Indian River Bay—James Farm Ecological Preserve

Our last night in Bethany, Delaware, we drove around Indian River Bay, about a 1/4 mile around the bay from our condo, to the James Farm Ecological Preserve. It was a great find! The waters were really warm and still. We didn't anticipate all the awesome things there.

Here's a visual for those of you who are wondering where in the world we vacationed. We stayed in the Bethany Bay Resort, located on the Indian River Bay, about a mile from Bethany Beach.

Once at the James Farm Ecological Preserve, we hiked back the wooded trails to find the beach. Along the trail we saw lots of frogs and bunnies and neat native plants and trees.

Vanessa really enjoyed the water at the bay. She liked to go out as far as she could and wanted to stay in it. She didn't want to leave when it came time, although she was quite ready for bed.

The water was so clear that you could see snails on the floor a foot or two out from the water line.

There were lots and lots of horseshoe crabs that swam along the shore. As Daddy put it, they were very social. They'd swim and crawl toward you. These creatures are very interesting, existing before dinosaurs. It was a night or two before the full moon, so as seen in the picture, the mating activity was picking up. The largest population in the world lives in Delaware.

The new Indian River Bay Bridge is being constructed. You could see it across the bay from the condo and from here. We drove beside it the night before we visited here. Vanessa thought it was a pretty cool structure.

One disappointment with the East Coast is that you can't see the sunset on the ocean beach. But the bay at the Preserve allowed for that. What a peaceful place . . .