GTMNERR

We were lucky enough to arrive in time for two once-a-month nature walks sponsored by GTMNERR, the impressively-named Guana-Tolomato-Matanzas National Estuarine Research Reserve. We learned that the first three words refer to local rivers. We also learned that estuaries are semi-enclosed bodies of water that have both fresh and ocean water. And that, like salt marshes, which they resemble, estuaries are terrifically important: they're responsible (I think I have this right) for some stage of life of 80% of marine animals. Best of all, perhaps, estuaries tend to be across the street from the beach.

This photo is not actually not the estuary, but you get the idea: there's lots of water here, and lots of marsh.

The walks were wonderful, and the places even more so. We saw the excavations of two critters new to us, the gopher tortoise (whose burrows support dozens of other kinds of animals) and the ghost crab, which is translucent, can see 360 degrees, and has gills. Who knew? We're working on a whole new vocabulary of beach plants and other denizens.

And we learned about coquina, a wee, rather nondescript clam,

It's here in the gazillions, and crushes easily, making parts of some beaches orange. It's been around in vast quantities since prehistory, so many that they got squished and heated and turned into bedrock. It's tough enough that it's been used in local buildings, but is still pretty soft, so it's eroded in fascinating ways where it surfaces on the beach.