A Bittersweet Day

I decided to go back to my 'mini vacation' spot, from yesterday, Turner Beach, Captiva Island. I don't expect to fill my bag from any shells, So I've been happy with one special shell per day.....today they were Bittersweet Shells....

This is the only beach I've seen them, and they aren't very plentiful...but today I'd say they were!
I got a second special shell today....see it?

A Flat (ZigZag Scallop)

and another!

So already my day is complete!


I can't get over seeing the clear water....and being able to walk barefoot! You can see to the bottom in my shadow...it's just over knee deep....

Guess I shoulda got a picture of my knees, huh?! :)

There is a school of HUGE fish in this pic....

I couldn't see well enough to catch them in the center of the pic....the sun was too bright! There is one I caught in this pic...

There were more birds....a flock of Ruddy Turnstone were playing on the beach too!

I found this also...I have no idea what animal it is from, but I couldn't resist checking it out!

Orange was obviously the color of the day....I found several orange Scallops of all sizes! (I couldn't resist the tellin and piece of an orange Flat, wouldn't that have been a treasure if it was whole?!)

On my walk back to the car I found this special tiny guy..... He was alive....

...but he seemed very sluggish....I helped him to the water, and then was concerned that he may not be a water turtle....the waves washed him back to the shore....so I reluctantly left him, hoping he would find his way, whichever way that was supposed to be! 

I left Captiva and headed back to the other end of Sanibel to the Lighthouse, to meet Cheri to look for some minis..... She had found another tiny Arrow Dwarf Triton!....

Today was multiple day for me....apparently worm shells were plentiful also!

On the bottom left is an operculum (door) for a shark's eye....wentletraps above that with a TINY Lightning Whelk....Worm shells and 2 shark's eye...Big and Tiny!

I decided not to take pictures of the brown/orange water at the lighthouse, I have taken Wayyyy too many of them, it was fairly clear, though Brown and fairly stinky.  We did notice some Red Tide in the air....The city had several vehicles out there picking up fish....unfortunately that is the norm here lately. 

Cheri went out tonight at took some Beautiful Sunset pictures....it makes you forget about what's going on....if only for a minute!

Stay Tuned...

::Shelllady Hugs::

Wentle Hunting

Team Cheri headed out again this morning into the dark for low tide at the Lighthouse searching for Minis and Wentletraps. Cheri's radar is finely tuned for Wentles (as we call them) she can spot them very quickly and can squat down and stay there to survey the area. Me? That's another story, I don't (can't) do the squatting thing, so I am doing the Sanibel Stoop all the way down the beach.  I suppose my New Years resolution should be to do some exercises so I can also be a squatter....lets see how that goes!

Though a bit chilly, there was a lot of life out there in the dark, lots of live Cockles....

I believe that's a tiny hermit drawing patterns in the sand....

 These are live Bubble Shells, they were all over the beach drawing all kinds of pictures....

a live Olive....

 and I can't help but think this live Sand Dollar was attempting to use the sand as a blanket to keep warm...

I thought this was interesting, though creepy... a skull of a bird of some sort...

 Cheri found a tiny Calico Crab that was still live, but very still.....she put him back into the warm water after his photo op....

This guy was high and dry up the beach, I tried to carry him back to the water, but Cheri ended up rescuing him in her net and putting him back into the Gulf, she said after a little while he happily swam back into the deep....I think he was some kind of an eel, he had a 'fin' that went down his back, was pretty awesome looking when he swam.

The Wentletraps started showing up in the dark.....there is a rice olive in this picture too, see it?

another Wentle...

The sunrise never disappoints here....

It made it much easier to see the minis.....

Check out this beautiful mini Lace Murex...

Cheri found another Arrow Dwarf Triton....(sorry, bad pic, a bit out of focus)

and a pretty Lacey Lace Murex...

You have to look very closely for the Wentles...you never know where they will be....

see it?

This was my fav of the day, this guy was a 'biggie'!

I'm not sure how many Cheri found, but here is a picture inside her container at one point....looks pretty good to me!

...and mine...

When the day was done, I counted 45 wentles I found....

along with LOTS of other minis!

Love those minis!

Stay tuned for more adventures....I hope you all have a safe and Happy New Year! See you next year!!!

::Shelllady Hugs::

Two Adventures, One post!

We are beginning week three, our longest trip down to date. I've been slacking on the posting lately and I am sorry, so will spend the next couple of days, 'Catching you all up!' This has been an amazing trip, Cheri and I have been having a lot of fun on the beaches of beautiful Sanibel!

Friday Cheri had some plans in the morning, so I headed out to see what the latest winds had brought in. I picked up a few things...

A couple of Fighting Conchs, Lightning Whelks and a Banded Tulip

I also found several of these Purple Sea Urchins...These two were dead...

 ...But this guy was alive! I really like these guys!

I hope one day to make my first Sailor's Valentine using my own shells, nothing bought, so I have been collection the sea urchin spines for that. I will need a lot so this was a good find.

After Cheri got there we decided it was time to collect some minis, Cheri has never added a Wentletrap to her collection. We hadn't been there very long when she found her first!!

That was quickly followed by bunches and bunches of minis for us both!

I found lots of colorful Coquina pairs...or 'butterflies' as my Daddy always called them.

It was awesome! We found Bubble shells, Sharks eyes, (the small one just below the shark's eye in the center is an Eastern Dog Whelk(I may have misnamed it in an earlier post), the orangy one to the left is a tiny murex, there are 2 tiny wentletraps in the center, a piece of coral and more coquina pair.

 Cheri and I each found one of these, we thought is was a Ram's Horn which is not normally found here, but with a little bit of research (hitting the books) I believe it is a Waxy Polygra...another first for us!

So many minis...Cheri found Ceriths, Cantharus (top left), a tiny Horse conch, Turbans, Button Snail shells, Fighting Conch, Augers...you name it!

 I found these mini Fighting Conchs, the tiny Nutmeg, center top, and yes that is what you think it is...even a tiny Junonia cob! The tiny shell to the right of the Junonia piece is a tiny Dwarf Olive, we each got two of these tiny guys....Cheri dropped one before we left, I'm sure I'll lose at least one during cleaning since they are so very tiny.

Cheri found this guy, I looked through all my books and with the help of a fellow Sheller have found out it's called a Arrow Dwarf Triton! (Thanks Steve!)

Everything thing we saw at the Lighthouse was tiny, check out this tiny crab!

It was a beautiful day, I can't ever go there without taking a photo of the Lighthouse!

...or the Dolphin!

Thursday 'Team Cheri' participated in a beach cleanup which was a joint effort between the Sanibel Sea School 

and a clothing store called 'Fresh Produce'. The first part of the morning we participated in an activity where we each wrote down our problems on a piece of paper, burned them....

carried the ashes to the beach

Then each of us took a pinch of the ashes walked into the Gulf and let them go. Bruce, our host, (and co-founder of Sanibel Sea School) says this is an activity he does with the kids during camp, and really can make a difference for some of the kids! 

Fresh Produce then stepped in and gave us all bags and gloves and we picked up the local beach that was within walking distance...

Team Cheri (me in the blue, Cheri Hollis in the pink!)

Fresh Produce also provided a nice lunch (from Bailey's General Store) and gave us a small presentation from their founder and gave us a gift. It was a lot of fun, and we feel like we helped in a small way! The took 2 group photos, but we didn't get a copy...if I find them, I'll post!

 The walk to the beach was amazing, we crossed over a bridge that crossed the Sanibel River...and saw beautiful vegetation and Mangroves, another first for me, I have never seen one up close!

I couldn't resist taking some pictures of these crafts done by the kids at Sanibel Sea School!  Check out these crabs made out of handprints...

..or this huge wave made out of seashells!

Stay Tuned!!

::Shelllady Hugs::