Another Trip to the Islands

I mentioned in a post last week, that there never seems to be enough time when we go on these trips to other islands....well Liz and I heard about a company that allows much more time, and decided to give it a try yesterday. It started out as a BEAUTIFUL morning and we got there just in time to catch the sunrise!...you know me and the sunrises, gotta take a pic...or two!

and who can resist a Pelican silhouette?

The Lace Murexes are gorgeous out here and there are so many live ones, which is Awesome to see!

and we saw several Huge Live Horse Conchs....the orange color is actually their body, quite a contrast to their brown coated shells....

There were several of these guys out there as we got there at low tide....

right after we got there, I looked down and found this Beauty! A Flat (ZigZag Scallop)! A first for me on these islands....and it's so large! SCoRE!!

Immediately after that, Liz picked up this beautiful Alphabet Cone....it too was Live! That is an unusual find also! After a quick pic, it went back into the Gulf...

There were LOTS of Florida Cones out there also, most were alive....they too have an Orange body!

they too have an orange body!....

These tiny Rose Murex are also a favorite of mine....(I know, I know...they're all my favorite!) One of these is in pretty bad shape, they are few and far between so into my bucket it went!

This one is BEAUTIFUL....!!

...as is this one!

Another unusual find was a Baby's ear....Those have been hard to find at any of the beaches lately....I have never seen one here!! But Liz found one!!....and later ANOTHER!

I found several Live complete Jewel boxes also...love these!

I also love the Periwinkles that collect on the trees and logs out here....they are live land snails and come in lots of different sizes and colors!

These guys look like they were patching a square hole in a tree!!

I did manage to find several Lace Murex that were not live, they are also a favorite, and they seem to be so Lacey out here! This particular one was a pure bright white!

A pretty 'butterfly' (Alternate Tellin)

How about this for creepy?? A LARGE fish Skeleton!

We had a great time out there....and here are most of my finds.... Liz has a bucket full as well!

The Gaudy Nauticas were everywhere....yep, another favorite...check out all the different patterns!

Another pic of my Flat, it should clean up nicely!...and a few Pear Whelks

I'm sorry to say this pic is out of focus...Look at all those lacey Lace Murex! Even those tiny ones at the bottom, that's a quarter there to give you a size reference!

Also a few Florida cones on the bottom left and Horses (Horse conchs) of every color (bottom right).

The Nutmegs here always have wonderful color....

and last, but not Least Rose Murex....aren't they beautiful? The color is amazing on these guys!

It was a long day, but a lot of fun....and I would do it again in a minute! Perfect weather and great shelling quite an adventure!!

My time here is growing short, but hopefully I will have a few more posts before I leave! Stay Tuned!!

::Shelllady Hugs::

Playing Catch-up!

 As usually happens, I haven't been keeping you up to date! There really is not a lot to report, but I have seen a few interesting things that you might enjoy. I haven't found much but I do have some favorites...

I finally got that Flat (ZigZag Scallop) I told you I wanted to find on the last post...

Isn't that a beauty? The colors are amazing!...as are the colors in this amazing Sharks eye...

A first for me...I believe it's called a Bolingi Olive!e I'm not an Olive fan, but this one is so unusual...and is a gorgeous color, so I think I'll keep it! ;)

We are getting North winds this week and rip currents which are bringing in the Sea Urchins by the droves....I've spent a lot of time putting these and Sea Stars back in the gulf...I love these guys when they're live!

Liz and I went out one morning just before sunrise...and found this guy burying himself in the sand! Not exactly what you want to see in the dark!! Don't know if it is a sea snake or a land snake....

here is his head sticking up out of a hole further down....

as usual, the sunrise was gorgeous....

Liz found this nice whelk that was occupied by a grumpy looking Hermit Crab...

and this HUGE live Sand dollar on dry land....We put him back in the Gulf after his photo op...

There wasn't much out there to take home, but I did find a sharks eye trying to hide...

We've had pretty strong winds and rip tide warnings, and much cooler temperatures that started on Monday....I just had to get out there this morning to see what there is to see.... The beach was 'littered' with all kinds of stuff, lots of urchins, scallops (both sides) starfish, live angel wings...and all kinds of stuff....

I love looking through all this...you never know what treasures you might find...or just something interesting! Near the center are two live Angel wings, very large! Unfortunately, one of them is broken up pretty badly...

Here's another live one I found and put back into the water....

There was also a tiny Octopus floating along the edge, I'm afraid he has already died! :(

I ran into a lady that I had met on the beach before, Sue, she actually follows my blog!!!!...we visited a bit as we explored the tidal pool, she picked up two of these nice True Tulips while we chatted....

I found this really nice Atlantic Pearl Oyster...

You can't tell by the picture, but it has a nice 'mother of pearl' on the inside, it's beautiful!

I found this too....will need one of you experts to verify my research, I believe it's a Variable Dwarf Olive....that's my assumption from the books...what do you think??

I have never seen one before! 

This is a HUGE string of Lightning Whelk casing...it appeared to be empty, so hopefully all those tiny guys are out in the gulf growing up!

I did spend a little bit of time looking for minis and found a few, including Wentletraps, Key-hole Limpets, shark's eyes, apple murex etc...

I also saw a Skimmer! Up close and personal! He was solo with several Royal Terns, and he looks like he posed just for me!! Notice how the bottom of his beak is longer than the top...he flies along just off of the surface of the water and drags that lower beak in the water....I have pictures of them in flight in an earlier post! I love these guys!

When I turned around I saw this guy in the tidal pool!! How interesting is he?? I looked and looked in my books trying to identify him, but couldn't find anything similar....anyone out there have an idea? 

I'm not sure I would want to see him in the dark either!! I would probably have nightmares! ;)

Liz and I are going on another adventure tomorrow, hopefully I'll have some cool stuff to post! 

Stay Tuned!!

I'll leave you with some beautiful Sunset pics and a video of a cute little Spider Crab I found in a tidal pool....Enjoy!!

::Shelllady Hugs::