Casing the Beach

 Mondays are for Shellcrafting with the Sanibel Shellcrafters at the Community House. I've been stuck in the terrible traffic of Contractors heading 'on island' quite a few times. It's no fun, and is an awful start of your day. So I found a way around it! Mondays, I head to the island before 7 am, usually around 6 for a 9 o'clock meeting. So guess what I do....walk the beach!! I don't worry about the tides, it's just a much better start to my day! So....this morning I crossed the bridge right at 6, no delay and drove to the beach, it was 3 hours before low tide, but the winds have been right. I know you'll think I'm making this up, but right after I got there, this shell rolled out of the waves, right up to my feet!!! Shazam!! 

A Florida Horse Conch....It's not too big, or too small, just right!! It still has a nice orange color and even a white perfect tip, with a little work, it will be BEAUTIFUL....This is one of my favorites!! LOL, but you all know that! ;)

A few more steps and I found all 3 of these nice Lightning Whelks!

I looked in front of me, and behind me, and I had the entire beach to myself! No one was playing tricks....just at the right place at the right time! I said to myself, I'm sooo glad I got up early to get here this morning!

A little bit further down and I found these Cowries, within a few feet of each other....they are not usually found here, but they are found in the keys and on the east coast, maybe Hurricane Ian moved things around a bit! They're broken, but the familiar "teeth" are in great shape!!

This Huge Old guy (Another Florida Horse Conch) was right along the waterline....he has been around for a LOOOOONNG time! He didn't have a good point, and looked to be in bad shape, though Whole, but I left him for someone else to enjoy!

That's my foot next to him to give you a size reference....

There were also a few Pear Whelks out there that were in good shape...

Slowly the sun began to come up, and light my path....what a gorgeous day!

I had a little company, there are some birds walking there with me....

There were lots of Cockle pairs out there, large and small...most were empty, 

Here's a two for one deal, a twofer!! A lightning Whelk in a Lightning Whelk!

February has always been my favorite month for shelling....The large shells start to come in, the winds blow in from the North, though it's cooler, it brings in the shells....and the egg casings! Remember in my last post, I showed you the True Tulip putting it's egg casings on a pen shell, here's a little closer view....

Tulip egg casings...

They are ruffly, and each one is actually triangular, all put together in one large group....

in each 'triangle' are many many babies, that grow up to be Tulips!!!...I put it up to the sun so you could see them in there through the skin of the casing.

These 'Snaky' looking things, are actually Lightning Whelk Egg casings.

The Whelk lays these disks that are joined by a sort of thick thread on the back side....

This is showing you the individual disks.... there is a small hole in each disk, for the shells to swim out of and into the Gulf.... to grow up!!

once again, I put it up to the sun so you can see the tiny, tiny whelks... you can see how tiny, compared to my thumb nail!

How interesting is that?!

This is actually a Skate or shark case, ...I put it up to the light and it was empty. We fondly call these Mermaid purses....

With the sunrise, my adventure was complete, now time to go and get creative!

Enjoy YOUR day! 

Stay Tuned!

::Shelllady Hugs::