Two Adventures, One post!

We are beginning week three, our longest trip down to date. I've been slacking on the posting lately and I am sorry, so will spend the next couple of days, 'Catching you all up!' This has been an amazing trip, Cheri and I have been having a lot of fun on the beaches of beautiful Sanibel!

Friday Cheri had some plans in the morning, so I headed out to see what the latest winds had brought in. I picked up a few things...

A couple of Fighting Conchs, Lightning Whelks and a Banded Tulip

I also found several of these Purple Sea Urchins...These two were dead...

 ...But this guy was alive! I really like these guys!

I hope one day to make my first Sailor's Valentine using my own shells, nothing bought, so I have been collection the sea urchin spines for that. I will need a lot so this was a good find.

After Cheri got there we decided it was time to collect some minis, Cheri has never added a Wentletrap to her collection. We hadn't been there very long when she found her first!!

That was quickly followed by bunches and bunches of minis for us both!

I found lots of colorful Coquina pairs...or 'butterflies' as my Daddy always called them.

It was awesome! We found Bubble shells, Sharks eyes, (the small one just below the shark's eye in the center is an Eastern Dog Whelk(I may have misnamed it in an earlier post), the orangy one to the left is a tiny murex, there are 2 tiny wentletraps in the center, a piece of coral and more coquina pair.

 Cheri and I each found one of these, we thought is was a Ram's Horn which is not normally found here, but with a little bit of research (hitting the books) I believe it is a Waxy Polygra...another first for us!

So many minis...Cheri found Ceriths, Cantharus (top left), a tiny Horse conch, Turbans, Button Snail shells, Fighting Conch, Augers...you name it!

 I found these mini Fighting Conchs, the tiny Nutmeg, center top, and yes that is what you think it is...even a tiny Junonia cob! The tiny shell to the right of the Junonia piece is a tiny Dwarf Olive, we each got two of these tiny guys....Cheri dropped one before we left, I'm sure I'll lose at least one during cleaning since they are so very tiny.

Cheri found this guy, I looked through all my books and with the help of a fellow Sheller have found out it's called a Arrow Dwarf Triton! (Thanks Steve!)

Everything thing we saw at the Lighthouse was tiny, check out this tiny crab!

It was a beautiful day, I can't ever go there without taking a photo of the Lighthouse!

...or the Dolphin!

Thursday 'Team Cheri' participated in a beach cleanup which was a joint effort between the Sanibel Sea School 

and a clothing store called 'Fresh Produce'. The first part of the morning we participated in an activity where we each wrote down our problems on a piece of paper, burned them....

carried the ashes to the beach

Then each of us took a pinch of the ashes walked into the Gulf and let them go. Bruce, our host, (and co-founder of Sanibel Sea School) says this is an activity he does with the kids during camp, and really can make a difference for some of the kids! 

Fresh Produce then stepped in and gave us all bags and gloves and we picked up the local beach that was within walking distance...

Team Cheri (me in the blue, Cheri Hollis in the pink!)

Fresh Produce also provided a nice lunch (from Bailey's General Store) and gave us a small presentation from their founder and gave us a gift. It was a lot of fun, and we feel like we helped in a small way! The took 2 group photos, but we didn't get a copy...if I find them, I'll post!

 The walk to the beach was amazing, we crossed over a bridge that crossed the Sanibel River...and saw beautiful vegetation and Mangroves, another first for me, I have never seen one up close!

I couldn't resist taking some pictures of these crafts done by the kids at Sanibel Sea School!  Check out these crabs made out of handprints...

..or this huge wave made out of seashells!

Stay Tuned!!

::Shelllady Hugs::