Welcome to the Cape May Naturalist

I want to be in Exit Zero.

I also want to remember October weekends like this one--Saturday collecting quahogs in our sekrit clam bed, today watching dolphins round up bluefish like Wyatt Earp rustled horses.

I have spent hours watching sea slaters (OK, wharf roaches) on the ferry jetty, paddling with dolphins off Higbees Beach, and clamming in a variety of places around the Cape.

Now for the nitpicky:

1) Our home is in North Cape May, the Township of Lower, not in the Victorian village of Cape May City. Technically, we're not Cape May.

Technically, neither is the Lobster House, Sunset Beach, Schellengers landing (home of the Cape May Whale Watcher), the Lewes ferry, the Cape May lighthouse, and the Cape May Bird Observatory. All are part of our li'l town, the Township of Lower.

2) I'm not a naturalist (nor a naturist). I teach high school science. At Exit 148.

3) While my family has some roots in Cape May (my aunt and uncle owned the Sea Breeze Motel on Pittsburgh Avenue for years), and my uncle once guarded Cape May's fine beaches, I am aware that unless you are descended from a local whaler, you are forever an outsider.

4) We are not (yet) fulltimers here. We have a home. We need jobs. We can feed ourselves on clams and beach plums, but the town insists we pay our taxes in cash, not clams.

I am writing this (mostly) for myself. I'll be entering my 6th decade soon (already there if embryos count), and I want to remember when the monarchs cloud the skies, the horseshoe crabs flood the beaches, and the Philadelphians invade the bars.

I want to remember the sundog rainbows I saw yesterday over Richardson Sound. I want to anticipate when the skimmers crowd the beaches, and when the ghost crabs disappear for the winter.