Shell piles, Birds and Sunsets

The last couple of days have been so busy with all kinds of wonderful therapy, I'm already behind on my posting.... Cheri and I met up for a walk and talk and to see the amazing sunset....we ended up doing more talking and less walking because we ran into an area on the beach that had LOTS and LOTS of minis! Wentletraps galore too....and if you read my posts often, if there is something that will stop me it's those 'wentles'. I neglected to take pics of the areas, but I did take some of what I found...I didn't bring any containers for smalls, but I did fill up my shirt pocket!  There's a dime in there to give you an idea of size....

 The sunset didn't disappoint either!

Just before sunset, the Skimmers came out! I absolutely love these guys and have not been able to successfully photograph them, tonight I got a little bit closer...they are so graceful and so fast....with the fading light it's just tough to catch them. These pics aren't too bad though for my little point and shoot water camera!

They fly along just off the surface, and their bottom beak onto the surface, just amazing to watch!!

Early the next morning, Liz came by and picked me up and we went to check out the newly refurbished Turner Beach, just across Blind Pass Bridge at Sanibel on Captiva Island. It traditionally has a large shell pile right at the rock Jetty and today it did but we walked up the beach for a while to see what was out there.

We couldn't find anything on the beach, so we decided to try our luck in the shell pile....

I haven't done this very often, but have seen many posts where people have found lots of treasures in there! It was still damp inside, so I'm thinking it hadn't been there for too long....right off I got a teaser....a pretty good sized piece of a Lion's paw!!

Then after a little while I ran across this....see it in the center of the pic...in the shadows

Score!! A nice sized Alphabet Cone, and it was perfect!

I got teased a couple more times with two pieces of Junonia!

But alas, it wasn't going to happen today....I did find a few orange scallops, sharks eyes, a couple Gaudy Nauticas, Bittersweets, and a sweet little True Tulip.

We took a short walk on the Sanibel Side at Blind pass, 

and found this Calico Crab taking a dip in the clear Gulf...

That afternoon, I got a call from Cheri and she wanted to know if I wanted to go by Ding Darling to see some White Pelicans on the way to our afternoon Walk-and-talk and Sunset....

I've only seen White Pelicans in flight, never 'up close and personal' they only fly in during the winter here as they migrate here. I was truly amazed! I love the 'goofy' brown pelicans, but these guys are so much larger and much more graceful! They eat like ducks, (don't dive after fish like their cousins)

We spent so much time looking at these guys, we got to the beach just in time to see an ABSOLUTELY gorgeous sunset... and this guy came by to say hi....

How about that for a beautiful ending for a day!! 

 Stay tuned! Hopefully more adventures to come!

::Shelllady Virtual Hugs::