Gone East!

Liz, her husband Mike & I got up REALLY yesterday morning and headed to the East Coast. Shelling there is like another world, it's always an adventure! We went to a little beach between Ft Lauderdale and Hollywood Florida. Many of the shells there are very different than here on the west coast, at least around Ft. Myers/Sanibel. Like any other beach, good days and bad days....I'd say today's adventure was a good day. Heck, to me, any day on the beach is a good day!! ;)

My first find was a Bolingi Olive!!! Much larger than the one I found a couple of weeks ago....I had never found ANY, now I have 2!!

I also found a tiny Alphabet Cone hiding under a rock....

they are even a little bit different than here, the 'spots' seem to be much smaller, and more uniform...

I found so many of these sponges all over the beach, 

they look like something you would see in an aquarium....they were in all sizes! I just thought they were interesting! (I even brought a small one home with me, we'll see how it holds up!)

Also scattered among the High Tide Line....were these two guys....

Yep that's a Portuguese Man of War!! A jellyfish with a terrible, terrible sting I understand.....I didn't test it, even though they seemed to be around a while, I understand they are normally very blue, and there was some blue along the edges, but I just took a pic and left them alone!!

I also found this tiny little sea Urchin on the inside of a Bittersweet, he was so prickly, much like a sand spur! I believe he was still alive, so I returned him to the sea....

Much of the beach had these rocks on it, and Liz and I spent a lot of time, walking on them, and looking under whatever rocks we could move....

Needless to say, it was quite a work-out! I found this tiny guy under a rock...he too was alive...

forgive me for not naming most of these, it is going to take some research...I'm not familiar with many of these shells...

This is obviously some sort of Oyster, I just thought it looked cool, so I grabbed it up as well....

This area is known to have Queen Conchs,....I was hoping to find one, and there was evidence all over the beach that they had come in....HUGE pieces of broken ones :( so thick too....I kept hoping I would find one intact!

I found 2 pieces of a Hawkwing Conch that would have been a gorgeous find!

The Atlantic is gorgeous....just look how beautiful it is....such a tropical blue!

Here's my finds for the day...

Her's a closeup of the minis....I'll try to name some of them as best as I can...

Keyhole Limpets, False Limpets, tiny dove shells, a couple tiny flats, some rice olives (I think) Rose murex (that are white?), I believe the gold and white shell on the left near the bottom is a Margin shell, and below it a Nerite, then a star shell or Modulus

Some of my favorites, a Juvenile Queen Conch, the Bolingi and Alphabet, and some (what I call) flower coral

and I actually found some Sea Fans, I'm going to try to clean these guys up and see how it goes, if it turns out, I'll show you how it looks! Liz actually found a Large sea fan on an earlier trip and has it in a shadowbox at her house, it looks beautiful!!

Here is some more small pieces of coral, and some colorful bittersweets!

The beaches are covered with all different types of coral, from very large to tiny....so different from what we are used to!

Liz found some real treasures! Including Frond Oysters still on the branches, Bittersweets, Thorny Oysters, and a Flamingo Tongue!! (Yes, it's a type of shell!)

Here are her minis....Across the top are False Limpets, I believe those Conchs are also Juvenile Queen Conchs, mini tulips, Horse conchs, dove shells, rice olives and Keyhole Limpets at the bottom. The Flamingo tongue is out of the tray just to the bottom left, the white shell....!!

She also found some tiny Bittersweets, Rose Murex, and some Milk Moons, and  some tiny cones!

Liz also found some Dove shells, and we aren't sure if those are barnacles or Limpets, 3 Margin shells (?), and a pair of Nerites!!

She posted these as some favorites...a Flat and a Sunrise Tellin!!! It would have been my favorites too....LOVE that Tellin!!!

We had a great day, and it began to rain just as we were ready to leave....so it was good timing! Hoping for a few more adventures to share before I leave so stay tuned!!!

::Shelllady Hugs::

An East Coast Adventure!

Cheri and I met through a facebook page called the Shellinators. It's a group of avid shellers who share their finds, and it has grown very large. Cheri and I are administrators for this group along with 9 others. Most of us 'talk' daily but haven't met in person, we had planned on as many as possible getting together in February, but unfortunately I was unable to make it. I did get to get together with 2 other admins, who hadn't headed home yet, Cindy and Liz.  

According to many posts on the Shellinators, there had been great shelling on the East Coast of Florida, Cindy, Cheri and Liz had been and had a great trip, so Cindy and Cheri decided to take me during the very quick trip that I had in Ft. Myers! 

So off we went, on another adventure! Road Trip!!!  The first thing I noticed, was the color of the water! These pictures don't do it justice, but believe me, it was an awesome tropical turquoise...

It was so different than anything I was used to...there were lots of rocks on the beach, and Coral everywhere! Of course, I came home with a bucket of pieces that I will have to clean up....I just couldn't resist!

There were so many BIG pieces of Large shells....

Like Cindy said, it was like being on another planet!  

Cindy and Cheri immediately went to a large pile of rocks and began looking around each one, almost instantly Cindy came up with this Beauty!!!

Obviously a cone, very similar to an Alphabet Cone but HUGE and much flatter on the top! Such a special find!!!

(I am still in search of an accurate Seashell Identification of many of the shells we found....)

Not long after that she found 2....yes...2...Scotch Bonnets!!

I'd say Cindy absolutely hit the jackpot...already!!!

I found a few Thorny Oysters...but not much else...

So....Cheri began scooping shells out of the surf and dumping them on the beach for us to go through, we found so many amazing things, a lot of which we had not seen before!

She found an awesome Helmet....

and this amazing Murex...and a tiny Nerite (I believe)

and laying right there on the beach, I picked up this Awesome Triton!!!!

Cindy and I plopped down in the sand, and Cheri basically brought us scoops from the surf to go through...how about that for service?!

I found what I believe is a Long spined star shell

 Both Cindy and Cheri picked up these Cowries...

 Cheri found a Cabrit's Murex, we found several of these through the day...they are very rare in Sanibel...

 Cheri also found a small Scotch Bonnet with an amazing tip....

 I believe this is a Beaded Periwinkle and a Flamingo tongue!

 Another Cabrit's for Cheri...

I found several of these Milk Moon Shells...obviously a close cousin to a shark's eye...

Cindy found another, smaller Cone....

I found this tiny little top shell....

Speaking of tiny...Cheri found this tiny Scotch Bonnet...

We also found several Rose Murex....

 Such fun....and so much to see!!! I also have a collection of minis that I am trying to identify, that will have to be another post!

Cheri recognized another couple of Shellinators there and they came up and talked to us, Tatiana and Clint. Clint had been posting some awesome finds on facebook, and found some more today....

 He had found both sides of a Thorny Oyster, a beautiful orange Horse Conch, a Fighting Conch and an Awesome Queen Conch!

 In just a few minutes he also found this awesome Vase Shell....

Tatiana came back and GAVE us some of their special finds....a beautiful Cowrie, a huge golden Cabrit's Murex and a Sundial!! How awesome is that?! Such special finds, and they shared them with us!

We talked with them for a long time, and they shared some amazing stories of their finds, as well as some suggestions of places for us to go....these are some awesome Shellinators! So glad to meet them both, and we hope our paths will cross again one day!

I so enjoyed this trip, and getting to know Cindy....this is a trip that we plan on doing again one day...Cindy will be heading home, but we have a plan to do this again!

Cheri, Cheri (me) & Cindy

Stay tuned....

::Shelllady Hugs::