We started our Sunday morning turtle walk on Southgate Beach maybe a little earlier than usual. After all, it was the day of the Halloween Doggie Parade in town and we needed to be there at noon. After all the rain, we were surprised to see that the “river” which sometimes blocks the way between Chenay Bay Resort and the Southgate property was not that deep and we’d be able to walk across. I picked up Goliath and took a step off the 2 foot high “embankment” into the sand below. Little did I know it was like quick sand. I stepped down and sank, then, before I realized I had sunk, I tried to take another step and fell flat on my face into the water. See Little Dog fly!! I think Goliath miraculously landed on a dry spot, but I wasn’t sure because I was busy getting up and guffawing and trying to brush wet sand off myself. My flip flop was almost buried in the soft sand where I took the first step. Michael was laughing, I was laughing and soaked but we managed to rescue my sinking flip flop and made it safely the rest of the way across.

There were some people walking toward us and I wondered if they had seen my graceful dive into the soft sand and water. As we got closer to them (laughing all the way, ha ha ha), I realized it was Peter and Heike. Peter joked that they had dug up all the turtle nests so we didn’t have to. We chatted for a minute, made plans for later in the day and continued with our walk. About 2/3 of the way down the beach, Goliath went into some tall grass and sniffed around a bit more than usual. I had the feeling he might be finding hatchlings, so I went over to where he was, and, sure enough, there were some lifeless-looking baby turtles. We would not have seen them in the tall beach grass if he hadn’t gotten our attention. We thought they were dead, but when Michael picked one up, it started flapping its flippers. Altogether, there were eight hatchlings that had been pulled from the nest by a mongoose. One was dead but the others were able to swim away when Michael brought them to the water. Thanks to Goliath, the turtle saving dog :)!!!

We finished our walk and went back home for a late breakfast and to get ready for the doggie parade. It was pouring rain again. We were lucky to have had a respite from the deluges while we walked the beach earlier. Michael called Sadie’s Pet Boutique, who was sponsoring the parade to see if it would still be going on. Donna, the owner said that it would, so we headed into town with raincoats and umbrellas and Goliath with his costume. There were a handful of other dogs getting into their costumes when we arrived.

Goliath is one baaad biker dude

Fortunately, there was a covered area in the Pan Am Pavilion where we could congregate.
We really couldn’t have a “parade” because we would have gotten all wet and the costumes would have been ruined, so we just walked a short distance undercover to where the judges sat. The dogs would be competing for prizes in three categories: Cutest, Funniest, and Best Dressed. A dog in a butterfly suit named “Lola” won cutest. A pirate dog won funniest. And our very own little man was best dressed!! Yay!! What a day for Goliath! He was on a winning streak. He won a gift certificate for a piece of jewelry from a competing (gasp!) jewelry store. We’ll have to wait and see if we can use it….

Tags: St. Croix

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