Catching up....

The first day shelling was last Tuesday, I got out just before sunrise....the beach therapy started immediately....it was instant!

The beaches looked so much better than it had on my last trip...though it was very windy and the gulf was churning....Hurricane Michael was on the way....it was west of us, but we did get some pretty rough water....we even had foam along the beach...

It did push the water up on Sanibel, but only for a day or so as it passed by.  I feel so badly for the panhandle...they are devastated, it's so hard to see! I lift them up daily in my prayers.

I did find a few strange things....a few bones....

and I collected some Pufferfish spikes.....gotta find some craft to use these, though they are fairly hard to find now.... that's all I found! The therapy was the most important thing!

Wednesday I didn't go shelling at all, the Gulf was extremely rough, and I didn't even come out to the island due to some flash flooding.

Thursday, Team Cheri got together and went out just before sunrise....we took a nice long walk at Bowman's beach....we did find some unusual things....like these round things....not sure what they are!!!

They may be a type of sponge, I think the bottom one is a Loggerhead sponge, but that is just guessing and looking in my books....any help would be awesome! The top one looks like it has some hair on it!! 

Thursday, Cheri's Flat radar was working well! First few steps she found this huge one!

It has also been the day to find Lightning Whelks....it appears that everyone has been finding these guys!

Cheri collected several!

We were walking back, and I completely missed this one!!! Almost tripped over it! Cheri finally said something....guess I was looking at little stuff! 

 It's a nice one too!

Here are my finds for the day....

Cheri had some good finds, too!

Today I decided to try some therapy at Blind Pass....the water looked much better today....fingers crossed that it will stay that way!

And there were birds!!!!! So excited to see them!
Flocks of Pelicans in formation....

Ibis strolling along the shore....

This Cormorant was just checking out the beach....

This Bald Eagle dove down right in front of me! I was watching him, he flew just above me and I grabbed my camera....not fast enough, he dove in, picked up a snack and flew off!

I didn't find many shells, a Bittersweet....

and a nice piece of coral were the highlights of the day....

Tomorrow I spend the day at the Shellcrafters, which is a blast!  

So now you are 'caught up!'

Stay tuned!

::Shelllady Hugs::

R & R and Beach Bling Galore!

Hubby and I finally got a chance to head South, just in time to miss another sleet, ice and snow storm! It's a little chilly here in the morning, but I can handle it! I didn't get organized as early as usual, but was able to catch the sunrise as I was on the paradise causeway.

Sanibel Lighthouse

I had been seeing posts from the beaches on Sanibel about all of the beach bling, shells....just amazing 'STUFF' on the beach, so I had to see for myself, and I was truly amazed!....and glad I was a little later, too much to see with just the aid of a flashlight!

It went on as far as you could see...

There was everything you could imagine...

Sea Stars...

Huge Sponges...

Sting rays....

even Sharks!...

Eels!...

Piles of shells, pen shells, fighting conchs, just about everything you could imagine...

A perfect empty pear whelk...he came home with me!!

The most amazing thing to me was the huge horse conchs, all over the beach, all live...

There were so many, you just quit checking to see if they were live. Several people were moving them into the gulf, some were really buried deep.  So many in fact, a person on one of our facebook groups is planning on bringing her boat to shore to carry them way out in the gulf, and was recruiting people to help! it was just amazing.  

Both sides of an awesome scallop!

Beautiful colors on this sea urchin

Look at this tiny little crab on this bright orange sea sponge...he was very much alive!

I was out for about  2-1/2 hours and didn't travel very far down the beach. I found a few special things, mostly just took pictures...too many to post! (This will be a two part post as a result!) Will post my finds tomorrow!!... Stay tuned!

::Shelllady Hugs::