Cape Hatteras, North Carolina! Or, Getting Up Close And Personal with a Crab

Have you ever gotten up close and personal with a crab?  I did.  And it happened in Cape Hatteras.  It's a beautiful place in North Carolina.  It's a 15 hour drive from my home in Canada.  And definitely worth it.

We rented a house with friends right on the Sound.  So we had an amazing view every time we looked out the window.  The stars at night were unbelievable, especially from a kayak in the middle of the Sound!  The Sound is very shallow  - even a kilometre out, it's up to my knees.  This is great for the kids.  They can easily swim and kayak.  We also did windsurfing, kite sailing, and paddle boarding.

It's a short walk to the ocean, which the kids also love for building sand castles, playing in the surf, and searching for sea shells.

But back to my friend the crab.  If you go out on the beach late at night, the bigger crabs come out of their homes and are up on the beach by the surf.  When we shone our flashlights on them, mostly they scuttle away.  But some just sit there and look at you.  It was fascinating to see them.  I touched one - I didn't want to scare it - but I just touched it gently and then it ran away.

Another time I had been for a run on the beach (which is hard but I love it), and I almost stepped on a good-size crab.  I bent down for a look, and he came right out of his hole and looked right back at me.  We had complete eye contact, both of us about two feet apart.  That's not something you do every day, either, right?

Now I feel like crabs are my BFFs.  Honestly - I'm not even sure I can eat crab legs ever again!  They are fascinating creatures.  And Hatteras is incredible.  It was a great end to the summer.

Cape Hatteras - Pamlico Sound

We were just in Cape Hatteras, a place I'd never been before.  It's in North Carolina, in the United States.  We stayed in a big house on stilts with another family.  It was amazing!  It's a beautiful place.

Our house was on the Pamlico Sound, but you could walk to the beach.  I was glad we were on the Sound, because it was much calmer and shallow for ages which was great for the kids.

The Sound is great for windsurfing.  Our friends are big windsurfers.  My husband and I tried it and I liked it!  Once you got the sail up and in the right direction (which is harder than it sounds) the wind would take you and it was like a fun ride.

It was great to be by the water and under the big sky.  At night it seemed that we could see thousands of stars.  One night we did a midnight kayak.  You just have to do this to understand.  It's a great experience.

I've never seen so many crabs in my life!  We also went to the beach at night and there were lines of crabs standing there on the beach, staring at us.  Not something you see everyday.

The drive was long to get there - 15 hours.  There was a low point.  There always is, right?  As long as you have good moments to balance out the bad, that's really all you can hope for.

Anyway, one of my sons was whining because I told him to do something other than stare at a screen.  This was a huge problem, apparently.  I launched into a huge speech.  My voice rose.  I exclaimed, "When I was young we didn't even have DS's!  Or DVD players!  We played word games in the car!  We sang songs!  And played hang man!"  I warmed to my theme.  "We didn't have screens in the car and"  - I paused for the grand finale - "LIFE WENT ON!"

I sounded about a million years old.  And that's probably how long it will take before anyone listens to any of my speeches again!