high tide
"Splash, splash..." The waves kept crashing against the rocks.
Seeing that the tide was rising, Chen Zhiyao walked five or six meters along the coastline and then started walking in the opposite direction of the tide.
"I'm having a lucky day!"
She had only taken a few steps when she spotted a huge, light brown bread crab in the distance, at the bottom of a small puddle.
Despite the distance, Chen Zhiyao, with her keen eye, could almost tell that this big guy weighed at least two or three pounds.
Carrying her heavy catch of fish, Chen Zhiyao walked over quickly and lightly.
Even from a distance, the bread crab looked quite large, but as she got closer, it turned out to be even bigger than she had expected.
The bread crab was almost as big as her two palms; it was arguably the biggest bread crab she had ever encountered while beachcombing.
Giant bread crab
The brown crab's claws are quite unique; they usually don't pinch people. Chen Zhiyao simply picked it up with her hands.
"It's so heavy, it must weigh at least three pounds."
The bigger the crab, the higher the price. This big one could easily sell for several hundred yuan.
Considering the price of this bread crab, Chen Zhiyao carefully placed the precious crab into the net bag.
During the process, the movements were very gentle, for fear of bumping or damaging it and affecting its value.
As she continued walking back, Chen Zhiyao picked up some larger conch shells.
Horseshoe snails +3
Spider snail +2
Flower snail +5
Belt +3
...
As she walked, a long, thin, black creature suddenly ran past her feet.
Chen Zhiyao was startled, and a scream was already in her throat. The little dream in her mind comforted her:
"Tangtang, this is just a moray eel, and this moray eel weighs several pounds, so it's worth a lot of money."
Upon hearing that this was a non-biting moray eel and that it was quite expensive, Chen Zhiyao silently swallowed her scream.
Then I looked in the direction the shadowy figure had been moving.
Soon, she found a small black tail under a large rock.
The large eel hiding in the crevices of the rocks was actually more afraid than Chen Zhiyao.
At this moment, it was trying its best to squeeze its body into the crevice, but the crevice was not big to begin with, and no matter how hard it squeezed, a small part of its tail was still exposed.
The all-purpose tongs in his hand directly clamped onto the giant eel that was still trying to cover its head, and pulled it out of the crevice in the rocks in one go.
This thing is huge, almost as thick as a toe, and it looks more like a moray eel than a swamp eel.
This guy was completely black, looked to be about a meter long, and just one look at him gave you the creeps.
Chen Zhiyao didn't dare to look at it for long. After taking it out, she immediately put it into the bucket and closed the lid.
Large Eel +1
Just as I was about to continue walking, I caught a glimpse of two tiny pufferfish by the bucket.
These two little guys are only the size of ping-pong balls, round and chubby, and look very cute.
Looking at the two cute little balls, Chen Zhiyao couldn't resist poking them a couple of times with her hand. They were a bit hard and didn't feel very good to the touch.
"Go on."
Chen Zhiyao happily tossed the two little cuties into the sea and continued walking forward.
Octopus +2
Spicy snail nest +1
Piglet snail +6
Dog Shark +1
...
As you walk, the rocky beach under your feet gradually turns into a flat mudflat, and you can also find a lush green grove of trees in the distance.
She was on the far left of the rocky beach. If you continued to walk to the left, you would reach a lush mangrove forest.
mangroves
The mudflats and mangroves are separated by four or five meters, and can only look at each other from afar.
However, by this time the seawater had receded quite far, and the water level of the small river in the middle was not deep.
At the outer edge, the water level only reached Chen Zhiyao's knees.
As for the middle position, she threw a few stones over there, estimating it to be about 60 or 70 centimeters.
If the tide hadn't already started rising, we could have easily walked to the mangroves on the other side.
Chen Zhiyao was staring blankly at the mangrove forest opposite Hong, wondering whether she should go over and take a look, when she heard two familiar footsteps behind her.
"The water doesn't look deep now, but when the tide comes in, it will be at least several meters deep."
We had a lot to learn today, but Grandpa Chen didn't approve of going into the mangroves.
Chen Weiqiang hadn't been to Conch Island for many years, and he was even more excited than his daughter.
Chen Weiqiang patted his daughter's shoulder and said with a grin:
"No problem, we can just move the stuff onto the fishing boat and then paddle over in the small kayak."
"The trees in this mangrove forest are growing so well; I bet there are lots of big crabs hiding inside."
As soon as they finished speaking, the three of them saw two dirty wild ducks leisurely swimming out of the mangroves.
Upon seeing the two large ducks, Chen Zhiyao blurted out, "These wild ducks are so plump; they would definitely make a delicious conch and duck stew."
"No problem, I'll catch you two big ducks later," Chen Weiqiang said confidently, patting his chest.
Seeing that both father and daughter wanted to go to the mangrove forest, Grandpa didn't say anything more.
When the old man agreed, the father and daughter glanced at each other with smirks, looking like their wicked scheme had succeeded.
After settling their belongings from the beachcombing trip, the three of them slowly paddled their small inflatable boat from the rocky beach to the edge of the mangrove forest.
At this point, the sea level rose again, and the water level of the small river next to the mangroves rose considerably.
The seawater, which originally only reached Chen Zhiyao's knees, had risen to her thighs, and the mangrove forest was completely submerged.
The weather is nice today, and the sea is a beautiful deep blue. However, the mangrove area is a mudflat with a mixture of mud and black soil, and the seawater is very murky.
The clear and murky waters meet at the boundary of the mangrove forest, creating a unique landscape.
Chen Zhiyao took out her phone and quickly snapped a picture of this peculiar sight.
If she hadn't seen it with her own eyes, she would have definitely thought it was a computer-generated photo.
The tide was still rising, so the experienced Grandpa Chen simply rowed along the tide into the depths of the mangrove forest.
During their time there, the three of them also encountered two wild ducks catching small fish and shrimp.
However, these little guys were very agile. Before Chen Zhiyao and Chen Weiqiang could even reach them with their nets, they had already slipped away warily.
Chen Zhiyao thought to herself in a good mood: Since there are so many wild ducks here, there should be plenty of duck eggs.
In the morning, she heard her grandmother say that there weren't many salted duck eggs left in the house, so she could collect some to take home.
The three of them sat in a small inflatable boat, nimbly weaving through the mangroves, and soon arrived at a semi-dry mudflat.
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