Therapy in the Wild

The shelling hasn't been great, but the therapy has been fantastic! Ive spent lots of time with the Shellcrafters, and Team Cheri got together for some nice LONG beach walks this week, and we have throughly enjoyed the wildlife!...First we had early morning low tides and we came across this Cane Toad....It's hard to tell by this picture...but they are HUGE!

As I said earlier, the shelling isn't great...but I never pass up a chance to pick up a Shark's eye...

or to catch the sunrise...

I also found an Albino Fighting Conch.... 

that had some beautiful orange hidden underneath!

It seems that Orange was the color for this day....

We found a few other treasures too...

The lowest tides have now switched to the evening, so we hit the beach last night, before sunset.... 

we both saw a seahorse in this piece of driftwood....do you? Look closely!

Cheri will be doing turtle walks this year....she is so living the dream!! When I finally make Florida my home, that is definitely what I want to do!! She has been through a lot of training, and has become even more aware of things that will be a problem for the turtles....anything that could stop or trap turtles.... we continue to clear out trash and any toys/clothes etc people leave behind....one of our biggest complaints are holes, castles, anything left that could be a problem for the turtles progress....check out this 'hut' we found on Bowman's beach....

...though pretty cool, one would hope that it is leveled off before the turtles arrive! It could really be a problem for the Adult turtles, then the babies when it their time to head out to the Gulf!

I almost missed the sunset! So busy walking and talking, I forgot to look up!! I did manage to catch a tiny little piece as it disappeared on the horizon!

Then in a blink of an eye, it's gone!

The color transfers to the sky and all the surrounding clouds....how beautiful!

We continue our walk until well after dark, when we decided to head back in...was when the Ghost crabs came out!

Every size you could imagine! I don't know how many we saw...started counting later in the walk and counted 18....must of been 30 or more before that!! So fun!!
Some would FREEZE in their spot, let us snap their picture....

Cheri took this great one!

Many of them would panic and run right into the Gulf! 

 They are Soooo Fast!!

See the Flash as he bolts to get away?.....

We were excited to find a Lightning Whelk Egg casing! Since last years red tide hit here so hard, we have seen very little in the way of live shells or these casings 

....if you look really closely, you can see that the shells are still in this one....

here's hoping they will stay our in the gulf and hatch the next generation!

I have a few more days for therapy...time is passing quickly!

I did get my Wreath repaired and re-hung....hopefully it will stay this time!

I decided to add a little bit of bling....so I made these flowers and added a few....just to make it interesting....

So stay tuned....hopefully I'll have some more great adventures to share!

::Hugs::

Time for Some Therapy!

Time for some much needed Therapy!! It definitely is therapy since Spring is always here in Ft. Myers... though the early spring flowers have began to bloom at home in Virginia, the temperatures have not been very "Springy".  Hubby and I headed down to get our spring a little early, for a couple of weeks anyway! Besides the beautiful blue skies, we had more tropical flowers greet us....this Bottlebrush tree is right out front....

right next to this Hibiscus....

See...don't you feel Springier already??! I know I did....One down side, our wreath on the front door fell and was broken..... 

But it's not like I don't have shells here to replace them and fix it right up....

or if I don't...I'll just have to go out and find some...right?! :)

I did just that! I got up before the sun this morning and headed out for some Beach Therapy! What a beautiful morning it was!

I understand that that is Venus just above the light line, just to the left and down from the Crescent Moon....

I didn't find much, but still enjoy the walk! 

I did find a nice little Baby's ear as soon as I walked out to the water....hidden in the red algae...

I walked for a bit and decided to head to the lighthouse for Sunrise.....I just missed it!!

But still awfully beautiful! I found another Baby's ear there along with a tiny Lace Murex....and that's it!! What a beautiful morning though!!


....Have I mentioned that I love it here?! Here is my view as I type this blog...

....."just don't get no better than this!!"

Stay tune, Shellcrafters tomorrow and maybe a little Beach Therapy before that!

Night Shelling...Last Low Tide

Since I will be leaving tomorrow, Team Cheri decided to make the best of my last night. The tides are super low, because it is nearly a full moon, so we hit the beach at 3 am!! Did I mention that we're crazy?? Gotta be the first ones out there, before low tide, right? I don't think it is possible to be the first one out this time of year....within 5 minutes we spotted some flashlights, and saw footprints letting us know that someone had already been there.... that's ok...Night shelling is still a blast!

We walked for quite a while and saw little to nothing on the sand bars, tidal pools, so we got in the car and tried somewhere else....Cheri pretty quickly spotted a Horse Conch in the tidal pool....

Not a great point on this one.....so back he went....

a couple minutes later another....

Good color, good point....this one went in her bag..

another.....

I think this one went home with her too!.....

She then found a nice Lightning Whelk!

She didn't want it, so this one went home with me!! You know me, I cannot resist Lightning Whelks for some reason! I'm getting better, but still come home with at least one every single trip! 

She found a pretty nice Alphabet Cone too!

Further down the tidal pool got a little bit deeper and we started seeing Live Horse Conchs....LOVE to see this! The Red Tide this summer didn't get them all!!

If you look at the dark shadow, there is another one here too!

Then I noticed the top of a large Lightning Whelk sticking out....I ran my hands around him and lifted him out.....woohoo, it's empty!

Beautiful White inside!

I looked over and Cheri had found one too!! Before we were done, we found 5 of them!! 

Can you imagine if we had kept all of these....we couldn't have carried them all!! Cheri and each picked one and tossed the rest in the tidal pool for someone else to enjoy finding....

We continued down the beach...under a beautiful, nearly full moon!   But we had little shelling luck after that....

We did see some awesome live stuff though....
Sea Stars...I believe these are Brown Spiny Sea Stars...

Sea Anemones....

I'm still learning with my camera....that shiny spot is the reflection from my flashlight.....keep in mind, these guys are all under the water....so getting the light just right can be tricky....Cheri has it mastered...her pics are awesome!!!
...and it's her cell phone!! ;)

She found this guy....and I did some investigating....I think it is a Featherduster worm, fully extended....how cool is this??

Like she said, it looks like an eyeball!!

She also found this Sand dollar, burrowing in the sand....

The shelling wasn't great, but the therapy, walking and talking were great!! The sky was gorgeous as the sun began to rise....

We didn't see the sun rise, but it came up as we were headed home.....another beautiful day!! 

This Osprey was saying goodbye as we headed off the beach...

These were my finds for this trip....with a couple of gifts from Cheri!!

Lightning Whelks (of course) Olives,  a couple of Alphabet Cones, orange scallops, small Horse Conchs, little Lace Murex, and Shark's eye, a Gaudy Nautica, and a couple of Banded Tulips..
Yes, that is a piece of Junonia in the front....still hoping!!

As usual, today was a great adventure, and I can't wait to come back for more....Hope you enjoyed coming along!!

I may post more another day obout other trips to get you caught up... 

...Stay Tuned! ;)

::Shelllady Hugs::