Alison and Company!

These guys are all over the beach in all kinds of shells and various sizes. We even found one that had just vacated his shell, his bottom was like the end of a shelled shrimp. The one hermit crab pictured below opted for a round rubber cap of some sort! They are actually kinda cute! When you're walking along the beach in the late afternoon/evening, you will see out of the corner of your eye, a shell abruptly stop. It was a hermit crab taking cover. If you sit still on the rocky shoreline, you can hear the "click, snap, click" of the hermit crabs moving along the beached rocks. Stare long enough and the rocks of the sandy beach will come alive, and all of a sudden there's this city of hermit crabs at your feet. I really like them, but I like them at the beach, not at the house! We found one making its way into the boys room last night, of course he didn't make his way to the house from the beach, he had the help of a little boy! It is also important to thoroughly check the shells we bring home that they're not already homes for someone else! We did purposely bring some home for our new salt water fish tank. We're putting a tank together of what we catch at the ocean, it's more personal that way! There aren't any laws for fishing here, so we can take a net and bring home tropical fish right from the ocean! And when the fish get too big for the tank, we can "trade them in" for a smaller size, right back to the ocean it goes! Last night we brought home some coral rock and ocean water, straight from the beach, so this will be just like home for the fish we catch in our nets today!
This little guy with the rubber rear wouldn't stay put for a centered shot, so this is what you get!