Cape Canaveral National Seashore encompasses thousands of acres along Florida's western shore, much of it formed by the non-industrial parts of the Kennedy Space Center. We visited its northern half today and were thrilled to see dolphins feeding in the Indian River Lagoon. The girls worked for their junior ranger patch and, as one of their assignments, picked up a lot of trash that's washed up on the shore. The ocean has been quite rough the past few days, bringing up more than the usual amount of debris...sadly there was no shortage of junk for the girls to collect. But after filling two large bags, they'd made a small patch of the beach look much better.
The Canaveral seashore is a haven for many varieties of sea turtle; the nesting season has just ended, during which volunteers spotted more than 5,000 females making their nests in the sand. When hatched, the baby turtles make their way to the sea by following the moon's reflection on the waves. In an effort to aid their journey and not distract them from their goal, strict laws govern the types and intensity of lights that can be used along the shore. The babies can be drawn to roads (and their death) by porch lights, headlamps and streetlights; efforts in recent years to dim these lights have led to much better survival rates for these endangered creatures.
Schoolwork, bills and dealings with the CO dept of Ed filled out the bulk of the afternoon; we took a break to watch the first 30 minutes of "Jurassic Park" in anticipation of visiting Universal Studios tomorrow. We thought the kids would better enjoy the Jurassic-themed section if they had a fun context (we didn't get to the scary parts of the movie!). The main reason we're going is to visit the new Harry Potter area of the park; I've been reading the books aloud to the girls in the evening. We've enjoyed their messages of loyalty, honesty and courage, and many other positive themes. The park will be a long-awaited, and long-saved-for, splurge, and we're very excited! We muggles will be very tired tomorrow night.
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| Canopied road to the shore |
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| sea birds on old pilings |
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| use your imagination...there are really dolphins in this photo! We saw perhaps 6 of them feeding; our camera wasn't as lucky. |
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