It was early in the morning. My eyelids were still heavy and the grass was flicking dew at my feet. We were packing the bus. My bags were with Ms. Melanie, so Rylie and I took the large first step to reach the bus’s high up first step. We looked around as the sun rose higher as the bus rumbled along the road. We passed an interesting little town, I said, “this is not like where we live,” noticing the small buildings and many people walking. We soon went across a large bridge overlooking water, and when we halted a tanned man came on the bus. We are here.
After our short bus ride John and Mary led us to a small patch of land surrounded by tall grass. Small crabs ran around my feet. These were fiddler crabs; they had one large claw and one small. “The big claw,” John explained, “is to attract females.” He soon let us wander around, and try to catch crabs. I soon had many, to me this was easy. I let all but one go, and showed him proudly o the others. Kristi and Victoria squealed as John congratulated me. By the time we left the patch of land was underwater because of high tide. It was time for me to leave the muddy marsh and my little crab.
When we walked into the a-frame building I quickly noticed the white board. It showed a beach divided into four sections. The first one, we learned, was the sand dunes. The second was the dune meadow and was in between the sand dunes and the berm. The berm is the area of sand that is not usually underwater. Lastly John talked about the wrack lines. There are two wrack lines, one for high tide one for low. The high tide wrack line for high tide shows the highest point that the high tide goes to, it is the same for the low tide wrack line. Then the bell rang and it was time to go to lunch.
After lunch we again went to the a-frame building, however we came in from the other side and into a different room. Mary wrote on the board in a hurry “K P C O F G S,” she said, “King Philip Came Over From Great Spain.” She taught us that is a good way to remember the scientific classification order for organisms. The saying stands for Kingdom, Phylum, Class, Order, Family, Genus, and Species. Then it was free time and I was off playing volleyball.
Again we walked into the a-frame building. We know this time that we would get to touch animals. First, however, Bouie explained to us how to tell the difference between a venomous and non-venomous snake. The first way to tell the difference between a venomous and a non-venomous is that behind the cloacae the scales are in sections then it is venomous. Secondly if the eyes are like cats they are venomous. Lastly, and the most common way is if the snakes head is diamond shaped. If so the snake is venomous. Then I held Cob, the corn snake.
Bouie even took out the alligator. Then we had to leave because another group counselor said it was time to switch.

When we got to the beach the wind blew my hair around. The cold, dark air quickly raised goose bumps all over me. Ben taught about how nocturnal animals lived at night. Their senses would grow and adjust to be well equipped for night. We even played a game, where we would be blind folded and someone, the wolf, would try to grab you. When it was my turn, I was sure I knew where the wolf was but then someone grabbed my shoulders and yanked them back. Then Ben hurried us back to the bus, as we were supposed to leave 5 minutes ago.

Again, back to the beach, at least this time I could see. I felt the wind blow me around. I held onto myself with clothing and a hiding bathing suit on. Bouie then instructed us how to use the seine net. Soon we were off, with Brooks and me leading the way with the poles. The warm water slammed against my legs, trying to pull me in. I looked over my shoulder to see the other groups, though instead I saw Christopher standing up out of the water with his clothes soaked as his group members chuckled and laughed at him. I couldn’t help laughing a little myself. When we pulled back up to the sandy beach we had nothing in our net. We did this 3 more times with catching nothing more than a few comb jellies. When we were done my shorts were completely soaked and my shirt was wet all the way up to nearly my shoulders. The cold air nipped at me. I decided to take off my soaked tank top and just carry it while covering myself with my towel. I only did this because as Rylie walked towards me under her towel I could see her bikini as well. After we walked back to the bus, and took a sandy, wet ride back.
Rylie, Kasandra, Shayla, Lizzy, and I were squished together standing on a log gazing at the bright fire surrounded by students and marsh mellows. We all giggled happily nearly falling off, and I almost fell on Jonathan and Christopher. Then Ms. Clark told us it was time to go to the talent show. We watched people go up and soon Rylie whispered to me, “So, what are we going to do?” After some hard thinking, with Lizzy, we walked up to the stage, on our hands. “1, 2, 3,” I whispered to Lizzy and Rylie, right before I jumped, slapped my hands on the ground, then found my feet on the floor; again all the time the world spinning around me. Soon after the crowd was roaring with applause. I was embarrassed. After many congratulations and some more acts everyone headed for bed.
Rylie, Shayla, Kasandra, Caitlyn and I were all squeezed together to huddle up on a bunk. We talked for a while and ate the candy we didn’t eat from the night before. Later Rylie and I groggily climbed up to our beds. Caitlyn, Shayla and Kasandra were together on a bunk sleeping. I was sad as I climbed the metal ladder because this was my last night at Tybee Island.