When we finally arrived at our resort in Porto de Galinhas, it was getting dark. We got settled into our room and went for a walk on the beach. By now it was really dark and the beach wasn't lit at all. I (Benay) kind of stayed on the sand, but Kevin wanted to walk out into the water a little bit. It wasn't deep at all - just wading. This beach was different from any that we had been to before. It was kind of rocky and hard in the water, instead of sandy. As he began to walk back up to the sand, he stepped in a hole and one of his flip-flops came off momentarily. As he stepped forward, he got something in his foot. He walked on up to me and we went to the room so he could get the splinter out of his foot. As it turned out, he had about 4 little black splinters in his foot. At this point, I am thankful that it isn't me because I don't handle splinters well. Once, when I was younger, I fainted while my mom was removing one from my foot. Anyway, he dug out the splinters with a pocket knife and the needle from the hotel sewing kit.
The next morning, we went out to walk on the beach again. When we got there we started walking out into the water and we saw one of these:
I said to Kevin, "I wonder if this is what you stepped on last night." As we kept walking further out, the ground became rocky. It was a big coral reef and inside the coral reef, we saw this: 
Then we knew that, yes, this was what had gotten into his foot the night before. We had never seen anything like this before and didn't know what they were. 
Later in the week, we visited other coral reefs in Porto de Galinhas, which form natural pools. We saw these things again, and were informed that they are called ouriços-do-mar, in English - sea urchins. They look like some kind of plant, but they are really an animal.
Our guide on one of our excursions picked one up to show me his underside. That red part in the middle is his mouth opening and the white stuff on his needles is what he is eating.
Later, Kevin faced his nemesis again and picked one of these guys up. 
Here is a video of the sea urchin with Kevin holding it. Watch it move across his hand:
I thought I knew about beaches, having visited Florida and Gulf Shores every year of my life when I was younger. But, I think God is much too creative to make every beach the same, and we experienced so many neat and different things, like these sea urchins, on our trip.
The next morning, we went out to walk on the beach again. When we got there we started walking out into the water and we saw one of these:
I said to Kevin, "I wonder if this is what you stepped on last night." As we kept walking further out, the ground became rocky. It was a big coral reef and inside the coral reef, we saw this: Then we knew that, yes, this was what had gotten into his foot the night before. We had never seen anything like this before and didn't know what they were. Later in the week, we visited other coral reefs in Porto de Galinhas, which form natural pools. We saw these things again, and were informed that they are called ouriços-do-mar, in English - sea urchins. They look like some kind of plant, but they are really an animal.Our guide on one of our excursions picked one up to show me his underside. That red part in the middle is his mouth opening and the white stuff on his needles is what he is eating.
Later, Kevin faced his nemesis again and picked one of these guys up. Here is a video of the sea urchin with Kevin holding it. Watch it move across his hand:I thought I knew about beaches, having visited Florida and Gulf Shores every year of my life when I was younger. But, I think God is much too creative to make every beach the same, and we experienced so many neat and different things, like these sea urchins, on our trip.
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