Golden First Day Back!

I hope you all had the Merriest of Christmases with your families! Hubby and I managed to squeeze in a quick trip to our favorite place, our home in Ft. Myers. It seems the whole world had the same idea and headed down I95 south, so the first day was mainly avoided the traffic clogged interstates. We made it, in good time, so now it's time for some Beach Therapy!

I couldn't let this morning pass without at least trying the shelling on Sanibel. The weather has cooled off, but it still is so much nicer than up north! I met my best shelling buddy Cheri, and we headed out mid-tide, for a quick early morning stroll....I didn't expect to find much, just needed the therapy!  Cheri started out the morning with a beautiful Golden Olive! Here it is between two Lettered Olives she found... It is perfect!

How awesome is that!

I found a perfect Lady-in-waiting Venus Clam

and a HUGE Calico Scallop....with this Horse Conch Cheri pointed out and saved for me!

She found a Flat....also called a zig zag Scallop, this one will take a little cleaning....

I also found a Gaudy Nautica, these are quickly becoming my favorites with all the intricate coloring....

and I found another one for the books!

If you know what this is I would appreciate the information. After checking several books, I think it is actually a Tampa Tellin....it's the only thing close, it is shaped like a Sailors Ear, but is very smooth on the surface...it's thin and fragile, I will keep this one, and investigate further!

I enjoyed this morning's mini adventure, we will start paying attention to the tides this week since they are going to be Negative lows (really low!) ;) Hopefully we'll have some great adventures to share!

Stay tuned!

::Shelllady Hugs::

A Long Morning Walk in Paradise

I headed out this morning a little before sunrise to take a long walk along the Gulf to see what I would find....as usual I wasn't disappointed. Although I still haven't found that perfect Alphabet Cone, I know it's out there somewhere and I intend on keeping up the search! :)

There were some pretty good shell piles along the beach, a lot of what I call 'ordinary shells' but I did manage to snag a few little goodies! Like one of my favorites, a couple of small Horse Conch...

 ...this neon orange Scallop

 ...and this beautiful orange and white scallop...you can't have too many scallops!

This nice sized Top Shell...

I think this Gaudy Nautica will clean-up nicely

Check out the beautiful pink inside of this Calico Scallop!

 Another Horse Conch and Shark's eye

 Who doesn't love the minis? I need to stock up for more crafting! This was a tiny little Calico Scallop...

I found lots of minis: Coquinas, Bubbles, Jewel boxes, a Keyhole Limpet, another Horse conch, Apple Murex, Sharp ribbed drill and a tiny Lightning Whelk!

I love these mini bright orang Rough Scallops!!

 How about this bright orange Ribbed Cantharus and Jingle?! I should do well at replenishing my Mini supply!

I believe this is another Lady-in-Waiting Venus clam, but it has a dark gray green color on it...

The inside has the purple gloss like the one I found last week.

 I had to hit the books again on these shells, I think this is a White Atlantic Semele, it is hard to tell but it has a light gold and pink tip and inside...

I found these two Lace Murex side by side in a shell pile with 2 other very large ones that were pretty beaten up....obviously a hot spot for them today!

They cleaned up very nicely!

I found this very cool Brittle Star...

 I couldn't decide if he was alive or not so I carefully put him in the Gulf...

It was a beautiful sunrise this morning...

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I think I came home with plenty of treasures!!

Time is growing short for this trip, but there still time for a few more adventures, Stay tuned!

::Shelllady Hugs::

A Bright and Colorful Day!

Cheri and I shelled a little differently today, I couldn't make the low tide this morning so we met up as the tides were coming in through High tide.  It was a BEAUTIFUL, clear day. And the shells were so colorful...Orange was the color of the day for these Scallops, and these pictures just do them justice. They were beautiful!

I did find this tiny maroon Top Shell, I've only found light gold ones in the past...

The water was so clear and a beautiful turquoise and green...

...and so clear, even on the shore in the rolling waves...

You had to be quick to snag the shells.

Cheri still has her Alphabet Cone luck, she found this little beauty pretty soon after we got there, alont with this perfect little Nutmeg!

Followed by this huge piece of a Lion's Paw!!!!!

 The back side was even orange!

I found a pretty orange Banded Tulip, a little Auger and what I believe is a tiny orange Nassa

This is called a Lady-in-waiting Venus Clam...I found 2 of these, a first for me!

 It has a beautiful purple stripe on the inside.

I also found this very tiny Dwarf Olive, so tiny!

and both sides of this Purplish Tagelus

Cheri scooped up this perfect Egg Cockle...

and this AMAZING Flat Scallop

and I stumbled across this beautiful little coral piece!

It was a great day! I like it when I have to break out the shell books to find the names of some of the shells I find, today there were several I had to look up!!

Tomorrow is the last Negative low tide, so we have got to check it out before I go to the Shellcrafter's meeting.... Stay tuned!

::Shelllady Hugs::