I'm back home in Ft. Myers for a little while, Hubby has already been down here a week. I stayed back in Virginia to spend some quality time with family for Mother's Day, so I flew in a couple of days ago. The tides aren't great, but I just had to take an evening walk along the beach for a little therapy, and boy was the wind howling! The pictures never really show well, but believe me, the sand would sting at the upper beach it was blowing so hard!
There were a lot of ordinary shells all over the beach, and several 'shelves' where the waves had eroded away the sand, apparently these waves have been going for some time.
This shelf was about 10 inches high...
I didn't expect to find much, I just truly enjoy the walk and the sights at the beach... I did happen up on an area where the waves were tossing around a few shells, it took a little patience, so you could look between waves and see a few shells, as the sand was washing in and out...
Not much, but that's okay with me....I just need the therapy. Stay tuned, the tides will be getting better early next week, and I hope to be out there getting my beach therapy every day!! I would be glad to bring you along! ::Shelllady Hugs::
Team Cheri headed back out this morning on another adventure with hopes of finding some more minis. Of course we can't resist the live stuff while we are searching. We ran across this Spider Crab that decided to try being a blonde...
Cheri found this awesome Live Brittle Star..
And this small Two spine Sea Star...isn't he beautiful?
I did find an Alphabet Cone this time.....if only the skeleton!
I thought this was neat because you can see the different layers of the cone. After the tide started rolling in, so did the minis. A beautiful little Shark's eye, an Auger, a Tinted Cantharus and a Ribbed Cantharus and of course a Coquina pair. There were not nearly as many Coquina or minis out there today...
I found this freak Button shell, of course I couldn't resist taking it with me!
I also found a LIVE Wentletrap, it's hard to see in the picture, but he is a chocolate brown and it shows through the spirals...very pretty!
He's happily swimming around in the Gulf now...
The sunrise was beautiful as usual this morning, though we didn't see the sun until it was higher this morning because of a cloud bank...
A peek into the pill bottle shows that I found a few more Wentletraps today to add to my jar at home....at this rate I might just fill it up one of these days.
I found a few more minis also... The one at the bottom, I thought was a micro mini Sundial, which is rare in this area, Cheri suggested it might be a button, and based on the markings, I think she is right! So tiny...this is the top...
Here is the bottom....
Here are the additional minis I came home with today....these are the Bigger ones! :) I hit the jackpot with Shark's eyes of all different sizes...
Yes, I'm still here! I have been very busy doing shell stuff, but not shelling! Shell Club meeting on Sunday, and Shellcrafters on Monday...am I in Heaven or what?! Early this morning Team Cheri got back together and headed out for another adventure. The shelling was pretty sparse, but there is always so much cool stuff to see and the weather is fabulous! The first big question we had was what in the world is this? Neither of us have ever seen it before, and we found quite a few of them on the beach. They are jelly-like, obviously eggs of some sort, they sink when put in the water. I pulled out the books and searched, and the internet. Cheri and I thought that they may be Octopus eggs when we first saw them. According to what I could find, they could be that or squid...though the insides of all the pictures I found showed the squid and octopus developed, these weren't yet...any ideas out there? Would love to find out, and I will report back when I do!
The prize find of the day was Cheri found a Maculated Baby's Ear!
...and another Baby's Ear and Button Shell
We then started finding the mini's.... I found this tiny Banded Tulip...
and this little perfect Wentletrap
Can you believe this is a Lightning Whelk? From this....
To this!!...
I found A Keyhole Limpet...
We each found tiny Shark's eyes
Lots of mini's!
We found some other neat stuff as well... This Sea Pork with Spots!
and a Live Bubble Shell...
Cheri had to leave about 8:30, and it was such a beautiful day, I decided to walk back to my car at Gulfside...about 3-1/2 miles! Something I have always wanted to try!
I have a craft project I am going to start working on and need some Coquinas, so I will be collecting all I can find!
I hit the jackpot as far as finding coquinas! There were lots of Coquinas, especially in this one area! Very tedious to pick through them, but so much fun. I also found mini fighting conchs, bubbles, murex...it was definitely mini day!
Most of the take home today were these beautiful Coquinas!
I also found this odd colored Fighting Conch...
He was live, but look at this beautiful Purple lining!! (Don't worry, he went back in the Gulf after his photo op!)
I couldn't resist this Spiny Jewel Box....
I did find a cone....a Florida Cone!
I also couldn't resist this Small perfect Pear Whelk...
and this guy!!! This is a Reddish Egret and he was in a tidal pool doing his little chicken dance...he was so funny, I could have watched him forever!!!
I tried to catch a him on video, he moved around so much it was hard to keep up with him!
Stay tuned....more adventures to come!! ::Shelllady Hugs::
