Better Days Shelling!!

"Voyage upon life's sea,
To yourself be true,
And, whatever your lot may be,
Paddle your own canoe." ~Sarah Bolton

I got caught up in cleaning shells and packing up today, :( so I will make this a two day post!

 

Thursday:  We got up BEFORE the sun this morning, and got out there just as you could start seeing! How about that for dedication?! Crazy you say? The shelling was much better....it was a lower tide, and we got there just before it was the lowest (by only a few minutes I think) and there was much more tidal pool to explore!! I think we did very well!! Hubby got a beautiful big Alphabet Cone!  Actually, it didn't start out beautiful, he thought it was a fighting conch when he first saw it, it was covered in black gook, and had carrier shells on it, he 'slid' off some of the carrier shells and realized he had an alphabet cone...after some work we got it looking MUCH better!!  I guess I should have given you a 'before and after' shot!!

I got two small, but beautiful king's crowns! We shelled the tidal pool and Hubby also walked along the sand bar too!  It was beautiful...not too cool, and the Gulf looked as smooth as a lake!!

Hubby found some Beautiful True Tulips!! Orange was the color of the day!! This are fairly small, but we saw some BEAUTIFUL ones that were HUGE...of course they were alive so we just admired them and left them alone to make more!! :)

Here is the morning's 'haul' pretty good I would say!!

We came in and had our usual pastry for breakfast about 8:45.  Then about noon Hubby cooked us up some bacon and we had BLTs....that's another staple we have here at Sanibel, it's beginning to be a tradition!!  After sitting on the beach for a few hours we headed to Sanibel Grill...we figure this will be our last dinner out before we leave paradise, so Hubby wanted to have his oyster basket, and I had my steak quesadilla!! Some more pictures around the condo....

An Orange Geiger flowering tree

I love the palm trees...so many different kinds, large and small!!

We came home, I cleaned up the shells, and after showers we settled in to watching some HOKIE FOOTBALL!! We were worried about VT since they are coming off of a bye week to play Georgia Tech!! (I sure do miss our HDTV!! We have a small flat screen here and of course it doesn't offer HD so we are very spoiled!!) We did it!! We really needed to beat Georgia Tech to make it to the ACC Playoff game, and we won!!  Two more games....Carolina then Virginia, we need to win these too to keep it going!!  Let's Go Hokies!!

Today (Friday)

We got up early enough to get out there before the sun again, as soon as we got to the beach, we realized that a cold front had gone through...we turned right around and grabbed jackets...figuring we would have to take them off in the next hour or so!! The tide was the lowest this week, down to -.2 and that was to be around 7, so we felt like we would have lots of time to explore the tidal pools and sand bars before the tide came in!  We were right!! We had great luck!! Actually twice as much as the days before!! We each had our own "board!"

This is my 'board'!!

Lots of tulips, Murex, Lightning whelks and double cockles!

Lace Murex

Paper figs...these guys are so thin and fragile, it is amazing the places you find them, and they are in such good shape!! These were buried in the mud at the bottom of the tidal pool!

Mini horse conchs, sharks eyes, and an auger

This is Hubby's 'board'

A PERFECT Angel Wing...a mini...I love these...along with some beautiful Mini King's Crowns!

Sunray Venus....these guys are blue-gray until you boil them, then they turn this Salmon color!!

Millions of Murex!!

He got pear whelks too!!

We came in around 9:30....and it never really got very warm, we were so glad to have the jackets....Yep!! Here at Sanibel with a jacket on the beach!! The wind blew pretty strong making it seem cooler than it was....I have no idea how cold it was, no not as cold as at home....Cool for here anyway!!

We decided to go back to Jerry's for one last breakfast, and picked up some more pastries for breakfast tomorrow!  We will be leaving early to go to Orlando and will catch the Auto Train to DC, then drive on home from there. Hubby will be back to DC on travel until Thanksgiving :( so we get back to real life all too quickly!  His birthday is the 18th and will be stuck in DC to work, but I'm going up there to take him to dinner (I hope) to celebrate....and My Dad's Birthday is the 21st...then Thanksgiving!! Whew...I'm tired already!! 

I hope you have enjoyed our trip and that we brought you a little bit of relaxation and adventure!!  One last picture from the gardens....Have I told you I love this place?!

Powder-puff plant

Stay tuned....I'll be posting from real life...soon!! 

::Hugs::

Cheri