Slow Mosey for Therapy

The storms stayed on top of us here in Ft. Myers until late, but the radar said that it was nice and clear over Sanibel Island.  So I left, in the rain around 6:00 last night, hoping to catch the negative low tide at about 7:30.  It rained so hard on the way, I had to slow down to see....all the while I wondered if this was a mistake! I got to the top of the Causeway bridge and it stopped....and I could see that Sanibel did indeed look clear!

The shelling has been fairly slow, but the beach therapy as always was amazing, so much to see....beautiful clouds, so many different kinds of birds, the Gulf was slowly lapping on the beach, crystal clear water....just ahhhhh!

I found a few treasures when I first got to the beach....

(from left: a broken Flat Scallop, Rough Scallop,small Calico Scallops, a Big Fat Olive, Auger, Olive two Juvenile Fighting Conchs, a small Chestnut Turban, Keyhole Limpet, Coral, Nutmeg, Kittens Paw, Auger, Silver Jingle, Double Kittens Paw and a tiny scallop

Not bad for the first few minutes, would have LOVED for that Flat Scallop to have been complete. I love them, and don't find them very often.

I slowly moseyed down the beach, I can never turn down a pretty Scallop....

...or two

and this tiny Double Jewel-box...it will be pretty when it's cleaned up, bright pink inside...

...another tiny Dusky Cone... a beautiful Orange one

The water was nice and clear, so you could just slowly walk and look...

Then I began to see the minis... In the first pic, do you see a Nutmeg and a Sharp ribbed drill?

 and there is a nice Wentletrap in this one!! SCORE!!

Here is the same Wentletrap, a Button shell, and the world's smallest Chestnut Turban!!

 ...Some more coral, another Colorful Chestnut Turban, Dusky Cone and juvenile Fighting Conch....

 I also found a Lightning Whelk, a tiny little Nutmeg, 2 Oyster Drills and another tiny Fighting Conch.

On the way back to the car, I couldn't resist this tiny little Orange Scallop

Or this tiny Horse Conch...

 

 And I love Rose Tellins, I don't find many of these either!!

The beautiful Sunset just added to the wonderful Beach Therapy....

This was the last few minutes after the sun had set, and just before dark....the view from the Causeway...just beautiful!

Will head out tonight after the storms...stay tuned!

::Shelllady Hugs::

Lots of Life in the Tidal Pool

I thought I would make another post today so I can hopefully be caught up. I plan on leaving in a bit to head back out for some more beach therapy, waiting for the thunderstorms to finish before I go.  

There was a tidal pool that got me all excited when I got to the beach, unfortunately it had a lot of green moss in it, which made me think that it doesn't get replenished with each tide like you would hope....but there is over 3 feet difference between High and Low tide so maybe....

The water was crystal clear...

There was a lot of live stuff in the pool.... Live sand dollars....

Lots of hermits....

I did find a few minis...an olive, a tiny Jasper's cone, and a juvenile Fighting Conch

 ...and a tiny Lightning Whelk and super small Olive.

I'm always glad to find a Shark's eye....

After a while, I crossed over to the beach along the gulf and found this awesome sight....a LIVE Shark's Eye, and it was a biggie!

Took a video of him too...

I've only seen two ever of these guys in the past, and today I found 2! This one was nearly buried....

There was a beautiful Live Pear Whelk, taking a stroll along the Gulf floor...

I also had a close encounter with this cow-nose stingray...it's difficult to see him since he is the same color of the sand, so I circled him in red and circled one of his eyes in blue....do you see him? His tail is the black line at the back...He was only a couple-three feet long including his tail...just a baby, but nice to see!

I did find something else I had to look up in my books...it was super flat and and first I thought I had found a Large flat Scallop, a little closer look, I believe it's called a Flat Tree Oyster...I believe it is found mostly among the mangrove trees in the water....I thought it was cool and have found a small one before, but this one is huge!

 When I got back to the path, I turned around and looked at the sky....surprise! I'm glad I came in when I did!

The drive home was beautiful, I love to watch the storms...although I was hoping not to have to drive through them!

I got home just in time!

Stay tuned!

::Shelllady Hugs::

Pieces of Spots and MicroMinis!

The shelling lately has been pretty slow, but today we found some Micromini's to go through...some so small, we didn't even try to get them!! We were greeted to the beach first thing by this guy...a Ghost Crab, he came up and just sat there so we could snap his picture....then very quickly scooted on down the beach, in fact he moved so quickly he went between Cheri's feet as she was taking a step! I love these guys!

I found a mini scallop that nearly glowed in the dark....

Then nothing for a long time....but we had a sunrise that never disappoints!

I did find a perfect Banded Tulip...

I had a little heart palpitation as I saw this peeking through the sand....

 But alas....only a piece of an Alphabet Cone!

Cheri and I always say "Look for Spots" hoping it will make us find and Alphabet Cone or a Junonia....one can always hope! Well for the second time today, I saw spots, but only pieces!  There is also a small Jasper cone (bottom) a Rice Olive (or dwarf olive) and a teeny little Lightning Whelk Micro Mini, a Tusk Shell and a Well-Ribbed Dove shell.

We did see a Manatee on the beach!! :)

Then we started finding micro-minis...another Waxy Polygyra on the head of a Penny!

 Dwarf Olives, (Rice Olives)....

And I believe this is a Micro-mini True Tulip and Lightning Whelk...must be newly 'hatched'!

 From the left, 2 Coffee Melampus, and a Green Erato! (Never found one before, and it was recognized by someone who read this!...Not in my books!)

Cheri found a Scotch Bonnet!! Not perfect, but he went home with her anyway!

She found this Live Lightning Whelk also, aren't they beautiful?

Here is the mini's I found today....One day I'll collect enough to try a sailors Valentine!! That's one of my dreams, and I will need many more days like today to have enough! Nice group though, don't you think?

As slow as the shelling is, I'm going to keep checking things out and reporting back to you, so Stay Tuned!!

::Shelllady Hugs::