camera for quite a while and gave me some pointers.

We came back to the house and ate breakfast before anyone else even got up.

 

After breakfast half the group went to geocache and the other half went shopping. It's day 3 and I've already gotten my shot glass and spoon for the trip. Woot Woot.

After lunch mom and I went back to the beach, once a bigger group joined us, I was able to go out and play in the waves. They were bigger than yesterday's and very fun.

After dinner the sunrise crew went back to the pier for sunset. I didn't get any good pictures, but it was a great ending to the day.

I never knew it was possible to have so much fun while doing so little. This morning I spent 2 hours on the beach reading, playing in the sand, and playing in the water to start my day. It was tiring and more relaxing than I could have ever guessed.

After lunch I went shopping at Belk. My Bearcats have played in the Belk Bowl for the past two years, and I finally made my way into one of their stores and boy am I glad I did. They have great clothes at an even better price!

After our shopping trip we went to the side of the beach where not many people frequent. Mom and I gathered sea shells (by the time the week is over, we may have more shells than expected...).

We took a quick check-out of the inner coastal waterway and headed home to play risk!

I've never been to the beach before so this is a new kind of adventure! We left the house yesterday at 3am to drive to North Carolina and I slept almost all the way. Now that we are here I don't know why we've never done this before. The house is wonderful, the beach is beautiful, and this week is going to be amazing!