Another Adventure!!

"Twenty years from now you will be more disappointed by the things that you didn't do than by the ones you did do. So throw off the bowlines. Sail away from the safe harbor. Catch the trade winds in your sails. Explore. Dream. Discover.” ~Mark Twain

We took another adventure today, this time off island to Manasota key in search of shark's teeth!

A huge shell on the rotunda in Englewood, near Manasota Key

Thanks to one of my blogger buddies, Kim from Snug Harbor Bay who recently went and met another of our blogger buddies Karen from The Essential Beachcomber. Karen lives near Manasota Key and I have always enjoyed her posts about the shark's teeth.  Brad, Jess and I went a couple of years ago and wanted to go again, it's so different from regular shelling, I don't think I could do both!  You have to adjust your eyes to looking at the small black or brown bits to find the teeth in among all the other rocks and shells. 

An underwater shot, the waves are pretty powerful here so there is a lot of movement!

Do you see the sharks teeth in this pic? (I actually saw another after looking at it at home later!)

Here it is pulled out....it is just to the right of center in the above pic.

People use all kinds of devices to sift through the shells and rocks, they do it both in the water and on the shore in the shell debris piles.  We saw one group that actually used colanders  and sifted through like gold diggers, dropping the teeth into plastic bottles they carried. * Note to self, bring colanders next time....and small containers!!  We had a good time, and ended up with a good collection of teeth! One of these trips I want to meet Karen in person!!

Here are Jess' teeth...she found some sea glass too!

Here are my finds

Brad scooped in the deeper water the whole time and did very well!!

look how tiny some of the ones Brad got are!

We left there early afternoon and after picking up a few groceries got back to Sanibel for an early dinner buffet from our fridge just in time to hit the beach for another really low tide! Phew....this vacationing is hard work!! :D  We just go from one adventure into another!

Jess decided to let her photographer self take over and took a few pics before we got down to the serious shelling!

A live pear whelk (carefully put back after photo shoot)

A live mini sand dollar

Tulip shell egg casings

A live olive inside a pen shell

Brad and Hubby had already begun digging when we got there! We decided to go to Hubby's Honey hole tonight since he did so well last night! 

Jess found a Honey hole of her own, and she and Brad worked there until AFTER dark, Brad wore his 'miner's' light and we tried to shell after dark, but it made Jess and I too nervous so we gave it up well after dark!

The beach when we got there....clear water and cloudy, the storms had already passed!

This was our view of the gulf, the sandbar was stopping the rolling waves from getting to us! 

Brad's Bounty

Jess' shells 

Hubby and Mine, combined

Brad found some more of his favorite Nutmegs, some tulips, (notice the tiny true tulip just to the left of center....beautiful color!), and quite a supply of lace murex!

....and beautiful Alphabet and Florida cones

I found this cute scallop pair, they were so tiny!

Jess did well with the Alphabet cones and lace murex also!

I finally found my favorite the horse conch...beautiful color! They have been scarce this trip! We have made up for it though with my Dad's Favorite, the shark's eye!

We had a busy but enjoyable day today as our time winds down.  We will be leaving on Thursday to get home in time for the big family reunion in NC on Saturday! Will continue to keep you posted until then...

::Hugs::

Cheri