North West Winds, Negative Low Tides, New Moon....The Perfect Recipe!

I know I've said this before, but I'm just going to say it again....February is my favorite month for shelling! The weather here has been cooler than normal, that just means you add another layer of clothing and go out there with a really good flashlight and you're good!

Cindy and I did just that this morning, and it did not disappoint! We had the best time! Again, I didn't take a lot of pictures, partly because it's hard to juggle a camera, shellbag, & flashlight....mainly because I was too busy picking up stuff! Today for me was True Tulip day! 

It started out with this beautiful Live True Tulip, of course, he went back in after this photo op....was this a sign? Maybe!

This beauty was peeking out of the sand on a sandbar.... One of the nice things about Trues is they come in many colors!

Reds and Oranges

Here's another reddish Orange and what we call a Chocolate with a reddish top! Aren't they beautiful? Again, one of my favorites! ;)

We are also trying to find Cindy some big Horse Conchs and Lighting Whelks!....

Walking through the nearly empty (of water) Tidal pool, we stumbled on this beauty...

When you see it, a little voice in your head says....'please don't be alive, please be whole'....then you start lifting and digging him out...........

Viola!!! He was not alive, and whole!!!! (in great shape too, not a lot of cleaning to do!!)

We continued in the tidal pool, saw so many Large Live Lightning Whelks, both with the original Snail and with Hermit Crabs!

We don't take Live shells of any kind, they have to be empty! We saw so many!

The sun started coming up, and the birds were coming out....another beautiful morning and amazing Sunrise was on it's way....

As we continued our search in the tidal pool, the seagulls were picking up live Cockles, flying up in the air with them & dropping them on the nearby sand bar to break them open and eat the meat inside!! It's fun to watch!!

While we were picking up shells, and checking Lightning Whelks for inhabitants we found this awesome looking sponge....It is purple on the outside edges...I'm guessing it is a type of boring sponge....I looked it up in my books, but couldn't find it, maybe some of you scientific, Oceanographers can let me know!! ;)

The sunrise did not disappoint!

Doesn't it just make you say..."Ahhhhhhh"?!

Finally, as we got closer to the exit, she found it! 

How pretty is that??

To me the day was a Huge Success!! Here are my finds....The paper figs on the top right are for a friend Lynne to craft with....

I ended up with 15 True Tulips, of every color!!! (center of pic, of course I rarely pass up Shark's eyes (to the right of center) Banded Tulips, And check out thos Alphabet Cones! The 2 on the right are pretty good sized! Below those and to the right are a few Pear Whelks, Bottom Center are varing sizes of Horse Conchs, to their left are Apple murex, then a Kings Crown and a couple Olives. to their left are just some colorful Scallops with a worm shell!

I'd say it was a good morning....wouldn't you?!

Here's an update: Remember this guy from my last post?

With a lot of soaking in bleach, and some scraping and picking, this is how he turned out!!

Isn't it a beauty??? It still has a perfect tip with a little white dot, just like it was born with!!

Well, Stay Tuned, Hopefully more adventures to come this week in particular with these amazing low tides, and winter winds!!

::Shelllady Hugs::