I ended my previous post about day 2 of camping with Anthony with the story that we'd returned from dinner in time for the sunset.

When we got out of the car at the campsite, Anthony was playing with a superhero toy of some sort that he got at the store. (Because camping is special, “we” decided that he can get a small $2 or $3 toy each day that we happen to go to a store while camping.)

A boy about his age was walking by with his mom, and made a comment about the toy. It turns out that this was all the invitation that Anthony needed to strike up a conversation and friendship. This family (with four kids and a dog) were the only others at the campground for most of the day, so I'd spent much of the day trying to get Anthony interested in playing with the two boys that were about his age, but he was shy and showed shockingly little interest, even when one emerged from the surf with a grotesque pulsing squishy sea cucumber (something that looks like a snail without a shell, but one the size of a large sweet potato).

So, finally they started talking. The mom kindly offered to take Anthony down to the beach while I put stuff away in our tent, and I used the opportunity to grab my camera as well....

The ability to make friends is a great thing about kids that adults would do well to mimic. Anthony tends to be shy until something breaks the ice, but then he's quick to make new friends.

The boy next to Anthony in the shot above is Fuuta-kun, who is about the same age as Anthony. His older brother, Hinata-kun is about a year older, and the little girl (along with her twin brother who was back at camp with his daddy) is a week shy of turning three years old.

Anthony and the two boys were inseparable for the rest of the day, and much of the next.

It was about this time that I snapped the picture of the something-fishy bird I posted last week.

Sunsets and sunrises are cliché, of course, but I still like them, and have already posted pictures of them twice in this camping story (here and here), and plenty of posts in the past:

• Sunset from a ferry
• Orange sunset in Kyoto
• Sunrise in Takamatsu
• From sunset to moonrise with Adobe Lightroom
• Sunset in Ise
• Sunset in Ise #2
• Sunrise, Malaysian Style

Of course, the kids couldn't care less, especially when there are things to poke...

As far as I could tell, there wasn't the least bit of tide here, so the only time the many pot-shaped holes in the rocks got water was when it rained or a storm blew waves into them. The stagnant, brackish mix of fresh and sea water made for interesting ecosystems with all kinds of creatures.

The kids' favorite were large coral-like polyps (flower-like animals, one to several inches across, with long tentacles all around the edges) that tried to grab whatever touched their tentacles, then completely retracted into the rock when they found it was only a kid on a stick.

(I wanted to take pictures of them, but lacking a polarizing filter, got mostly reflections)

Anyway, sunset was fast approaching, so I tried several things to snazz up the shot...

Meanwhile, the kids continued in their quest to poke. The color reflected wonderfully in the water, but it proved too elusive to capture...

I was trying to get an exposure that allowed one to see the kids in the ever-increasing contrast of dusk, but I eventually gave up and embraced the contrast for the silhouettes they allowed...