SO happy to know this about the Horseshoe Crabs...

So I know I posted that article from Jim Scaia recently about Horseshoe Crab molting - but I have to admit it's so great to actually go to the beach and see it for myself - that the shells come apart in the back, where the crab backed his way out of the old shell.

And I've been busy showing this "trick" to everyone I walk with. My husband. My kids. My friends. Even my dogs, although they don't seem as impressed. Maybe they already knew there wasn't any crab meat left in those discarded shells.

And yes, most of the shells are refilled with sand, making them heavy so they seem to be full.

Remember this trick to try next time you're at the beach. And smile to know that those crabs aren't dead, but rather have moved on to bigger and better things. Or at least bigger and better shells.

A "King Tide" is Coming mid-day on Thursday, October 9th!

Monday afternoon, I hit the beach later in the day and enjoyed the beauty of low tide and sparkling sunshine. 

 

Tuesday when we walked the beach at noon, we were surprised at how high the tide had come in, nearly blocking access to parts of the walk down by the Strandway staircase. We blamed it on the full moon. But then I got an email from the APCC (the Association to Preserve Cape Cod) proclaiming that the twice-yearly "King Tide" was on it's way.

 

According to APCC's email:

"A king tide is defined as being the highest of high tides and only occurring twice a year. With sea level rise this may become the new norm. This fall a king tide is predicted for Thursday, October 9, around 12:30 pm. It is important to check your local listing to see when high tide will be happening at your preferred high tide viewing spot.

Sea level rise is not some future occurrence. It's happening here and now and we'd like your help capturing it. Please send us any pictures of beaches, piers, salt marshes, bridges or other coastal scenes documenting this astronomical high tide event. You can post them on our Facebook page, or email them to info@apcc.org."

So I guess I'll be headed up on Thursday to take photos (if it's not raining.) Thought I'd share, since I'd never heard of this phenomenon before. This seems to be my week to learn new Cape Cod trivia!

Why so many "Dead" Horseshoe Crabs on the Beach?

Jim Scaia sent me an article today talking about the number of "dead" horseshoe crabs washing up along Atlantic Coast shorelines.

It's funny because my husband and I just got back from a walk along Old Mill Point's beaches and were discussing the same thing. 

Without question, there seem to be more this year than previous years washing ashore, but not sure what exactly that indicates. Or how many of these crabs are really "dead" and how many are "molts" - horseshoe crabs shed their entire exoskeleton, legs, lung coverings and all.


I've included excerpts of the article he sent.


Hope this helps some people feel better about the sheer volume of crab shells we have on our beaches.

Without a doubt the number one nature question concerned people ask during September - what's up with all the dead crabs on the beach? A disturbing sight to see dozens or sometimes hundreds of unmoving creatures.

Thankfully, the answer has nothing to do with a loss of life. Quite the opposite, it's all about a continuation of life.

Most of the "dead" Horseshoe Crabs that people see on beaches this time of year... are probably not dead at all, but actually empty shells. The shells are molts. Horseshoe crabs grow by molting.

As a Horseshoe Crab matures and increases in size, it will shed its old exoskeleton (outer shell or skeleton) and form a new, bigger one, leaving its old shell behind on the bottom of the bay. The animals increase in size by 25-30% with each molt.

It doesn't take long for the old exoskeleton, including tail, legs, abdomen, gill coverings, eye coverings, and everything else, to wash ashore for curious people to stumble upon. Although some crabs might be dead and in the mix within a wrack line, most of the time people are coming across a molt of a juvenile. Horseshoe Crabs need to shed at least once a year as they grow to adulthood.

For most folks, it's a difficult task to tell an empty molt from a lifeless crab. A molt is often one intact piece of shell appearing just like a complete crab. Some of the molts may even fill up with sand or water to make the empty shell weigh about the same as a whole crab. It's surprisingly easy to mistake a molt for a dead Horseshoe Crab.

With careful observation, though, it can become easy to find the truth. Pick up the shell and look for an opening or split along the front ridge of the shell. If the seam is broken, then in all likelihood it's a molt. Unlike a true crab, like a Blue-claw Crab, which will back out of its old exoskeleton, a Horseshoe Crab will thrust forward to divide the upper shell with the bottom half.

Also, the color of the shell is going to be pale and in some cases nearly translucent. In contrast, a dead crab is going be dark in color and have a strong saltwater-stench with many flies or gulls being attracted around the poor creature.

While there is still a lot of mystery about the juvenile life stage of Horseshoe Crabs, scientists are pretty sure that many young animals tend to stay near where they hatched for their first two years and then gradually move to deeper waters of the bay as they mature. Scientists are also pretty confident that many crabs of the same age molt at the same time of the year. According to wildlife biologist, Robert E. Loveland in the book, Limulus in the Limelight: A species 350 million years in the making and in Peril?, "there is evidence that a particular size class of crabs will all undergo simultaneous molting." Former Horseshoe Crabs shells often wash up on beaches at the same time and at the same size.

The sun is shining and the water is beautiful ~ grab onto these last few days of summer!

Happy Back-to-School time to all!

Katie will be at he Brewster Book Store TODAY - Wednesday 8/27 from 10-noon!

I'm at The Brewster Book Store today from 10-12pm, signing books with a few other local authors! We're celebrating these last few beautiful days of summer - and urge you to grab a new book to read on your last beach day! 

The store is located at 2648 Main Street in Brewster - that's historic Route 6A to most of us.

I'll have copies of SON OF A MERMAID, BLOOD OF A MERMAID and MY KIND OF CRAZY available for purchase and personalization - perfect summer reads or perfect back-to-school gifts for that special kid (or mom!)

See you there!

~ * ~ * ~ * ~

About the Store (from their website):

Owners John and Nancy Landon opened the Brewster Book Store in a Spring blizzard in 1982, in one room, with 3,000 books and three customers, all family members. In the past 26 years, the store has grown to 30,000 books, and now includes the original front room for adult & children's fiction, the spacious middle room for biography, non-fiction, young adult books, the very special back room full of science and nature books for children, and last, but not least, the tiny "womb" room with books for the littlest ones.

With its original owners & managers, plus its knowledgeable staff, the book store has become a favorite summer and year-round destination, hosting signings with fledgling authors as well as with such luminaries as Jane Goodall, Tomie dePaola and Rosemary Wells, and pleasing families with the appearances of popular storybook characters.

August in Old Mill Point

Thanks to John Sugden, Jr. for sending along these gorgeous, dramatic images from the rain storm the other day. He captured the light so beautifully!

Only a week left of summer... Enjoy!

More Sandcastle Photos from the 4th Annual OMP Contest!

 The Old Mill Point Windmill

 "Friends from the Sea" - baby seal 

(look closely to the left, to see the face and whiskers)

 "Friends from the Sea" - smiling sea turtle

(love the shell pattern!)

 "Friends from the Sea" - friendly shark

 (Mike, aren't the kids supposed to be building that?)

 A super huge giant octopus! Hugely awesome!

 Frantically finishing a traditional sandcastle with elaborate moat system...

 FROZEN-themed sculptures ruled one end of the beach, with a ginormous Olaf,

and an awesome mountain range complete with trees and all...

my camera started glitching, but not before I got a shot of the stairs down...

what a cool idea!

Big kudos to all the creative kids! (and parent helpers!)

A fun way to spend a Saturday afternoon for sure!

Mermaids at the Sandcastle Contest...

Of course there were mermaids at the Old Mill Point contest! Claire and her friend created a cute couple of merfolk, complete with six-pack abs for him and awesome seaweedy tails on both!

You might know I'm partial to mermaids, having written a few books featuring our neighbors who live below the surface, and visit "Windmill Point Beach"... It was cool to see them represented!

4th Annual Sandcastle Contest!

The fourth annual Old Mill Point Sandcastle Contest took place yesterday on Sea Way Beach!

Teams of eager builders created some wonderful castles and creatures! 

Here are the first few photos, courtesy of Carol Volpe. More coming soon!

Shark Week at Old Mill Point!

Jim Scaia sent in this photo of his son holding a shark which another fisherman caught off the end of the Sea Way jetty. If anyone saw the guy crossing the beach with his catch, here's the story about this kind of shark...

Thresher sharks are generally shy, not aggressive, and not usually dangerous to humans. They're also considered a delicacy and a "prize catch." Here's some info from Wikepedia...

Threshers have a low fecundity, like all large sharks, and are highly vulnerable to overfishing.Besides being hunted for their meat, threshers are also hunted for their liver oil, skin (for leather), and their fins, for use in shark-fin soup.

They do not appear to be a threat to humans, although some divers have been hit with the upper tail lobe.

Thresher sharks are classified as prized game fish in the United States and South Africa. Common thresher sharks are the target of a popular recreational fishery off Baja, Mexico. Thresher sharks are farmed in some areas for their value as both a recreational sport fish and for commercial products derived from their flesh.

All three thresher shark species have been recently listed as vulnerable to extinction by the World Conservation Union (IUCN)

Old Mill Point got Snow in August?

 Looks like snow...

 ...except for the calendar which clearly says August!

Yesterday's massive thunderstorm brought hail to Old Mill Point that covered the ground. Individual pieces were as large as quarters as the air temperature dipped to 55 degrees... 

Crazy weather for August!

Rainbows over the Point

photo courtesy of Carol Volpe

*SELF PROMOTION * BOOK SIGNINGS THIS WEEK - Mermaid Books for ages 9 and up

Have you read my mermaid books with the kids yet? Great summer fiction set on Cape Cod, in the fictional neighborhood of Windmill Point, with adventure to please boys and girls alike!

I'll be out in Provincetown today - Tuesday July 29 - at the Whydah Pirate Museum from 12-3 signing copies of both books.

I'll also be at WHERE THE SIDEWALK ENDS in Chatham on Main Street this Saturday August 2 from 2-4.

Both towns make for fun summer excursions with (or without) the kids! Hope to see you there!

Thank you to OMP from Helen Duffy, 105-year-old resident!

Goooood Morning, Old Mill Point!

Good Morning and don't forget your sunscreen!

It's a beautiful day out there despite the overcast clouds - the humidity is gone and the air feels wonderful! But you can still get sunburn despite the clouds - so be careful out there!

Last night's annual meeting had a quorum (including the proxies mailed in) and discussed the business of running the neighborhood. Some questions were asked and answered, and everyone left satisfied.

One piece of new business was brought up by Angelo, who would like feedback from people with moorings in the Herring River.

If you were unable to attend the meeting, the minutes will be typed up for distribution. If you have any questions or concerns that you'd like addressed, you should always feel free to reach out to any board member and ask. If you're not sure who to address the question to, you can always call Mark (the current president) or Carol (current clerk) or me, Katie, (current treasurer) and we can point you in the proper direction.

Other new business included a thank you from Helen Duffy for the birthday flowers the neighborhood sent - she turned 105 in June! As soon as the scanner feels like working again (hopefully later today) I'll get the note and picture scanned and onto this blog.

Have a great weekend!

Mermaid Book Signing at the Provincetown Pirate Museum - Monday July 7!

Tomorow - Monday July 7 from noon to 3 p.m. - is my first official book signing for book 2 in my Mermaids of Cape Cod series! Yes, I'm excited! Oh, and yesh, I'll have copies of the first book on hand for signing and purchase as well!

I'm traveling to P-town, out at the very tip of Cape Cod, to the famous pirate museum. I had two wonderful book signings there last summer and am hoping for a few more this summer!

Museum details and location:

The Whydah Pirate Museum
16 MacMillan Wharf, Box 493
Provincetown, MA 02657

E-Mail: info@whydah.com
Telephone: 508-487-8899
Twitter: @whydahpirates

From the Museum's website:

Commanded by the famed pirate Sam Bellamy, the Whydah was wrecked off Wellfleet in 1717, taking with her the treasures of fifty plundered ships.

According to Cape Cod legend, Bellamy was returning to his lady-love, Maria Hallett, the “Witch of Wellfleet”, when his ship met disaster in one of the worst storms to strike the eastern seaboard.

Only two men of 146 made it to the beach alive, making the Whydah wreck the worst ever on the shores of the Cape.

Bellamy’s loss was history’s gain, however, as the contents of his once-proud flagship represent a unique look into the lives of the pirates, and an unprecedented cross-cultural sampling of treasures from the world of the 18th century.

Discovered by underwater explorer Barry Clifford, this archaeological shipwreck recovery project has been named a National Geographic Society “Special Event”, and our Provincetown Museum is the headquarters for our ongoing underwater archaeological missions.

 Find more info (and photos) at : http://whydah.com/whydah-museum/

Happy Fourth of July!

The annual parade was another huge success ~ and managed to almost finish before the deluge began! Here are a few photos of yesterday's event (thanks, Carol!)... feel free to send your own and we'll get them posted!

 ...and I don't know what the rest of you did after the rain and wind kicked up, but the kids at our house all decided to jump in the pool! Swimming during a hurricane makes for a good story, I guess.

The weather is supposed to clear today after lunchtime, and be beautiful for the rest of the weekend. Reminder that the neighborhood is teeming with small kids this weekend, so drive slow!

Summer is Officially in Full Swing

 The beach this morning was quiet except for a few early morning swimmers... oh wait, those are geese....

 The official season kick-off cocktail party was a success - a great turnout and gracious hosts. Thanks so much to Donna and John for opening their lovely home for this year's party. And many thanks to Carol, Nancy and Marie-Louise for organizing and coordinating our annual get-togethers.

If you missed the party because of a house-full of guests or having to babysit your grand kids (you know who you are - and we missed you) there are more events scheduled for the summer - and the annual Fourth of July parade is right around the corner! Get out your Red White and Blue!

And in the mean time, enjoy this wonderful weather!

Dawn breaks over June beaches...

June in Old Mill Point...