Girls Trip!

We girls decided to take an adventure to the East Coast, and what fun! 

It's like going to another planet...all the shells are different than anything we get on the West Coast of Florida. I don't know the names, and we can't find a book to look things up, so I might need your help with some IDs on some of these! The first thing I always notice is the beautiful water! It's that tropical turquoise color...and very clear!

Unfortunately most of the beach was covered in seaweed....but we don't give up easily!

We found an area on the other side of that jetty that had less seaweed to start our search...
Cheri and I started finding Limpets right away...they are very different than the ones we normally find...The ones on the top are called False Limpets...

The ones on the bottom are like our Keyhole limpets, just much more colorful....

Jodi and Cheri hit the jackpot with Nerites....
Here are a few of Cheri's... I believe they are called a four-tooth or bleeding tooth Nerite... 

Jodi hit the jackpot with a bunch of them! I believe most of these are Checkered Nerite...

I even found some live ones on the rocks along the jetty...

Most of the shells we found were minis...and we will be researching them... Jodi got a bucket full of Frond Oysters, Limpets, worm shells, coral of all sizes, coffee bean trivia and all kinds of treasures!

The find of the day was a FREAK Scotch Bonnet that Cheri Found...

We continued searching for minis....but I needed to stretch out a bit so I went for a walk down the beach....boy did I have fun! I found lots of beautifully colored Thorny Oysters...

I found a teaser piece of a Lions Paw and a baby thorny!

and there were so many pieces of Flat Scallops....they looked huge and so colorful! I so wanted to find a whole one....

...and I did!!

Can you believe the size of this? Most of the ones you find at Sanibel are smaller!
I also found a Flamingo Tongue! I had one that Cheri had given me from our trip last year....but this time I found one myself!!

I also found this strange oyster kind of thing....I didn't keep it, but had to take some pics! I think it is a Leafy Jewelbox pair....kinda wish I had kept it!!

I believe this is an Operculum (door) of a Milkmoon Snail...it was beautiful...kind of pearly....

and check out this beautiful neon orange Scaly Scallop!

My little walk was proving to be quite an adventure in itself!
While I was gone...Jodi continued to find more minis...and some really cool coral pieces!

 She also found a Bolingi Olive, 3 small cones..Carrot Cones(?) and a Cowrie (?) 

Cheri found several small Rose Murex...

and so many other minis....and some coral.  I believe the two long shells below the Bonnet are called Hexagonal Murex...

I picked up this little guy...not sure what it is...maybe a baby Triton of some sort??

It was an awesome day and so interesting! With lots of color!!

I was fascinated by the different colors and kinds of Limpets!

I found several small Cones too...

and of course, I couldn't pass up the coral!

or the colorful Flat...pieces and that Huge Frond Oyster....(left)

I spilled my box...and couldn't resist this photo opportunity...looks kinda cool, right?!

I need to be more creative with my shell pictures...like Cheri and her flip-flop! I'll work on that! 

Well these awesome trips are over, Jodi heads home tomorrow, and I leave in a couple of days. So sad to see it come to an end, but we will be doing it again! We all talk daily as we are Admins for a facebook page...but we don't get together very often...and what fun we had, I love these ladies! 

l to r: Jodi, This Cheri, Cindy and the other Cheri!

Stay Tuned! Hopefully I will have another post...or two, soon!

::Shelllady Hugs::