Team Cheri and New Adventures

My friend Cheri flew in a couple of days ago to check on her house on Sanibel. We have been able to spend some time checking out the beaches all over Sanibel and check out some new places (to me) on Captiva.  'Team Cheri' always manages to have an adventure, and we are taking advantage of every minute! So this is a summary of the last couple of days.

We have sifted through piles in tidal pools, I have to say this was one of the funnest times I have had shelling....

We found a lot of treasures, and with every swipe of our hands, just knew one of us was going to find that Junonia....

There was coral, Kings Crowns, Alphabet Cones, Sharks eyes, and beautiful Orange Scallops.... 

We found beautiful Worm shells Olives, Nutmegs and, of course, Lightning Whelks of all sizes...

But alas, this was the closest we came...and I was sitting on it!! ;)

At another beach we found minis....lots of minis

I found these Kings Crown Egg casings at low tide attached to some pen shell pieces..

Hubby and I went out one evening and I found some Tellins, I don't see these very often, and I think I have 6 this trip.

 Hubby also found a Junonia piece!

 I found one of my favorite size Horse Conchs...

 ...and a knobless Fighting Conch.

I found this Live Albino Horse Conch...

 I thought it was interesting that the animal was still the beautiful orange color, even though the shell appeared to be pure white under the 'skin' (called the periostracum)! This guy carefully went back into the Gulf after his photo op.

This skin will come off in a bleach/water soak.  I will show you the before and after pics of the ones that were not alive that I collected earlier this week.

Today Cheri and I went to Captiva to do some shelling, neither one of us have shelled much on Captiva, but we found so many things we haven't seen before, we may have to do this again pretty soon!

We found Bittersweets....small & large...

Cheri found an awesome Seahorse....you feel sad and happy, this guy was not alive, so it was sad, but what an awesome find!

Many Flats...Cheri has an awesome eye for them.

But I did find one or two...

She found a Thorny Oyster...

and a HUGE Alphabet Cone...

I found a small one too...

She also found a Speckled Tellin and a 'Beautiful Crassatella'...(had to look that guy up!)

And we each found a pair of Crested Tellins....

Cheri found twin Brittle Stars....

The highlight of the day for me, was this small delicate little Lace Murex...

Today, while we were on our latest adventure, Hubby went on one of his own...shelling from our condo....

He found this Huge Horse Conch....

....and one that was my favorite size!

Along with all these other treasures...

I must say, I was very impressed!!!

Post Irma cleanup continues every day, you would be amazed at the huge piles of trees and limbs piled up on the roadsides waiting to be carried off....we hear chainsaws and blowers a lot.  This is a pretty typical sight these days as everyone works hard on the cleanup....

I think 95% of the places have power now, though there are still a few hundred that don't. The two resorts beside us got there power yesterday....slowly but surely lights are coming on all over the island. Ft. Myers is improving also, most of the traffic lights are working now, at least in the areas we travel. The piles of trees and limbs are piling up all over town also....I continue to feel so blessed, thankful and humbled.

Stay tuned for more Adventures!

::Shelllady Hugs::