Last Hurrah

Team Cheri went out one last time, yesterday and I'm heading home today! :(

Last Beach Report: I noticed a bit of Red Tide as we got to the beach, but it seemed to get better as we continued walking....There were dead fish on the beach, that had been there for some time, and Cheri noticed several in the water that will end up on the beach, eventually.  I actually saw a live eel in the water that kind of freaked me out....good that he's alive, though I wasn't interested in sharing my space with him! I can only assume that the dead fish will continue to drift in until something is done about all of this....now on to the fun....

I did a lot of shelling on the beach, apparently the high tide line and along the edge of where the trucks had been cleaning the beach....and found several of these bright orange Scallops....

I found this tiny Melampus along the edge of the tire tracks....

and was lucky with the Baby's Ears again this time....

 This one was the biggest I have seen!  So this is the Shell of the day for this trip!

The Olives were pretty plentiful....I found this one, that was kinda neat with the repair he had done....

Cheri found two Awesome Olives....definitely her finds for the day.....

Like she said, they were 'fresh kills', which means that they probably died as a result of all the water issues..... Cheri also found this awesome orange Turban....

 and I picked up this 'freakish' Fighting Conch....I love finding unusual shells like this!

I Almost got an Alphabet cone....

Some of the shells you find these days still has some part of the animal remaining in them, I found several Lightning Whelks, and even a Kings Crown that had just a bit left in the shell, needless to say, a thorough washing out in the water then, boiling and soaking in bleach is necessary when I get home....Didn't have the time to arrange these for a pretty picture....gotta get them cleaned up before my plane leaves!!

I love Sanibel Island, and it is so sad to see what has happened here and all of the beaches and canals nearby, even sadder is that I don't really believe that anything is being done to fix this....can you imagine? 

Take care, and I will be talking to you again soon!

::Shelllady Hugs::

CBJ's Big Adventure Part II

“Searching is half the fun: life is much more manageable when thought of as a scavenger hunt as opposed to a surprise party. ” ~ Jimmy Buffett

Today we decided to go back to Ft. Myers to the grocery and planned on stopping back at the causeway to see what has come since we were there.  The tides were going out and we walked a while in the shallows and managed to have a little bit of adventure along the way! I like it when we have to hit the books when we get home to identify animals and shells!

This little guy was very interested in us... 

And this one continued snacking while we snapped his pic!

I believe this is a Mossy Ark

There were bunches of hermits in Sharks eyes, this is obviously the favorite shell in this neck of the woods!

A syphon, we found out it was from an angel wing who had recently expired!!

I believe this is a Sea Hare

Underwater view of the Sea Hare, (cool pic Brad!!)

We found several shells we had not seen before, and after a little while headed back to the condo for an early dinner and some wonderful Key Lime Pie at Gramma Dot's. We wanted to get back out to the beach early for the low tides! 
Unfortunately our plans were interrupted by an ominous thunder storm that was quickly approaching. But we still did okay though Brad had big plans to dig in the tidal pool until at least dark!!

Brad and Jess' shells for the day

The odd looking augers are called Boring turretsnails we believe, the one on the bottom we were never able to identify!

Olives, Sharks eye, Rose tellins, gaudy nautica, a beautiful little King's Crown, pear whelks and tulips

These unusual looking guys (from l to r) are called a spindle shell and Dove shells  (I think)

tiny cones and murex

We also found pear whelks and a perfect little paper fig

Hubby found this Alphabet cone

More Boring Turretsnails and a worm....it seems they are related!

Marginella and/or Melampus

Like I said earlier, it was like an adventure finding new and different things! Some of the shells found on the causeway appear to be fossilized which is always interesting.  Hopefully we will explore this area some more before we leave!

Thanks for tagging along!!

::Hugs::

Cheri

PS...check out Jess on the I love Shelling pics here...she's in the first one and the 6th and 7th one!!