One Final Post for 2023, One final Beach Walk, One Final Sunrise

 On Mondays I have Sanibel Shellcrafters. The traffic on the causeway has been terrible Monday mornings as the causeway is under construction, as well as many many businesses on the island since Hurricane Ian. There's just too many people, mostly construction folks trying to get into two lanes and on island in the mornings. So I've been cheating the last 2 weeks! I head out super early, beat the workers across the bridge, and walk the beach for a couple hours before Shellcrafters! Win-Win, right?? I would much rather enjoy the sunrise, shell a little and do a little bird watching before heading to the Community House. Who cares what the the tides are?? It's just a little early morning therapy! Much better than sitting in the car with lots of other folks trying to merge down to one lane.....much more relaxing to do it this way!!! This will be my last walk this year, we are heading north for Christmas, and then hopefully back soon!

So this morning I went, and it was just coming off of high tide, I didn't figure I would find much....I saw lots of life out there! several of these coveted Florida Horse Conchs.....

I thought I had taken more pictures, but I saw at least 4 of these.....

This guy, is also a Florida Horse Conch, with a large Hermit crab who has made it his home! His home was gorgeous, but I consider this 'live' as well, so I took his pic and bid him a good morning....

I saw many live True Tulips, Banded Tulips, and Apple Murex....wonderful to see. Apparently I didn't take any pictures. so sorry for that! But I did get a picture of my last sunrise from the beach, and as usual, it is glorious!

I have to apologize for not snapping more pictures, I guess I was 'in the moment'!

Here are my finds for the day, not bad for a short beach walk during high tide!?

On the left is a sea whip (I use these in crafts a lot), The top are Dosinia pair that I paint, below that are Paper figs, below that on the left are Lightning Whelks, to their right are true Tulips and then Horse Conchs, bottom right are Shark's eyes and Scallops.

I got to looking closely at the sea whip as I was getting ready to clean it, and there is a tiny Atlantic Winged Oyster attached to it....I don't think it's alive as the shell is barely open and I don't see anything in it....isn't that tiny?? You can compare it to the end of my finger.....I love it!!

I just wanted to wish you and yours a Merry Christmas and a Happy Happy New Year, and I will see you here, next year!!!

Stay Tuned! 

::Shelllady Hugs::

A Wonderful Windy Day on Keewaydin Island

I'm back in Florida paradise, and have been since right after Thanksgiving. I have been spending most of my time getting ready for Christmas, Florida style! Baking, shopping, wrapping, crafting for Craft shows with the Sanibel Community House, and of course I had to do a little bit of shelling. This time of year is wonderful shelling, the tides are super low, and normally the winds push the shells up to the beach. I've been a few times, gotten a few treasures but nothing too much to brag about...yet.  Lynne, Liz and I did take a trip out to Keewaydin Island with Hemingway Water Shuttle ! I have been with this small, family owned business many times and will continue to do so....and you should too when you are down here! If you haven't been following the weather down here, we have some sort of a storm going on, LOTS of wind, heavy gusts at times, and today and tomorrow they are adding rain to that forecast! We worried that the trip would be canceled, but they just had us come a little earlier and as we were done, pulling up to the dock, the wind and a bit of rain started, perfect timing! We went out to the island the 'back way' to avoid the wind in the gulf, we tiptoed through the mangrove islands and saw this beautiful Eagle! (I love Eagles!) Liz got her phone out in time to snap this pic....

We actually saw 4 eagles today!!
 

So, how did we do?

This was my very first find!

Isn't it a beauty? It's the Florida state shell, a Horse Conch, and one of my favorites! 

Lynne's first find was an Alphabet Cone! SCORE! I really was glad to see that...I would like for her to enjoy herself and come again!

My next find was a first for me....though it is not perfect, and a little pitted, it has definitely been on my bucket list of things I want to find! It's called a Caribbean Vase Shell!!!!

I was tickled pink!!! If I don't find anything else, My day was made!!
 

I have many pictures so I'll just take you on the trip as I took pics....more seeing less talking! :)

an Olive, 2 Gaudy Nauticas, and a beautiful Florida Cone....

a HUGE worm shell, a Banded Tulip, a Pear Whelk at the top next to a Lacey, Lace Murex, a tiny Pear Whelk and another Gaudy!

There were lots of Live Large Lightning Whelks, so good to see!!!

Not a perfect Alphabet Cone, but so huge!, another Olive, tiny dusty cone, Juvenile Horse Conch, worm shell and Nice sized Kings Crown.

ANOTHER Alphie, a pretty Christmasy True Tulip, a Chocolate Alphabet Cone (dark colors) a Shark's eye, another worm shell and 2 Nutmegs...

more Olives, a Chocolate True Tulip and another small Gaudy.


There were many, many broken big shells all over the place....They were obviously old and well-worn!

We all picked our spot and shelled separately but compared notes frequently....

Lynne seemed to be doing just fine!

She found a Live Calico Clam, it was beautiful...

She put him back in the gulf after his photo op....

I think Liz was doing well too.....

She found this beautiful Neon Orange Horse Conch!!

It was a cloudy day, and somewhat windy, but the temperature was perfect, not too hot, not too cold! Perfect in my book!!! 

We bid Keewaydin a fond farewell with plans on another trip coming soon with our bags full!

Here's all the shells I picked up, I was somewhat of a shell snob, but there are just some I can't resist! I could've filled up all my shell bags with Fighting Conchs, banded tulips, lightning whelks...all sorts of treasures...so this is what I settled on for now....

not bad for 3 hours of shelling huh?! I'll take it!

 Here is the Vase shell after a bleach soak, they are normally very white....

I think Liz had a successful day as well....here are her favorites!

Lynne had a great time and has promised she will be coming back with us soon, no pictures from her this time as she is always busy and she and I have a Craft Show this weekend!! Busy Busy!!!

We will head back to Virginia for Christmas next week, then back down here after for some more adventures! 

Merry Christmas and Happy New Year to you and your families! May you be blessed and celebrate the true reason of the season!!!

Stay Tuned!!

::Shelllady Hugs::

Low Tide Beach Therapy

 I've been on several trips to the beach the last few days, I haven't found anything special, was chased out a few times by rain and/or thunderstorms or the dreaded "Noseeums"! For those of you who are not familiar with them, they are tiny little gnat like bugs that like to bite, some, like me, not usually. I know I'm blessed, but sometimes they're bad for everyone! I understand they seem much worse since Ian came through, hopefully they will go back where they came from when things dry out and cool off in the fall! 

Jolene and I decided to try Fort Myers Beach again, as we didn't have much luck on Sanibel the last couple trips. Low tide was to be at 10 am, so we got there before 9, there was a slight breeze, (which helps keep the noseeums away) and it was a bit overcast...Perfect!! The entrance to the beach from the parking lot looked like a post card!!

How inviting is that??!

It was a nice quiet beach, and the sand bars were already coming out!

We both instantly had a good feeling about it! Even if we don't find any treasures, how nice a walk it will be! Right?!

The starfish were just laying around enjoying the gulf like we were!

This one was on the beach out of the water, I'm not sure he was enjoying it so much, so I gave him a lift to the tidal pool after his photo op!

This is the 'bone' (inside spiral) of  a Horse Conch... Maybe, I think, Look at the size of this! 

There were so many of these Jewel Box pairs....I passed by so many, I finally decided to pick up some as I could probably use them in a craft that I've been doing in Shellcrafters....

Some of them have a beautiful pink inside too....like these, (along with a Lettered Olive in this pic)

Wouldn't they look good on something like one of these?

So I kept several....

I found this unusual colored Lightning Whelk and a True Tulip, which is one of my favorites....

Jolene was doing well also, she picked up a couple Horse Conchs....

and some Alphabet Cones! Which we haven't found here before!!

After snapping this pick, I turned around and this beautiful Alphabet cone rolled up in a wave! SCORE!

Check out the size of this Lettered Olive! It's perfect!(Notice the Sand dollar also)

Jolene got one too....and a Sand Dollar!

Another Lightning Whelk, a Fall colored Nutmeg and another Cone for me!

This is a bit of an unusual find, we call them Freak shells (out of the ordinary) This is a knobless Fighting Conch...(sorry it's out of focus!) in the picture below it is a 'standard' Fighting Conch'

Do you see the difference?!

I found what I thought was a nice True Tulip, but he was home and connected to this live Banded Tulip....See the differences in the two shells?

The True Tulip is the one in my hand (bottom), the Banded Tulip is on the Top, between them is the 'door' or operculum that is connected to the snails body and used to close them in the shell for protection. No comment on what is going on here, not sure if it's dinner time or porn time!! :)

I walked back up the beach to pick up something we left down there, and Jolene picked me up further down, this is the view from that parking area! So Pretty! 

Like Sanibel, Fort Myers Beach was hit so hard, and they are working so hard to get back to the new Normal. There are big improvements in both places every where you look, but you can also still see a lot of destruction. Many prayers to all!!

This was my take home for the day....Not bad for a couple hours of beach therapy!

Stay Tuned for more Adventures!

::Shelllady Hugs::