One morning I found a beautiful piece of driftwood–large enough for a mantle but not overbearing, slightly curved, textured…it had it all!  I picked it up to discover it was quite heavy, and Matt was sleeping in that morning.  I went into Crossfit/Wonder Woman mode (seriously, I pictured myself being strong and awesome and then I lifted the driftwood.  Highly recommend 😉 ) and picked up the driftwood.

Enter instinct, when I thought I saw something move on the wood and promptly plopped the log on the sand.  It reminded me of being back in the Midwest when you pick something up and there’s a spider on it (awful, I know-that small panic was just what it felt like!).  I gingerly rotated the wood toward me to get a closer look (while holding the wood from the very tip end).  A small crab was hanging on to the wood, going about his day.  I now understood why I had the spider feeling, as my belief is crabs are basically the cool spiders of the sea.  

I decided I would NOT be picking up the wood again with the crab on it, lest he get angry and turn into Super Crab to come defend his territory.  I dragged it across the sand instead (WAY heavier than carrying it, but abused one less arm at a time).  Glancing both behind me at the crab and in front of me at the ground so I wouldn’t step on something, I made my way toward the beach entrance.  Cue rain.

Once I got close enough to the entrance, I knew it was time to dump the crab…but how?  Have you ever tried to pry a crab off something without touching it?  Allow me to tell you ways that don’t work, just in case you find yourself in this position… 😉

Ways That Will Not Get a Crab Off Driftwood:

1. Turning the wood upside down.  You would think this would be obvious, but I was uninformed as to a crab’s ability to latch onto things.  I didn’t try this one too many times, though it did reveal to me why the crab was so adamant about hanging out on the wood…there was a snack hidden in the holes.

2. Straight dropping the wood on the sand.  I thought that the vibration, while remaining gentle, would startle the crab enough that he would leave. No dice.

3. Taking the wood into the ocean to rinse the crab off.  See #1.

I decided the best way would be to, as gently as possible, prod him off the log using a long piece of grass.  Success! 😉

Even though they weren’t super eventful, the morning walks were one of my favorite parts of our trip!  

P.S. The driftwood didn’t look as nice when it dried, so now it can permanently be a crab snack shack 😉