If somebody says that there is nothing to see, never believe them. They just didn’t look for it. I recently went to one of my favorite places to visit my underwater friends, but the sea let me know that it wasn’t a good time for visitors. The winds and off-shore storms got together to create a wave-crashing surging soup of silt and seaweeds, not welcoming to merpeople.

My merman remembered having heard about a location that we could visit. He had been told long ago that there was nothing to see there – just sand. You could at least get in the water as it was generally protected from from an angry Mother Nature. We would be unlikely to see any friends. We decided to check it out. Upon arrival, I saw another potential mermaid – at least she was dressed like one, and appeared to be teaching a student. I asked her about the site. She was very familiar with it and had dove there many times. She told us about the terrain – sand and shells and we probably wouldn’t see anything.

And I believe that she didn’t see anything. This likely means that her student didn’t see anything either. Just sand and shells. What a shame! Merman and I saw A LOT! It was incredible. Yes, the bottom was covered with sand and shells. What she had failed to notice, but was so obvious to us – The sand and shells were ALIVE! Everywhere we looked there were friends to meet. I will admit that some of these potential friends were eating other potential friends – more on that later. Regardless, this visit was absolutely amazing.

We have never seen so many hermit crabs. Perhaps there was some sort of special occasion party going on that we were privileged to crash. Like some old teenage parties, some were eating. Some were fighting. Some were expressing public displays of affection. You can get the idea just by looking at the picture of the video below. Watch the party action for more fun!

The more you look, the more you’ll see. Check out the hermit crab just left of center below. This one has a rather welcoming home shell. He has decorated quite nicely with plants that have taken hold of the shell. And he is also being quite hospitable to the pair of barnacles that have attached themselves to the top of his shell. (Full disclosure – I have no idea if this is a “he.”) While we were unable to capture this in the picture, the barnacles were actively feeding – they’re beautiful plumage like fans extending out and swaying in the current, looking for tasty treats. Barnacles usually stay in one location. These had the benefit of a mobile home. This was fascinating to watch, and we saw many examples of the same housing arrangement. I don’t know who lived there first. As hermit crabs discard shells as they outgrow them, and they find a larger empty shell to call home, we don’t know if this crab intentionally selected a home with housemates and lovely plantings or if the others moved in afterwards.

Speaking of eating … we saw many examples of the pair below. Toad and spider crabs having one arm extended into a clamshell. I would like to believe that they were having a friendly walk-about. I expect that is not the case. It is unclear to me if the crab has grabbed onto its intended meal and is taking it to a new location for its picnic, or if the clam has used its strong muscles to clamp onto the offending claw in self-defense. I’ve reached out to a marine biologist and am hoping for clarity.

Like I said, the more you look, the more you see. Isn’t this true of all of life, both above and under the sea? There was a lot of sandy areas, as we were told to expect, that had no creatures obviously moving about. Yet the sand was still alive! Just below the surface, many animals took cover. Our intention was for a friendly visit, but many of them were unable to differentiate our large shadows for predators and stayed out of easy sight just beneath the surface of the sand. If you look, you will see. We saw lots of outlines of our would-be friends, sometimes with their little eyes above the surface, but sometimes completely buried. Do you recognize the shape in the sand below? You just saw him in the picture above.

We’ve talked a bit about some creatures eating other creatures, so now let’s cheer things up with a look to the future. Hmmm … what do we have here in the sand in the picture below. Did somebody build a sand castle? That’s always fun. You are looking at the egg case of the moon snail, called a sand collar. This large snail exudes a gelatinous substance that holds the grains of sand together and mom deposits thousands of eggs within this collar. You are looking at thousands of future moon snails.

Below you are looking at thousands of future squid. This close-up picture shows the tiny eggs that will hopefully find their way to becoming more friends. Pretty cool, right? We can see the future!

Well friends … clearly, there is a lot to see if we only look. So let’s keep looking. Maybe someday the divers who I met who told me that there wasn’t much to see will have another opportunity and open their eyes to the amazing wonderful living sand.