Taking in the Sunrays!

 I'm still in paradise! It's hot down here in sunny Florida, but it's August! It's summertime and it's no hotter here than up in Virginia! I love it! Before Susan and Katie left to go back to Virginia, we decided to hit a couple of beaches during a lower tide, we were unsuccessful with shelling but did get a slow dramatic show of dolphins! I didn't get great pics, but you can see them pretty well!

The water is pretty and the beach is clean....

a little too clean this day, not even any shells! ;)

We left Gulfside beach (mid island) and went on up to Blind Pass, my first time seeing it since Hurricane Ian rocked these beautiful Islands!

The beach is still beautiful, but you can definitely see the loss of foliage....not to mention the view of everything else is still obvious, they are working hard to get back to whatever the new normal will be, but it is a slow tedious process! No resorts are open, well one is...with limited rooms, on Sanibel and it will still be months, maybe years before it's fully open again! Restaurants and business are making great progress, it seems like every week someplace new has finished restoration and will open.

Time to change the subject....

On Friday, Team Cheri got back together for a little walk and talk, birding and shelling, the tide was nice and low so we headed to the mud flats. Boy were the Sunrays out...Suns rays AND Sunray Venus Shells in pairs!! 

Cheri had a small 2-1/2 gallon bucket that she filled, I had a shell bag and both pockets of my backpack full before we finally decided we had enough!

We use them as 'canvases'...we paint them and put them out around the island for folks to find...like the rocks! Heres just an example of what we do with them.... the long slender ones (crow, cat, Jelly fish)bottom right are sunray venus....they are some of my favorite shells to paint!

We had so many and our bags/buckets got heavy so we headed back to the car to lighten up and grab some water! Then back out!

There were a few birds out, Cheri is an amazing photographer and was very pleased to see many Avocets, 

according to Bird-nerd Cheri they migrate through here and only stay for a short time. 

They're very cool looking birds with their slightly curved beaks and long legs...Cheri has the camera for a much better shot of them....

and she can stay in this position for a long time!!! I can't even get into that position, much less hold it steady for a period of time!! My highlight for the day in the bird world was a Roseate Spoonbill! He was there all alone, and was so colorful!!

I found this nice Lightning Whelk rolling in the surf! It was covered in moss and yuck, but I believe with a little work it will clean-up nicely!

We also found quite a few empty Kings Crowns...

...and a few white and Rose Tellins.  Here's my final tally for the day....check out those Sunrays!!!

On the left are Kings Crowns, up to Sunrays, (four columns on there back and One group at there base showing the outside) in the center are white and rose tellins, (all the white are still in pairs), below them to the left are a few Alphabet cones and to the right are 3 nice Pear Whelks.

Kings crowns

That ugly whelk, a little bit better!

The whelk and Kings crown aren't completely done in the cleaning process, I will post pics of the 'after' when they're done!

It was a great day, and I had a lot of fun! The tides are pretty low the next few days so hopefully I'll have some more adventures to post! 

Stay Tuned!

Thanks for coming Along!

::Shelllady Hugs::

Last nights sunset from my driveway! How beautiful is that??

Finding Treasures during the Super Moon!

We arrived back in paradise today! Since it was a Super Moon, and my friends from Virginia were down here, I couldn't wait to get out there on the beach!! The lowest tide during this Super Moon Wednesday was supposed to be around 9, and it would be dark, so we were going to stay until the last bit of light! (It is currently Turtle nesting season, so you should not do any night shelling as it can add confusion for the turtles) 

When we got to the beach, it was very nice, just a slight breeze....

see that little bit of a black cloud in the upper left corner?? That cloud decided to start sprinkling...then harder and harder....we headed back toward the car, and we all got pretty wet! No lightning or thunder, just a soaking rain....of course, you guessed it....when we got there it quit! So being the die hard shellers that we are, we went back out there, and we are all glad we did!! Susan, Katie (and her friend Mary) and I all found some treasures! I was too busy shelling to take very many pictures but here's a few!

It started with Susan finding this nice Florida Cone....(sorry it's a bit out of focus)

  Then I found this mini Lightning Whelk!

and right after that an Alphabet Cone! Score! Not perfect, but it's coming home with me anyway!

Then I found this pretty Juvenile Horse Conch....

and a nice Shark's eye! 

Susan's Daughter Katie, caught up with us, and she already had a nice bag full of treasures!

Susan found a NICE Alphabet cone...

Apple Murex....

another Apple Murex, and Banded Tulip and ANOTHER Alphabet Cone! Triple Score!!

then I scored ANOTHER Alphie!

And Susan found this nice Lightning Whelk!!

Katie reached down and snagged this nice Shark's eye also....

It was getting darker and darker, and harder to see....so We had to finally quit, but had a great short trip that brought us a lot of fun and some treasures!

Katie's friend Mary waited for us up on the beach....check out that beautiful sky behind her!!

It just don't get no better than this!! 

Stay tuned....many more adventures to follow!

::Shelllady Hugs::