by Docent Don Culwell

Eighty two degrees under a sunny sky, a salty ocean smell in the air, and toes wiggling into the sand…once more Don Culwell opened up bags of Coquina Clam shells, broken pieces of large Sand Dollars, Venus Clams, and sea sponges to show kids and adults (40-50 of them) Florida’s Living Beach. A live Coquina Clam kept burrowing into the dish of wet sand…several kids brought up living Olive Snails, a Hermit Crab, and a number of Mole Crabs that scooted backwards fast as they were lifted from the pail of sand.

And it all happened right at the edge of the Fort Walton Beach surf…biology class (for the second year in a row) out in the ecosystem where the most complex beach organism is man himself. Wow, what a “teachable moment!”