Things that go "crunch" in the night

Just when you think that life has finally settled down and you have seen everything this island has to offer; you realize you haven't even scratched the surface. This story begins a few weeks ago while I was out floating in the pool after work. Blake had sneakily snuck back to the flat to get some more work done. As I swam solo in the warm soup that was most definitely not refreshing, I heard a sound that made me jump out of the pool and run for my towel. A sound that can only be described as a hybrid combo of a lamb in distress and a sick dog echoed full blast over the pool area. Once to the safety of my towel I looked around for the culprit, sure that a monstrous wolfy thing would jump out of the bushes. All was calm for a few more seconds until the eerie sound echoed loudly once more. That was enough, I was not sticking around to become dinner. I ran up to tell Blake. Unfortunately the unknown beast made me into a fool, because as soon as I brought Blake out, it had disappeared. A few nights later Blake and I were having a night swim in the pool and the tortuous sound began once more. Blake was the one who jumped a mile this time. I was able to locate the sound from a shady bushy section by the pool. I slowly approached the sound only to have it blast from the dark inches from my face. Both Blake and I ran! Later that week we were eating supper on our porch when I heard the sound coming from the pool area (it is that loud!). That was enough. I ran into the house, grabbed a flashlight and began my mission. By the pool I began to track the sound, fear rushing through me each time it cackled- Blake the coward was no help, refusing to move with 10 feet of the sound. As I honed in with the beam of the flashlight the creature uttered one last wretched squawk. The light fell on the culprit...a itty bitty frog who looked more frightened than Blake. I held the beam on him until he let out another crazy bark, to ensure that this little guy was the actual producer of such a horrific sound. Sure enough he was. Now everytime we hear the frogs at the pool we laugh.
The frogs may be a laughing matter, but the night has much more sinister creatures as of late. There has been an invasion of massive land crabs. These pie plate sized beings are everywhere! It is nearly impossible to drive home without hearing the awful crunching underneath your tires. Blake was running home from ball hockey one night and came to a face off with a giant crab on the sidewalk. As traffic rushed by Blake assessed the situation and decided to dart past on the right. The crab unfortunately had the same thought and the two nearly collided. At this point Blake got a little skittish and jumped back. Not wanting to spend more time this close to a crab he ran full speed and jumped over the poor guy while shrieking. I'm not sure who was more surprised, the crab or Blake. And just two nights ago we had just got out of our car when I spotted a large guy hiding next to our utilities box. The scary thing about these crabs is not just their size, but the fact that they can climb up the side of buildings. At work there are photos of the land crabs crawling up the side of the house... yuck!
The night by far holds the most mystery as the weirdest creatures come out, but during the day we also have to be cautious now. Blake was taking the trash out and came across a small boa at the bottom of our building. With fascination we watched from the steps as he slithered through our lawn. We will now be using the stepping stones for all journeys across any section of grass! Between the daylight reptiles and nightly beasts it is always an adventure here!

Pictured above: Invasion of the massive crabs, a small boa constrictor (not our picture. Thankfully the boas don't grow large here)