Cleaning Up the Beach

The day started out as another lazy day, but instead of doing nothing I went to Turtle Beach with garbage bags and attempted to clean up the beach.

If anyone asked what I was doing, I said I was working on my tan. My only hope is that if people see me cleaning garbage they’ll think twice about throwing their waste onto the beach. However, I think that a lot of the waste comes from the tour boats that pass by, and get washed onto the beach during storms. Still, the beach was in need of a good clean.

I began to see a lot of really interesting creatures as I was picked up garbage. Whenever I saw an animal I felt good because I was cleaning up the beach for them. In the midst of it all I saw my first snake. I didn’t react the way I thought I would. I figured I would freak and instead I was really curious. It had neon green and black lengthwise stripes. It slithered away from me but not too far. And wound itself up a tree like a vine. Then it worked its way across the jungle from tree to tree. It was about 3-4 feet long and really skinny. It made no noise as it moved. When I started to tell people the story they said I was really lucky to see a snake, they usually don’t appear for people.

As I worked my way over the beach I also found a really squeaky mole, lots of interesting birds with musical voices, and the biggest lizard I have seen thus far. It made more noise crashing through the trees than the elephant I saw in Sri Lanka did. It was about 7 feet long and its body was bigger than my chest and torso. I still think these lizards are relatives of the komodo dragon.

After my attempt to save the beach I played volleyball with the island boys: Dee, Yee, Andy, Owie and Mamut. My team won 3 out of 4 games. It was a lot of fun.

I’ve begun to realize that I am not the kind of person who can sit still for very long. I’m getting fidgety and was afraid that my hammock would break from me swinging so hard in it. My body can’t still for too long before it starts to ache from no use. It might be getting time to move along to the next destination.