Live-ly Shark's Eyes

The shelling has not been great the last few days as the low tides are after dark, and this girl doesn't do after dark alone!  I decided to head out today right before noon to see how it looked.  

It was very nice, a little bit of chop in the surf, just enough to make it difficult to see. I did manage to find some more Live Shark's eyes (Moon Snail) which makes a total of 5 I have found this trip.  That's pretty rare for me, I can only remember of 1 other time I've found one live!

This guy I found when I scooped up some sand where I felt something under my foot in the water

I couldn't resist taking a couple of videos of him!....Please pardon the shaky camera, it was really hard to see in the camera in the bright sunshine....enjoy!

I guess I should have washed him off a bit, I just love these guys!! <3

There was one area where these guys were, and there were also 2 live lettered olives burrowing in... Here is one of them up close...

Only a few more days left, I hope to have a real shelling report one of these days soon...Stay Tuned!

::Shelllady Hugs::

A Live-ly Evening!

Last night and tonight are going to be the last opportunities to do any good shelling during low tide, if I want to do it in the daytime.  So, understand why I was worried when the summer thunderstorms started as early as 1:00 yesterday! Low tide was to be one minute before sunset, at 8:20 pm! We had some pretty impressive storms with lots of rain, lightning and thunder.  We even had rain with sunshine!  The last one blew through at about 6:15, so off I went!  It looked like I had made a good choice!

Sanibel Lighthouse from the causeway

The area around Gulfside City Park, where I was heading (from the causeway)

 When I arrived it was beautiful, though I did keep an eye on the sky!

 I walked down to Sundial resorts, (this is the first time this week I have felt like I could without getting stuck by a storm!) Sundial has some great tidal pools that tend to show up during low tides. Tidal pool searching is my favorite type of shelling.

I passed this on my walk....does anyone else see a palm tree?....or am I just in a tropical state of mind?! :)

I could tell right away that this was going to be fun, the water was shallow and very clear! Here is the edge, believe it or not, this pic is taken of the small waves 'lapping' up against the shore. No, I did not see the tiny turkey wing or lightning whelk until I reviewed this pic!! :(

This was so much fun! I was walking in water about knee deep and could see very clearly!

Most of the next pics were taken into the water, so you might see a little bit of distortion in some of them.

It was so much fun....so much life going on under the waves!

A live olive out for a walk....

 A HUGE Millipede Starfish...

Lots and Lots of live pear whelks, this one I had to pick up to get a better picture, he was eating a live sharks eye, I thought about sticking around to get the shell, but I had so much 'ground' to cover and it was quickly getting darker!

Another live pear whelk....love these guys!

 There were many sand dollars, this guy was also out for an evening stroll in the tidal pools...

And this, though broken in 2, is the LARGEST sand dollar I have ever seen!!

I just measured that part of my hand and it measures 5 inches! Just HUGE!

I did manage to pick up a few treasures along the way, mostly mini, which are normally much prettier!

I had to leave my temporary paradise as it was quickly getting dark, and I had quite a long ways to go to get back to the car, but I had a blast!

The sky got more and more colorful, so I snapped a few pics along the way back...

It was a full moon, so I attempted to catch it too, though a little fuzzy, still a nice photo op!

Here are my finds...

(top row, l to r) Olives, sharks eye
(2nd row) Minis...Top shell, Tuban, Nutmeg, lightning whelk and Horse Conch
(3rd row) juvenile fighting conchs
4th row..Scallops, banded and true tulip minis

These minis had so much color!

Love the color on this true tulip!!!

So stay tuned, not sure if I will go out tonight, the low tide is after sunset, but I might just check it out up until dark!  After that I will go back to sunrise shelling, which may or may not work out with the tides...we'll see!

::Shelllady Hugs::

Summer Therapy

I went to Sanibel this morning to meet with the Shell Crafting ladies from the Community Center and began my training to be one of them! They are all so nice, and I know I will throughly enjoy this! They threw me in the deep end to start right off, making my own arrangement! My biggest weakness (so far) has been the coquina flowers, I just have issues making them look symmetrical, but what better way to learn?

I made about a dozen of these guys, too much glue, and look forward to when it's 'easy' for me and looks professional! Practice makes perfect, so next week I hope to do a little better! So much Fun, I feel more everyday like part of the community.

The summer storms continue to travel through during the evenings, but I've been lucky enough that they have finished the last 2 nights before low tide.  I have been keeping an eye to the sky, just to be sure.

This was when I was heading out to Sanibel from home...Not too sure they were done yet....

 ...It was beautiful!

The beaches were pretty bare of shells, but I did find some more live treasures, 2 more buried lightning whelks, this live shark's eye (Moon Snail) which for me is quite rare to find live...

 Such pretty, deep colors! I put him back where I found him, along the surf line.

This live sea urchin was slowly releasing his shell cover, while dancing a little 'jig'.

 I considered doing a little "Mexican Hat Dance" around this guy, but thought better of it pretty quickly.

 I found this guy, and wondered.....is it live?

SCORE! It wasn't....so he came home with me!

 Though the beaches are covered with lots of beautiful shells

 I only found a few to take home with me

 Several 'craft' shells, shells I use while making stuff, but nothing super special. That's okay, I still need the therapy.

Again, I left and went to my little beach by the causeway for some tellins, (also for a craft project) and found a few more! Looks like the Great Blue Heron had also been there....he has some BIG feet!!

The clouds kept the sun hidden most of the time I was out, but to me it's still worthy of a pic...or 2.

Here are the last 2 evenings finds

(left top to center then down) Flats, king crown skeleton, worm shell, banded tulip, cockles, lightning whelk, scallops, kittens paws, Sand Dollar. (Right) Tellins, white and Rose, (bottom right) Sailors ears, (broken ones will be crushed and used on crafts)

Mini tellins?

White and Rose Tellins

 I can't decide if the one on the right is another small flat scallop, it's awesome anyway!

Sea Urchin

Stay tuned!

::Shelllady Hugs::