Tip toeing through the Tulips!

We are back at our place in paradise, though it still is badly damaged around here and on Sanibel from Hurricane Ian. I see improvement every day! I spent a big part of the time while getting my beach therapy this morning appreciating how lucky we are and how little loss we have compared to so many. This is my first visit back to the beach since this massive storm hit the end of September.  They continue to work on the causeway and I am awed at how quickly they got that fixed, it looks a little more 'normal' all the time....the island looks sad, but at the same time inspiring as I watch workers and private residents working everywhere, just cleaning up! I hope to help with some of this while I'm here....

Very few beach parking lots are open, but I made it to Nerita, just as the sun came up this morning. I was the only one in the parking lot, and there were very few folks on the beach. There used to be a boardwalk here with lush foliage on each side...

There were deep crevasses along the beach, but there are trucks and backhoes filling them in with sand, 

There were also folks in 4-wheelers picking up trash, I was pleasantly surprised at the lack of trash out there, I even brought extra trash bags and only found a couple of small things!!

Sanibel sunrise never disappoints!

There were signs of life all over the beach....

Tulip egg casings...

Live shells, 'writing' in the sand....

This Florida Fighting Conch seemed happy, he did a little whifferdill as he headeded to the Gulf! :)

This live Apple Murex was tiptoeing across the sand...

There were lots of live Florida Fighting Conchs partially buried...

This was a beautiful live big Horse Conch...

I could tell I didn't have good shelling eyes, I missed a couple of these medium sized Horse Conchs, (called Ponies) two people picked them up after I had passed them!!! I need more practice!!!! ;)

There were a few Sea Anemone about....

There were Billions of these small live Arks all over the place!

This monster Shark's Eye was alive and happily living in the tidal pool! 

I gently put him back in the pool after his photo op!

I found a few small Sea Stars and gently put them into the water....

This little guy made himself protector of the tidal pool....I let him have his way! ;)

A Live Albino Fighter.....(sorry about the bad focus on this one!)

This was a BEAUTIFUL Chocolate True Tulip....Live (I put him into the pool also)

and of course, the live Cockles!

...and wonderful Birds!!

So now...onto the collection!!! Today was True Tulip Tuesday!!! I found several!!

also a beautiful Gaudy Nautica!

and a pretty nice Lightning Whelk!

I also collected a bunch of Dosinia to paint....I could've filled my backpack up with these!

It was a wonderful morning of much needed Beach Therapy!

I think I might need to try this again....75 degrees and sunny in February...it doesn't get any better than that!!!

Stay Tuned!

::Shelllady Hugs::

A Beautiful Morning

The weather here has been just beautiful, and dependable! Low to mid 80s during the day, and middle 60s overnight! How could that be more perfect? The shelling has not been great lately, but who cares...the walk on the beach is so therapeutic! Cheri and I headed out this morning, and noticed right away that the water is crystal clear, I immediately saw these 2 guys in fairly deep water...An Olive and a Shark's eye ....The olive is normal shaped, this angle makes it look short and stubby, but it isn't!

 Cheri found this Awesome looking Blonde Shark's eye, nice size too!

 This Millipede Sea Star was nearly perfect...

 Notice all the little fingers, or feet on his underside, this is what he uses to move around...Cheri gently put him back in the Gulf.

 I thought this was a neat picture of 2 crows and a Snowy Egret...

I found this pretty little Nutmeg...

 and a 'blonde' Horse Conch that was in really good shape...

 This live Apple Murex had some beautiful colors...

 and had apparently lost his operculum, but he made do with a jingle!! How cool is that!

There were also beautiful colors on this Jewel box pair...

 Look how purple the inside is!! 

I just thought this live Sea Urchin was amazing! He has some sort of 'jelly' on his top, look how LONG those spines are!

 And who could resist this orange Scallop?!

 I tried to get a picture of the crystal clear water...this is the deeper water, notice the turquoise color....looks tropical doesn't it?

 This is shallower, you can't even tell there is water there!! Just amazing!

My time here is growing short, I only have a few more days left. It's very late so this post is fairly short, but I wanted to keep you all up to date....Stay tuned!!

::Shellady Hugs::