After several days of afternoon storms preventing any sunbathing, I learnt my lesson and on Tuesday I set off for the beach at 10am. Once again I had liberally applied the Factor 50 to protect my pasty skin, and settled down on the lounger in a quiet spot near the boardwalk from our street. I was positioned high up the beach away from the sea quite close to the dunes where the long grass swayed gently in what little breeze there was. It is already very hot by that time of day, a cloudless sky with the sun beating relentlessly down is a perfect place for me to relax. One can almost feel the energy surging back into the body to “recharge the batteries”. But I can only lie there inactive for so long, so I started to read my current book of choice, a biography - “Aneurin Bevan - Volume 1″ by veteran politician Michael Foot.
Out of the corner of my eye I spotted movement. I looked up from the book to see a sizable crab about a yard from my sun lounger. I scrambled to get my camera out of my bag but to no avail, in a flash the crab had squeezed down a hole that was about an inch and a half diameter. 
I surveyed the environs. About 10 yards away another crab was making its sidewards way along near the line of the dunes. Unwisely I leapt up with my camera to get a closer picture. Startled, the crab commenced burying itself in the impression of a footprint in the sand. Back at the lounger the book was put aside, and I started to scour the landscape. There was another crab, and another. They were all over the place if you looked closely enough. Using the camera at its maximum zoom I spent almost an hour observing their behaviour and taking snaps. It was quite hard as they seemed to detect the slightest movement even yards away, and they would flit for cover. 
The beach was full of holes excavated by the crabs, every so often one would pop out, deposit its load of sand at the entrance, then retreat for its next batch. The crabs were about the size of a human hand, but complete with fiercesome pincers.
Later internet research identified these crabs as Ghost Crabs, and the description here from Wikipedia seems a perfect match:
Ghost crabs, also called sand crabs, are crabs of the genus Ocypode, common shore crabs in many countries. In the south eastern United States, Ocypode quadrata is frequently seen scurrying along beaches between sunset and dawn.
These crabs are called ghosts because of their ability to disappear from sight almost instantly, scuttling at speeds up to 10 miles per hour, while making sharp directional changes. These creatures have two black eyes, with very good 360° vision.
The ghost crab tunnels down four feet into the ground at a 45° angle, creating 1-2 inch wide holes, which speckle the beach. At dusk, these crabs will sprint to the ocean in order to obtain oxygen from the water which washes over their gills, and in the beginning of the summer, females will release their eggs into the ocean.
This is another interesting piece on the Ghost Crab by Patricia B. Mitchell Hungry Nocturnal Ghosties
As more people arrived on the beach the crabs stayed hidden for longer so I returned to my book and tan. The latter is a sore point, literally, as the Factor 50 proved somewhat useless, and I realised later that the 3 hours on the beach had been enough to inflict a burnt back and shoulders. At least I escaped crab bites!
More photos
