It was a lovely warm day so Greg and Casey and their family decided to go for a walk on the beach at Crawfordsburn.
The beach and the sea looked beautiful but it was still too cold to go swimming and they didn’t want to build sand castles. They walked along the path past the old boat house towards the rocky coves. Greg wanted to explore rock pools and he had brought his book about the seashore with him.
Suddenly Greg pointed at a rock off the shore, “look at all those cormorants, Casey.” They turned off the path…
and scrambled over the rocks. “Careful you don’t slip on the seaweed Casey,” Greg told her. But it was too late, Casey already had her sandals off and was paddling in the water.
“Oh Casey” he grumbled, “now I won’t be able to see any little creatures, they will all be hiding in the seaweed.” It wasn’t long though before he was dipping his feet into the cold water too. “I’ve found an empty mussel shell,” he said, holding it up for her to see.
“What type of seaweed is this?” Casey asked Greg. “It’s bladderwrack,” he told her. They stared into the pool to see what else they could find.
“Let’s go and look at that big pool over there Casey.” They set off across the rocks.
“Come and look at the different types of lichen,” Greg called, but Casey was busy looking at some seashells wedged among the pebbles.
They rested on a comfortable seat-shaped rock and Greg pointed to the big pool nearby. They headed over to it and paddled in the water. “You should pull up your trouser leg, Greg, or it will get wet.” Then pointing to a rock jutting out of the water, “I’m going to sit on that rock over there,” as she started to climb up the rocky edge. “Casey…” but it was too late.
Casey stepped across towards the rock, lost her footing… and with a squeal of shock fell into the water. “Are you okay?” Greg asked as he paddled over to her.
“Gosh, the water is freezing,” she gasped as she sat on the rock. “I think I hurt my ankle.” “Which one?” Greg asked, “You are holding them both up!” “Greg, Casey, will you two be careful, please?” Their mum called over, from where she was reading her newspaper. “We will,” Greg assured her.
“I know what I am going to do next!” Casey told him excitedly and before he could stop her, she was in the water again. “You are totally crazy!” he shouted at her. “What on earth are you doing now?” “Can’t you tell?” she giggled, “I’m a little mermaid” “You had better get some sense Casey,” Greg told her crossly. “Mum is going to be angry with you.” “Oh, don’t be silly Greg,” she said.
The next moment, “Mummmmmmy…” wailed Casey, “I fell in.” she sobbed through chattering teeth. “Oh dear Casey, I did tell you both to be careful. You had better take off those wet clothes before you catch a chill” her concerned mother told her, wrapping her up in a warm dry towel.
Greg shook his head in disbelief, “you REALLY should have been more careful Casey, you could have hurt yourself when you fell off the rock into the water.” Wrapped in the big towel Casey laughed at him. “I didn’t get told off though, did I?”
They picked up their wet belongings and walked back along the path towards the car park.