I have to apologize once again for not posting updates, so I will make this a summary. I spend 3 days a week or so at the Community House helping out, cleaning/sorting shells for crafting/selling. Sanibel is improving daily, but much work is yet to be done, everywhere there is someone doing just that!
I have however been out on beach walks the last 3 days! The tides are super low, super early in the morning...but you know me, I'm out there!! ;)
Saturday, I went solo, another public beach opened at Gulfside....one of my favorites! The beach has completely changed since Hurricane Ian made his appearance, it has always been a pretty flat beach, this time it was a sloped beach which makes it a little more difficult to walk and see into the water. I'm still leary of getting in the water, I wear scuba boots, and tend to stay pretty shallow! They've done a great job of cleaning up and providing a nice path to the beach from the parking lot....but it is very different and not all the paths are open yet due to the beach being washed away....
The beach looks great, and as usual the sunrises are still amazing!
There was signs of life...like this big Florida Horse Conch!!!
...and the dolphin were playing in the Gulf...
I didn't find much, but I did find a few keepers...
This Alphabet Cone (Score!!) and a nice Lightning Whelk...which I find hard to resist even though I have so many!
Pretty quickly after that I found ANOTHER Alphie!!
....and ANOTHER, with this beautiful Juvenile Horse Conch! These 2 are some of my very favorites! The color on that horse conch is a beautiful orange...it will clean up very nicely! We call them a Pony at this size....Perfect!!
This pen shell says it all....had to snap a pic!
Sunday, I went with Teresa & Lynne, Teresa says she hasn't been on a beach walk in the dark in years, and we all three throughly enjoyed the day!
My very first find, as soon as we walked onto the beach!!! A Beautiful Alphabet!!
Lynne immediately noticed the 'knobs' of a be Horse Conch sticking up in the sand....and begin to dig it out...
But alas...it was in bad shape....
I found a small one sticking out.....
Yay!! it was empty and in tact!
Lynne...or was it Teresa...? found this beauty...check out that beautiful color, it went home in one of their bags!
Teresa was finding quite a few Apple Murex ....
One of them also found this BEAUTIFUL True Tulip!
I found some 'knobs' sticking up....I hope...I hope....
Nope...it was also in bad shape....
I did also find a pretty little True Tulip....
and a pretty nice Lightning Whelk...
and another Alphabet Cone!!
and Teresa and I both spotted this Alphie at the same time!! (sorry for the out-of- focus Pic!)
We saw lots of Live, Banded and True Tulips, Cockles and Fighting Conchs up on the sand bar, which is always nice to see!
There was also a little Hanky Panky going on with these two Horse Conchs...
Something we found to be a little strange were Pelicans hanging out on the beach with these Terns and Seagulls....they don't normally stand on the beach in a crowd like this....
We had a great time getting some beach therapy and seeing lots of life on the beach, and just chit chatting about any and everything! Lynne left with at least 4 bags of shells she collected for the Community House!! I did pretty well myself....good times, and treasures too!
This morning I went solo again...(I gotta go when the tides are low!!)
I walked a long time along the gulf, and found little to nothing for quite a while....then low and behold, in a favorite tidal pool...this beauty was just laying there looking all ready to go home with me!
He'll need some cleaning up, but it has a good point on the top, and should look great after a little TLC!!
Not far up the beach I found this beauty soaking in the tidal pool sticking up out of the sand about half way!
I also started finding some nice Sharks eyes and some smaller Lightning Whelks that I couldn't resist....again...for some reason I didn't remember to snap a pic!! By now, the sun started up and was adding light and a little bit of warmth to this chilly & windy 50 degree morning...
My back pack was feeling pretty heavy, which was just fine....and then I spotted this beauty, the edge just barely sticking out of the sand... Look at that beautiful color on that inside edge!!!
I also found this beautiful True Tulip....
and then another....alongside this worm shell...
The morning was a complete success, and my back pack weighed a ton...I ended up with 4 biggies & I didn't get over to the Community House to go to work until almost 9:00....but oh was it fun!! Here's the final count for the day! I'll have to post the big guys after they are all cleaned up!!!
Tomorrow....Keewaydin trip with Jolene and Cindy...
Hubby and I had planned on heading back to Virginia this last weekend, but looking at the tides, we realized that the lows go to -1.1! That is a super low tide and one that is that low doesn't happen very often. Of course I couldn't resist and we decided to stay a few more days...(any excuse to stay in paradise!) 😉
Liz and I went out on Friday just before sunrise in hopes of finding some treasures....unfortunately there hasn't been very strong winds to bring in the shells as we had hoped, but we didn't do too badly. Of course it was a beautiful morning and a beautiful walk and sunrise! You know me by now, I love the sunrises....!!
I didn't take very many pictures this trip.... Sunrise and shells....perfect!!
Liz did well I think....Lightning Whelks, Huge Sharks eyes, Horse Conchs and a Lace Murex...
I forgot to take a picture until I had already put them in for a bleach bath, I did manage to get 5 Alphabet cones in various condition...and of course, I gotta find those Shark's eyes, a nutmeg (bottom right) and some mini Lighning whelks and gaudy nautica!
The next morning I got up and went solo to the lighthouse, there was absolutely nothing there but live Cockles....strangest thing! I didn't even take a picture and left before sunrise!! It was a beautiful morning and I still had a nice long walk!
The next morning, yesterday, Hubby decided he wanted to go out there and see what he could find! He doesn't go very often, so it is special when he does! It was a beautiful morning, and we got there just as the sun rose....
The tidal pools were out and we slowly shelled them to find treasures....shelling wasn't great ....but it's always fun! Hubby got Apple Murex, a Nice Gaudy Nautica, Huge Sharks eye (his first that size in a very long time) Banded tulips, Lightning Whelks, One of those I believe is an Albino....which is fairly rare, A Florida Cone (center) some Juvenile Fighting Conchs and a couple nutmegs...and at the very bottom a Bubble shell!
My finds.... of course Sharks eyes, a beater cone (we call them that when they're not perfect) aI also got an mini Lightning Whelk, a couple nutmegs, I also got a small Gaudy Nautica, a Horse Conch, some olives and a handful of colorful coquina pairs!
This morning, Jolene and I decided to head out in the fog to the mudflats....there's always something cool to see there even if you don't fill up your shell bag!!
It was a bit spooky as it was so foggy just as the sun came up....
There were many less shells this time, but much more live things to see! Horseshoe crabs of every size...Here's a video of one of about half dozen that were running around this much larger one....check out the trails!
I found this little one, I believe is just a 'shell'....
Here's one that is a little bit larger....
I googled to see what a group of pelicans is called, I had many choices....so here is a Pod, squadron, pouch or scoop of Pelicans that slowly flew by....
I believe that is a little blue heron between us and them.....
We even got to see 3 Roseate Spoonbills...Bright pink! Unfortunately my camera didn't get the coloring right, but we spent a lot of time watching these guys....I had to use the digital zoom as we didn't want to spook them! (Notice the Mangroves in the background!)
You can see the pink a little bit better in this fuzzy picture I took as one of them flew away...
As we turned around from watching these beautiful birds, there were 2 dolphin swimming by, and they got a little shallow I believe and stirred the water up, of course I didn't catch it on camera....but oh, what fun to see!
There were quite a few live King's crowns like this one, but many had Hermit crabs in them!
There were several Thorny Sea Stars in the Sea grass....
Lots of HUGE live Sand dollars....
A Blue Crab....
Jolene went home with this awesome Oyster cluster....
and I saw a crop circle!!!
along with all this other stuff, we did manage to find some empty Kings Crowns....
They're all different....some have big spikes like this one Jolene found....
Each one has a different pattern, wide stripes, different colors....and they take a while to clean properly! But it's usually worth it! As Jolene said today...'it's a process'. To make something that starts out like this....
Look clean and beautiful!!! 😆 I will have to show you an 'after' photo later when we get back!!
Jolene ended up with 20 King's crowns and a few more Rose Tellins!
So we head back to Virginia tomorrow....I will get to see my Grandsons and spend a few days with them while their Mom and Dad and friends go on an adventure of their own. Then I will head home for a quiet Christmas with my Hubby and then our plan is to head back down....to have some more adventures!
I hope you all have a Very Merry Christmas and thanks for stopping by and going along with me on our adventures! We are hoping for many more to come soon!
