Happy Halloween!

I know, I know, I go from one extreme to the other....no posts then 2 a day apart!! Obviously my blog is driven by activity and I had some fun yesterday and wanted to share!

I told you that we had a storm on Friday so I headed out twice yesterday to see what I might find....once in the morning, just after High tide....of course I found Dosinia galore! along with Cockles and many Angel wings!

Nice big Angel Wings too! I just did a photo op with this one and left him for someone else to enjoy....

I found this really cool long spined Sea Urchin, and put him back into the Gulf as he was still alive....

I grabbed a bunch of Dosinia (for painting) and these guys and headed back home with plans to return to another beach at low tide, later this afternoon....

2 pear Whelks a Gaudy Nautica and a Perfect Mahogany colored True Tulip!

The surf was rolling when I came back a couple hours before low tide....believe it or not this guy was tossed onto the beach by a pretty impressive wave right in front of me! A perfect Pony sized Horse Conch! One of my favorites and favorite size!!!

It should clean up nicely!!!

Pretty quickly I stumbled upon an area where there were buried shells....one of my favorite ways to shell, trouble is, it was in the wash of the waves so very difficult to get a picture of.....but I tried....

The waves wash the sand away and there are all kinds of treasures to be found! There were at least a dozen live Lightning Whelks....this one had gotten completely uncovered so I carried him further out and buried him to keep him safe....What a beauty, right?!

Several folks were walking around with these and large Horse Conchs that they had found that were empty...I did find a nice one or two myself!

And you know me and the Shark's eyes....can't resist them!! ...

I got all excited when I saw another pony....but alas, he was live....don't you just love the orange body inside??

If you collect Fighting Conchs or Apple Murex, this was the place for you! I even kept a couple Apple Murex, because they were very lacy!

Can you guess what this is??? 

Underneath that rough exterior is a beautiful Horse Conch....wait until you see him all cleaned up!! It may take a little elbow grease, but I'm up to the task!!

 

It was a lot of fun, though the tide chased me away before I was ready!!! 
Another day maybe!!

I won't be able to go out tonight as I'm handing out candy and shells on a Drive through Trick or Treat at the Community House! That will be fun too!!! 

Enjoy you're Halloween and Stay Tuned!!

::Shelllady Hugs::

This and That

I have a few pics I've taken during my beach walks and a video that I thought was fun so I thought I'd share....I LOVE the birds, and unfortunately I may not be completely accurate when I call them out, I will do my best, but if I'm wrong....don't hesitate to tell me right! I'll learn it...hopefully!!!

I went for a fairly long walk and saw these photo ops and just couldn't resist....this Great Blue Heron was 'fishing' off this rock....there were fish out there, I could see them breaking the surface....how he was going to get them, I have NO idea! But he was definitely paying attention!! 

 

A little further down the beach I saw this regal looking Osprey ....

See him way up there at the top?? He started noticing I was getting closer....

Started to get nervous, so I was hoping to catch him as he leaped off.....too bad I wasn't just a little further to the left to catch that wing and a little closer to catch that face!

The Gulf has been fairly calm this week, so the shells and treasures have been few and far between....but as I've said 1000 times, the walk is still the best!

Last night we had a cold front blow through and it began to stir the Gulf up a bit and I had to go check things out this morning as we were coming off high tide....

I did find some nice size Dosinia scattered around the lighthouse, which is one of my favorites for painting on....

I managed to fill up my net!

After taking these back to the car I walked a little further down the beach and saw this perfect Alphabet cone partially buried in a bunch of other shells....and caught this Gaudy Nautica and Worm shell rolling past it!!

Where the waves were rolling in (The gulf was still pretty rough) there were bunches of shells.....you'd get a quick look, then you'd have to wait for 3 or 4 or 5 waves to pass before you got another look!! I could've filled my net up with Fighting Conchs and Banded tulips!! All in good shape! But I've become a bit of a shell snob, and already have an abundance of those so I passed. I spent a couple of hours in the same area, until I finally quit....I know I was missing some goodies...but what fun!

I saw at least 4 good sized Lightning Whelks...Live.

I only pulled this one up....here's another with just his 'tail' sticking up....

see it? Just up from dead center of this pic....BTW you don't want to step on one of these, Hubby and I have both done it (obviously accidentally) and it is very sharp and will cut right into your foot!!

I really enjoyed it out there today....and came home with a few treasures...

2 Olives, a beautiful bright orange Fightining Conch, the Alphabet cone leaning on a Sunray Venus pair, a small lightning whelk, a nice dark baby Lace Murex and Apple murex, 2 worm shells, a tiny Horse Conch (candy Corn) and 2 Sharks eyes.

and lots of shells to paint!!

I also took a video of these guys this week....Sanderlings or Sandpipers???? I'm not sure....anyway, check them out, most are on one foot...(the other is tucked up) instead of putting it down to run away they just hopped on one foot!!! I got so tickled by these guys!!!

Enjoy!!

Stay Tuned!

::Shelllady Hugs::

Finally.... Back to Paradise!

I've finally returned to my paradise here in SW Florida!! This has to be a record for me, I've been gone 8 months!! I won't go into a lot of detail, but thought I should let you know that I've been helping take care of my Mom who has Alzheimers & COPd. The last few months have been rough for her ....and me. She passed away on September 25, so needing beach therapy is an understatement! Long beach walks are a necessity while I learn what life is going to be from here on out, so I'm tightening up my boot straps and going to give it a go! 

I've been here a little over a week, and have been walking the beaches, but have been kind of melancholy...., the tides haven't been very good and there haven't been any shells!! But there have been some beautiful sunrises of course!

I decided to head all the way to the other end of Sanibel, on to Captiva to check out the new beach renourishment....Though I couldn't see the sun rise, I could see a little of the color!

They have added quite a bit of sand along the beach, as far down as I could see!!

There wasn't an abundance of shells, but the water was beautiful....

I think this great Blue Heron thought so too!! He was busy fishing....

There were tons of Ceriths....

and Kittens paws!

It was a nice leisurely walk....I saw Lots of minis and small pieces of tiny coral....and I noticed a nice sized baby's ear, tiny perfect colorful scallops and a bittersweet!

more minis, coral and another Baby's ear....

and ANOTHER Baby's ear!!!

I was hoping to find some Flats...(ZigZag Scallops), I did find a nice sized broken piece...

The find of the day for me was this PERFECT Small Speckled Tellin!!!

I filled my pockets up with bits of tiny coral, tiny perfect scallops, a few Ceriths for a craft project and was happily heading back to the car, and a wave came up and dropped this beauty right in front of me!!! 

yep, a Scotch Bonnet!! Not perfect, but I kept it anyway!!

I thought this was interesting....it's called an Auger, and half of it is worn away....how appropriate??!

Not a bad day.....

The tiny shell in front of the Baby's ear is a Shiva Shell...it's the operculum from a Turban shell, they are not readily found around here!

I had a wonderful walk....I'm sure I'll be sore tomorrow, gotta get used to this....so I'll have to do it again!! :)

Stay tuned!

::Shelllady Hugs::