We went a short hop of about a mile and anchored beside Fitzpatrick Pier. We got in really close so we'd be more out of the current. Wendy kept seeing what she thought was a whale tail as they came in to anchor in front of us. I couldn't imagine a whale choosing to be so close, but she saw a tail....we realized later it must have been a Dugong! This was the first sighting for our group.

We got all 4 of us loaded up and headed to shore. While we were walking along with the dinghy the sand was sinking under foot. As we discussed a new plan we saw that large amounts of the beach surface was moving! Soldier Crabs, Dave called out....and off I went...chasing them, getting the phone on video mode and then taking several pictures. They were like adorable little blue racing striped VW bugs, slightly smaller than a ping pong ball, which once you got close enough they quickly burrowed under the soft sand and disappeared! So adorable. There were whole platoons of 80-100 of these guys and gals marching all over the beach. It was hard to leave, but I had deserted my post with regard to dinghy carrying, so off I went.

We explored the area around the Pier, quickly realizing that without a vehicle we couldn't go far. When checking out the fine dining options we realized that we could quickly go broke trying to eat on shore, so carried on south. Also since we'd only come a mile, it was hard to stop for the day.

We noticed that we could buy a drink on the Pier so we stopped, relaxing and enjoying the gorgeous view along with our beverages. Strangely enough while we sat there a tour of folks on Segway's wheeled up. That was about the last thing I expected to see touring a beach!

It was a cruisey afternoon, covering many miles down to South White Cliffs, where we stopped for the night.