Three little Adventures

 I have been neglecting my duties of posting....I don't have a good excuse! So I will post three little adventures, three local trips. The tides are again Negative, with Sunday and today being the lowest. -1.3".  so back up to last Friday....Liz and I headed to the lighthouse, well before sunrise....and the beach was covered with sea urchins!! The recent rough winds had pushed them all up on the beach!!

There were countless live Cockles!

and Scads of live Scallops!!

There was very little of anything else to see....I actually left with a completely empty shell bag!  Liz, however, did much better!

Angel wings, Paper figs, Tulips, a tiny urchin, Nutmeg, Lightning whels, a pair of Angel wings, a Gaudy Nautica, Olives, a Juvenile Fighting conch all around a Calico Crab Shell. Liz has always been able to find things when I couldn't, she works at it too!!

So Saturday Cindy and I got up and headed out, again, well before sunrise. Cindy has never found a Large Horse Conch and I was hoping that would change today!!! Within 5 minutes of us getting there, she dug this guy up!!I was so happy for her!!!

I found this beautiful lavendar juvenile fighting conch, he was alive, so he went back into the gulf after his photo op!

....and then Cindy found ANOTHER Big Horse Conch!!! It was windy and a bit chilly, but I think Cindy was warming right up!!! ;)

....and she found a third!!!!(I was so excited I forgot to get a pic of it!!) How about that!!! I imagine her backpack was pretty heavy at this point, but we continued on!!

I did find a Nutmeg....

and an Alphabet Cone....

and then another!

We played rescue to a Stone Crab that was trapped in a Crab pot that had washed up into a tidal pool....

we freed him and dragged to crab pot up above the high tide line....(I believe Sanibel has a patrol after these strong winds that comes by and picks up)

There was lots of live Cockles, scallops and Horse Conchs at this beach also!!

and this inquisitive hermit in his Albino Fighting Conch Home....I love these guys!!

We headed on home just before the sunrise....Isn't it beautiful??

It was pretty cold for Florida....I think it was about 53 degrees!! ;) But Cindy did well, don't you think??

I skipped going yesterday, even though it was to be the lowest tide because it was forecasted to be 32 degrees with strong winds....I figured I would wait and go today (Monday) when it was supposed to be warmer....and the winds would not be as strong!  Imagine my surprise when I got to the beach and it was a balmy 37 degrees!!! I was here so I was going!! I had a few hours before Shellcrafters so it was time to check things out!! (Today I was solo)  When I got down to the waterline this was the first thing I saw!! He was buried so that just his 'knobs' were sticking out of the sand...

Again there were lots of live Cockles and scallops....I think this is a Mantis shrimp...even he was live....barely! This guys are said to be very quick and very painful if they strike. They are said to punch causing deep wounds and lacerations in humans! They are big, notice his size compared to my shoe!!! I carefully put him back in the Gulf after his photo op!

Once again, lots of live Horse Conchs and a live Lightning Whelk!! This is a test...How many Horses do you see here??? Do you see all 3??

I was still out there during sunrise....who doesn't love a colorful start to your day??

SCORE!!!I found this beauty with lots of people walking past it!! Do you see it....more than half buried in the sand.....

Biggest Alphabet Cone I've seen in a long time!!

He has had an eventful life! look at those repairs he's made!!

I love the live stuff and can't resist taking some pictures....Here is a Nine-Armed Sea Star sharing the pool with my favorite size Horse Conch!

There were several live Lightning Whelks walking around in the pools...

I couldn't resist this beautiful Gaudy Nautica....I actually found 2 of these this trip!!

Here's my finds for the day!!! Beach Therapy is great, even when it's a bit cold!! Will be back to a Normal Florida Winter later this week!!! We still have a few more days of extra low tides...so Stay Tuned!!

::Shelllady Hugs::

Shell Raisers do Jupiter Beach!

A Picture post card, right? "Wish you were here!"  The credit goes to Cindy for this beautiful picture!! Check out that Turquoise water! Welcome to Jupiter Beach on the east coast of Florida. 

The Shell Raisers planned another adventure because Jolene had gotten some 'inside information' from someone about where to go and what to find....today was to be Scotch Bonnets, Bittersweet clams and maybe a Lions paw!! 2 of my 'Bucket List' shells are Helmets and Lions Paws! 

We first stopped at the beginning of Carlin Park and walked in the deep sand for about 2 miles...

We didn't find much there did pick up a few Bittersweets as they're fairly rare on our West coast...we also saw pieces of Helmets and Lion Paws....but nothing else, so back to the car to move a little further down the beach.

It was pretty barren until we walked for a bit, and we came up on an area that had a LOT of shells in a small area....Mostly Bittersweets....

We did see this guy....a Portugese Man of War!!! These guys are said to be very painful, even when they are dead!! But they are so Beautiful!

Not far from this guy Cindy picked up a SCOTCH BONNET!!! 

But unfortunately we didn't find much else, just Bittersweets and Pieces and Parts of other shells...We did find a Rock Structure! :)

Jolene had met someone on the beach that had a Whippet and was talking to them, and they advised that we head to the Lighthouse at Jupiter Inlet, thats the place to shell. We made the long walk back and decided to spend the last hour of daylight on that beach!

It was a bit rockier here and we all knew we needed to be careful, The Atlantic has some waves that are much larger than our beloved Gulf of Mexico!!!

We all were a bit disappointed with the amount of shells we left with but a couple of us....(Cindy and Jolene) scored big time with the special shells!

Here are Liz's finds....  A Flat, An unusual Tellin, Pieces of a helmet, Coral, even a LEGO!!!

driftwood....

...and a Hamburger Bean!!

I didn't get much, Bittersweets, broken Lions Paws, a big Nutmeg, (when I found this, at first glance I thought it was a bonnet!!), thorny oysters and on the top right is a shell I had to look up in my book! It's a Green Star Shell....a first for me!

Cindy got a Ton of Olives, Turkey Wings, Bittersweets, Frond Oysters and of course the Scotch Bonnet dead center!!!

Jolene did great!! We didn't know how well until this morning!!

Bittersweets of all sizes and colors,

Olives , Frond Oysters

Check this out!! 2...TWO Lions Paws and an Imperial Venus!!

Though we didn't fill out Shell bags to the brim, once again we had a nice adventure and a lot of fun!!! 

Stay Tuned!!

::Shelllady Hugs::