Wild Horses of Cumberland Island

When we were at Cumberland Island in Georgia and Dad said, "Let's go see the wild horses" I knew,  I absolutely knew, that this day was going to be awesome.

So anyway, from the beginning.  When I woke up, I could hear mom and dad making a plan for the day.  They heard that there were wild horses on the island. When Riley woke up, I told her the plan.  At the breakfast table I asked if we were going to see the wild horses, mom and dad said yes. When we got to land, I was hoping to find some horses right off the bat, but my wish didn't come true. We looked all around but we didn't find any.  I was afraid we wouldn't  see any, period.  

Riley and I climbing a live oak tree (not a dead oak tree)

Me, sitting by a very old duck pond

Finally I saw some large, brown animals.  I screamed, "Horse!  Horse!"  Riley, mom, and dad ran to see them, trying not to scare them.  When a park ranger truck rolled by, I felt a little embarrassed thinking, did he just see me, the biggest psycho in the world?  I guess he did!

"Horse! Horse!"

Horse eating Spanish moss

When the horse was done eating Spanish moss, it was trying to communicate back and forth with its mate.  It was saying, "Nay!  Nay!"  Finally we heard two nays coming from the woods.  We tried to follow him but he went into the woods too far and we lost him.  We hiked back a little bit, trying to find dad.  On our way we were stopped by the horse and his mate who were standing together.  We were very happy that they found each other.

The horse trying to find his mate

Feeding frenzy!  We saw even more wild horses later in the day

When I heard dad's whistle I knew it was time to go.  I didn't want to leave but I knew we'd be coming back the next day.  When we were out of the woods we headed to horsey beach!  There were thousands of horse prints on the beach.  I made an awesome sand octopus.

Me and my awesome octopus

That night we basically all had the same toast at dinner.  It was, "Cheers to seeing wild horses today!"

Hope all is well,

Wren
p.s. We're on our way home!

My Bahamas Birthday

My Bahamas birthday was awesome!  When I awoke from my sleepage, I smelled home fries and bacon on the stovetop.   I got my clothes on and opened my door with a smile on my face and said, "Hi!".  I saw mom  just waking up and dad was cooking.  When I looked up I saw a heart banner made out of plaiting material and a whole bunch of presents waiting to be opened.  

After my wonderful presents and awesome breakfast,  we went on a blue hole adventure.  When we got to the beach there was a trail that led to a blue hole.  The night before, we met some people who were anchored in the same anchorage so we invited them to come with us.  Their names were Jim and Jude and they were on a boat named Inti II. 

When we got to the blue hole, there was a ledge that led down to the water and next to the ledge there was a path that led to a cave with a blue hole beside it.   I heard Jim say he was going to jump off the cliff above, and dad said he was going to do the same thing.  It was fun watching my Jim and my dad jump off.   I said I wanted to jump off the ledge down below, but I wanted my dad to jump in with me.  It was awesome!

When it was time to go, I was sad.  But before we said goodbye, my mom invited them to come over for birthday cake.  We also invited Lawrence and Joan to come over.  They were also in our anchorage on a boat named Tranquility. When we got home, we got ready to party.  Everyone was having fun and dad yelled, "sea turtle!" I said, "Oh, yeah!"  When it was time for everyone to leave, I told mom and dad that maybe having my birthday in the Bahamas wasn't so bad.

Hope all is well!

Love,

Wren

My Mahi

My Mahi-Mahi experience was awesome!!  It was on Tuesday, March, 12, 2014 at about 9:00am.  We were headed to Chub Cay from Nassau. When dad shouted, "Fish!!  Fish!!" my heart started pounding like crazy and I said to myself, "Please be a Mahi-Mahi, oh, please be a Mahi-Mahi."  

Dad asked me if I wanted to reel it in.  Of course I said, "YES!!"  I reeled it in as fast as I could.  All of a sudden, the fish jumped clear out of the water and we all shouted, "It's a Mahi-Mahi!"  

It's a Mahi!

Dad gaffed it right through the eyeball and got it on the boat.  Dad read in a book that if you use an ice pick and stab it into the brain it will kill the fish quickly.  Dad carried the fish to my feet and said, "High-five Wren!"  The Mahi change from blue, green, and yellow, to black, grey and brown, in about 29 seconds.

Then dad asked me if I wanted to fillet the fish, I said, "Yes I do!"  Filleting a big fish with a very dull knife if very hard.  That's a warning! 

Fish dissection with mom

Thank you, Mahi

Thank you.

When dad said that it was time to move on, I was happy because I wanted to catch more Mahi-Mahi!  Maybe, I'll catch one more.

Hope all is well,

Wren, The Mahi-Mahi catcher

Thunderball Grotto

When we got back from shopping, we saw a whole bunch of dinghys at the entrance to Thunderball Grotto (or cave).  We begged to go, even though it was late.  We finally persuaded mom and dad to go. We got our swim suits on and started our adventure.  Thunderball Grotto got its name by the movie Thunderball.  It's a James Bond movie.  The cave also appears in the movies Splash and Never Say Never.

That little black spot is the entrance to the cave!

When we got there, mom, dad, and Riley got in the water but I was too scared because it was so deep.  I finally got in and swam until until I could touch near the mouth of the cave.  I put on my mask there and went inside.  At first I was scared but there was light inside from holes in the ceiling of the cave. It was as big as my classroom!  And it was about 15feet deep.  I felt like I was in an aquarium!  I saw an enormous Nassau grouper, blue head, millions of minnows, Lionfish, squirrel fish, butterfish, angelfish, parrot fish, and damselfish.  It was amazing!!

Riley, about to go in.

"It was this big!"

It was time to go too soon.  I would never forget this.  What a wonderous sight.  That night we looked through the fish books and said, "I saw that one! I saw that one!" all night long.

Hope all is well,

Wren

The Bahama Hutias

Warderick Wells has lots of hiking trails.  We hiked them all!

One night while we were at Warderick  Wells, our friends were going to see some Hutias. They talked mom and dad into going. When we got to the park beach, we went Hutia hunting.

Goin' hunting

The Bahama Hutia is a fat little brown, guinea pig sized member of the rodent family. Their weight is just over a pound or so. Hutias are herbivores, they eat leaves, twigs, and some shrubs. They also eat bay cedar, buttonwood and swamp bushes. People used to eat them, but they don't anymore because they are at risk of being extinct. They only live on three islands in the Bahamas.  Wax Cay, East Plana Cay, and Warderick Wells.

The Hutias are nocturnal so we went at night to see them. There were about 20 Hutias on the beach. Some were scared, and some were not. I got about 30 inches away from them.  They were very shy.  I used a headlamp to find them because they were in palm trees hiding and eating twigs. I felt bad for shining my light at them.  They must get blinded sometimes!

Say cheese!

I wished my Maine friends could see them because they were so cute.  I think the Hutias are going to make it because people don't eat them anymore and they are making a lot of babies.  There also was a LOT of scat everywhere. I felt lucky to see such a rare animal. 

Scat

More scat!

Hope you're all well!
Love,
Wren