Two Adventures, One post!

We are beginning week three, our longest trip down to date. I've been slacking on the posting lately and I am sorry, so will spend the next couple of days, 'Catching you all up!' This has been an amazing trip, Cheri and I have been having a lot of fun on the beaches of beautiful Sanibel!

Friday Cheri had some plans in the morning, so I headed out to see what the latest winds had brought in. I picked up a few things...

A couple of Fighting Conchs, Lightning Whelks and a Banded Tulip

I also found several of these Purple Sea Urchins...These two were dead...

 ...But this guy was alive! I really like these guys!

I hope one day to make my first Sailor's Valentine using my own shells, nothing bought, so I have been collection the sea urchin spines for that. I will need a lot so this was a good find.

After Cheri got there we decided it was time to collect some minis, Cheri has never added a Wentletrap to her collection. We hadn't been there very long when she found her first!!

That was quickly followed by bunches and bunches of minis for us both!

I found lots of colorful Coquina pairs...or 'butterflies' as my Daddy always called them.

It was awesome! We found Bubble shells, Sharks eyes, (the small one just below the shark's eye in the center is an Eastern Dog Whelk(I may have misnamed it in an earlier post), the orangy one to the left is a tiny murex, there are 2 tiny wentletraps in the center, a piece of coral and more coquina pair.

 Cheri and I each found one of these, we thought is was a Ram's Horn which is not normally found here, but with a little bit of research (hitting the books) I believe it is a Waxy Polygra...another first for us!

So many minis...Cheri found Ceriths, Cantharus (top left), a tiny Horse conch, Turbans, Button Snail shells, Fighting Conch, Augers...you name it!

 I found these mini Fighting Conchs, the tiny Nutmeg, center top, and yes that is what you think it is...even a tiny Junonia cob! The tiny shell to the right of the Junonia piece is a tiny Dwarf Olive, we each got two of these tiny guys....Cheri dropped one before we left, I'm sure I'll lose at least one during cleaning since they are so very tiny.

Cheri found this guy, I looked through all my books and with the help of a fellow Sheller have found out it's called a Arrow Dwarf Triton! (Thanks Steve!)

Everything thing we saw at the Lighthouse was tiny, check out this tiny crab!

It was a beautiful day, I can't ever go there without taking a photo of the Lighthouse!

...or the Dolphin!

Thursday 'Team Cheri' participated in a beach cleanup which was a joint effort between the Sanibel Sea School 

and a clothing store called 'Fresh Produce'. The first part of the morning we participated in an activity where we each wrote down our problems on a piece of paper, burned them....

carried the ashes to the beach

Then each of us took a pinch of the ashes walked into the Gulf and let them go. Bruce, our host, (and co-founder of Sanibel Sea School) says this is an activity he does with the kids during camp, and really can make a difference for some of the kids! 

Fresh Produce then stepped in and gave us all bags and gloves and we picked up the local beach that was within walking distance...

Team Cheri (me in the blue, Cheri Hollis in the pink!)

Fresh Produce also provided a nice lunch (from Bailey's General Store) and gave us a small presentation from their founder and gave us a gift. It was a lot of fun, and we feel like we helped in a small way! The took 2 group photos, but we didn't get a copy...if I find them, I'll post!

 The walk to the beach was amazing, we crossed over a bridge that crossed the Sanibel River...and saw beautiful vegetation and Mangroves, another first for me, I have never seen one up close!

I couldn't resist taking some pictures of these crafts done by the kids at Sanibel Sea School!  Check out these crabs made out of handprints...

..or this huge wave made out of seashells!

Stay Tuned!!

::Shelllady Hugs::

A Relaxing Veterans Day

I decided to try the afternoon tides again, it wasn't very low, but the walk was amazing as usual! The water again was very clear, honestly I can't think of one thing negative to say about this place or the weather!

I saw this guy running around under the surf in water a little over knee deep, and couldn't resist the opportunity for a photo op! It's a hermit crab in a Pear Whelk!

The shell is covered with all kinds of things, including barnacles and carrier shells, click on the pic to enlarge it and check out his eyes! 

I think I could have filled my bag up with Fighting Conchs! I was picking them up by the handful! 

Some, of course were pretty beaten up, but there were tons that were just beautiful.  I, of course, already have too many, but I couldn't resist digging around them to see what else was with them.

You could see them partially buried through the clear water...

I found this bright orange Banded tulip....

And this tiny little perfect Horse Conch...

On the walk back, I found this beautiful Gaudy Nautica... (sorry, the incoming wave in the background took the focus away!) ...

...and this Nutmeg for my son-in-law Brad.

UPDATE: I finally got the Large Horse Conchs cleaned up... It turns out that Hubby's Horse Conch was an Albino! How cool is that? It has a little bit of color near the tip...

I think this has been a GREAT trip for Horse Conchs, don't you?

All shapes, sizes and colors.

Stay tuned, I have a few more posts that I guess I will make after we get home, today is our last day. :(  

It's been such a wonderful and relaxing trip, I believe November is my favorite time of year here, the weather has been perfect, every single day!

Stay tuned...

::Shelllady Hugs::

Every Day is Different on the Beach!

I didn't go shelling on Valentine's Day, but I wanted to show you my finds from Saturday!

Not too bad! So many unusual things to see, I don't travel as fast as usual! I did find a pretty good sized Angel wing, not perfect, but I'll take it!

 I couldn't pass this huge scallop up either, it's unusual to find them all in one piece when they get this big!

 I'm collecting 'doubles' whenever I find them for an upcoming project!

...and last but not least, remember my Alphabet cone! For some reason, these have been difficult for me to find lately!

Today started with another beautiful sunset!

The 'beach bling' is still here, but it is slowly being washed back out to the gulf, so everyday is a little different.

Further down the beach I came up on an area that must have had thousands of live fighting conchs and banded tulips! I have NEVER seen so many, there was absolutely no way to catch them all in a photograph! 

It was amazing! There were still several of the huge Horse conchs hanging with them! All still alive!

I found this live Albino Fighting conch, so stark white!

...right next to this powder pink one!

I have no idea what in the world this is! I think it's some sort of a worm...freaky huh?!

and I guess you could call this a mussel condominium! So many live mussels in such a small space!

I hadn't found much to keep and as I headed back toward the car, I ran across an area where the surf was breaking that obviously had many buried shells, the surf would slowly uncover them, then cover them back up.  A couple had already found 2 huge empty horse conchs, and I managed to find several nice Lightning whelks in just a few seconds between waves! I tried to snap a picture to show what it looked like.

That pear whelk on the bottom left is live, but you had to be fast to grab whatever you could! The first thing I found was this beautiful lightning whelk!

Then another, and another, and tulips, most of what is here!

It was sooo much fun! But I had to head back to the car because I had to get to the shellcrafters at the community center....but that will have to be another post...stay tuned!! :)

I want to give a shout out to a fellow 'Shellinator'  Keelee Johnson in Missouri! She is 6 years old and has gotten very interested in shells so Several of us have shared our shells with her, and I couldn't resist the opportunity today to 'carve' her name in the sand for all to see....just like she was here with us!!

Stay tuned!!

::Shelllady Hugs::