Shelllady

Shelllady

Tuesday, July 1, 2014

Live Bunche Beach Day 2

"Life is life’s greatest gift. Guard the life of another creature as you would your own because it is your own. On life’s scale of values, the smallest is no less precious to the creature who owns it than the largest."~ Lloyd Biggle Jr., Writer

We picked up Brad at the airport today, and came home for some lunch before deciding on a plan for today's adventures.  We have had some issues with the AC in our house, and it is barely working so Hubby has kind of been 'stuck' at the house to meet the AC person, unfortunately this will continue tomorrow.  He is not a fan of the mud flats, so Jess, Brad and I decided to head back to Bunche Beach. We had to wait for thunderstorms to pass thru and mother nature was nice enough to keep us on schedule!  We were back out about 6:45, after dinner. Brad has never been to Bunche Beach, and it did not disappoint!

To help you all see our location at Bunche Beach, I took some pictures from the beach toward Sanibel. This is directly across the bay, see Sanibel light? I caught it lit so you could see it better.
Just to the right is the bridge and Causeway to Sanibel.

The flats were still amazing with wildlife of every shape and size....

 Another tiny marginella made his way happily along Jess' hand....

 ...and so many live Kings Crowns! Look at those spines....just makes your feet hurt to see them!! We try very hard to be careful not to step on anything as many bury themselves in the mud just below the surface!


This is one of Jess' favorite, a Pear Whelk, obviously alive and kicking!!
I found this amazing tiny sand dollar, unfortunately he didn't make it home without breaking...they are so fragile!! :(


Brad found this tiny live shrimp, and Jess put it in a Quarhog shell for an artsy photo shoot!
Brad also found this awesome Millipede Star fish, very much alive!!



Check out this video of the Millipede, you might want to make it full screen to see all of his 'toes'!

The Kings crowns were not only live with their original "snail-like' owners, there were as many full with hermit crabs also!!



We were lucky enough to find some 'empties', I will post pics later of our finds!

There were also so many horseshoe crabs! From great big to teeny-tiny, this is obviously a favorite playground for these guys and their families!


We all were especially fascinated by this one who was 'molting'! He had a very soft skin inside with the smaller shell on top and bottom! Just amazing!


Check out the size of this guy's footprints, they are as big as mine!
Jess took this neat pic, she has always been good at taking very creative and 'atsy' pics!! (If you click any of these pics, they will automatically enlarge to see them better!)

You ALWAYS have to pause for just a little while to watch a beautiful Sanibel Sunset!



I think Jess is happy that Brad came to be with her for a few days! 
Another Beautiful days end in paradise!

Stay tuned!

::Hugs::

Cheri


4 comments:

  1. Great pictures Cheri - especially the sunsets. Glad to see Brad made it. Hope that A/C gets fixed. That's a pain. We had to replace ours at the lake last year.

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    1. Thanks Kim! Hopefully it's all fixed now!! I guess it's all part of owning a house..... ;/

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  2. Great pictures. Bunche is a great place to launch a kayak too but bring your old sneakers because it can be mucky.

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    1. Thanks Karen,You are right, it can get rather mucky, and it has some sharp critters too!! Haven't been wearing shoes, it's the Carolina in me, I know one day I will wish I had!!

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