Playing tourist at the North Carolina Aquarium and Salt Marsh at Pine Knoll Shores, and at Fort Macon State Park – September 20 & 21
YES WE DID
Yes, we did pay a nice man to take our picture against a green background so they could frame us, digitally, in cute, smiling rays.
NIMBUS
Nimbus, a fifty pound loggerhead turtle with a cleft palate has found a home at the aquarium. He was rescued in 2000 by a North Carolina Wild Life Resources Commission volunteer. In addition to his cleft palate, Nimbus is blind in one eye and has very little pigment in his shell, making him a poor candidate for survival in the wild.
PROPS
Way to frame a snake exhibit! Do you see all three snakes? Camille gets proprietary with a giant bull frog.
FASCINATING
That’s one way to say, “Not so easy on the eyes.” Unless you are Stephanie, who loves octopuses and probably thinks they are beautiful. Not sure about snapping turtles. Maybe no one but The Turtleman loves snappers.
OCTOPUS VIDEO
This one’s for you, Steph!
CREVALLE JACKS
These blunt-headed, silvery blue fish, some three feet in length, were unusually graceful in motion.
BALD EAGLES
As with many of the animals on display at the NC Aquarium, this pair of eagles were unable to survive in the wild.
SALT MARSH
It was a perfect day to enjoy salt marsh habitat. Just enough breeze to keep the mosquitoes away.
UNMISTAKABLY TOURIST-LIKE
Camille gawks at the wildlife like a true tourist with her camera and shoulder bag. We brought binoculars, too, and Camille dropped a lens cap into the marsh. About that time a toddler dropped a rattle. His mother wheeled the screaming child past us saying, “I’m not getting it. I just don’t want to be one of those people who end up on the news.”
TRICOLORED HERON
Stalking fish, handsome against the texture of the marsh waters.
GREAT EGRET
Always so impossibly white.
FORT MACON
A well-preserved remnant of the Civil War, Fort Macon was also used during the Spanish-American War and World War II.
REENACTMENT
There were men in uniform the day we visited but we were more interested in other aspects of the park.
INFRASTRUCTURE
So, this is what they mean by “built like a fort.”
REDRUM
Lots of activity at Beaufort Inlet. The website suggests these folks are fishing for whiting, pompano, gray trout, bluefish, and red drum.