Playing Catch-up!

 As usually happens, I haven't been keeping you up to date! There really is not a lot to report, but I have seen a few interesting things that you might enjoy. I haven't found much but I do have some favorites...

I finally got that Flat (ZigZag Scallop) I told you I wanted to find on the last post...

Isn't that a beauty? The colors are amazing!...as are the colors in this amazing Sharks eye...

A first for me...I believe it's called a Bolingi Olive!e I'm not an Olive fan, but this one is so unusual...and is a gorgeous color, so I think I'll keep it! ;)

We are getting North winds this week and rip currents which are bringing in the Sea Urchins by the droves....I've spent a lot of time putting these and Sea Stars back in the gulf...I love these guys when they're live!

Liz and I went out one morning just before sunrise...and found this guy burying himself in the sand! Not exactly what you want to see in the dark!! Don't know if it is a sea snake or a land snake....

here is his head sticking up out of a hole further down....

as usual, the sunrise was gorgeous....

Liz found this nice whelk that was occupied by a grumpy looking Hermit Crab...

and this HUGE live Sand dollar on dry land....We put him back in the Gulf after his photo op...

There wasn't much out there to take home, but I did find a sharks eye trying to hide...

We've had pretty strong winds and rip tide warnings, and much cooler temperatures that started on Monday....I just had to get out there this morning to see what there is to see.... The beach was 'littered' with all kinds of stuff, lots of urchins, scallops (both sides) starfish, live angel wings...and all kinds of stuff....

I love looking through all this...you never know what treasures you might find...or just something interesting! Near the center are two live Angel wings, very large! Unfortunately, one of them is broken up pretty badly...

Here's another live one I found and put back into the water....

There was also a tiny Octopus floating along the edge, I'm afraid he has already died! :(

I ran into a lady that I had met on the beach before, Sue, she actually follows my blog!!!!...we visited a bit as we explored the tidal pool, she picked up two of these nice True Tulips while we chatted....

I found this really nice Atlantic Pearl Oyster...

You can't tell by the picture, but it has a nice 'mother of pearl' on the inside, it's beautiful!

I found this too....will need one of you experts to verify my research, I believe it's a Variable Dwarf Olive....that's my assumption from the books...what do you think??

I have never seen one before! 

This is a HUGE string of Lightning Whelk casing...it appeared to be empty, so hopefully all those tiny guys are out in the gulf growing up!

I did spend a little bit of time looking for minis and found a few, including Wentletraps, Key-hole Limpets, shark's eyes, apple murex etc...

I also saw a Skimmer! Up close and personal! He was solo with several Royal Terns, and he looks like he posed just for me!! Notice how the bottom of his beak is longer than the top...he flies along just off of the surface of the water and drags that lower beak in the water....I have pictures of them in flight in an earlier post! I love these guys!

When I turned around I saw this guy in the tidal pool!! How interesting is he?? I looked and looked in my books trying to identify him, but couldn't find anything similar....anyone out there have an idea? 

I'm not sure I would want to see him in the dark either!! I would probably have nightmares! ;)

Liz and I are going on another adventure tomorrow, hopefully I'll have some cool stuff to post! 

Stay Tuned!!

I'll leave you with some beautiful Sunset pics and a video of a cute little Spider Crab I found in a tidal pool....Enjoy!!

::Shelllady Hugs::

Post Eta Walk & Talks and Shelling

Since last Friday it's been a bit of an adventure here. Eta in all it's zig-zag tracks has been all around us. On Wednesday it was about 70 miles west of us traveling North.  We had a lot of rain and a day or two of some pretty impressive gusts. We faired very well here in Ft. Myers. Sanibel had a few minor flooding issues but all in all everything is fine!  

Team Cheri decided to go for a walk in the daylight and check things out. Gulfside Beach obviously saw lots of wash....this beach was completely flat and there had obviously been water well up into the vegetation... Many of the posts along that area had been washed out.

 At the lighthouse, there were lots of Live mini Angel Wings 

and Buttercups...

Even mini shrimp!!

Let's do some virtual shrimping...Do you see two in this pic?

There were Billions of Live Coquina...

I found lots of these live Atlantic Wing Oysters

So we decided to try low tide... which happened to be Early Early morning...so we charged up the flashlights and headed out ....

We were walking in the tidal pool and began to see lots of fighting conchs...within 5 minutes, I spotted this guy!!!

SCORE!!!!!

What a way to start the day with a nice Alphabet Cone!!

You know me, I'm interested in the live stuff...I had already found a treasure! We saw a live Pear Whelk...

This nice Lightning Whelk

Cheri spotted this guy running along the bottom of the tidal pool....

and look at this beauty!!! The color on this Horse Conch was amazing....

and this Hermit thought so too!  In fact, he was considering fighting us for it!!

Light just started and the crescent moon and Venus shown brightly over the Gulf...it was amazing!!

As it got lighter yet, The Snowy Egrets were all lining ready for breakfast....

as was a Pod of Dolphin....

and just like that here came the sun!!

Cheri found a nice Lightning Whelk....

and as I was reviewing these pics, I noticed something in the corner of her whelk....a tiny little shrimp!! I blew it up so you could see it closer!

She also scored this huge Shark's eye!

Other than my Alphie...I found a pretty nice Olive and a tiny Banded Tulip...

I also got a nice Lightning Whelk

and this amazing Spiny Jewel Box! Check out those spines!! I almost stepped on it!!

There were lots of shells buried in the sand under water, the water was nice and clear in most places... 4 Whelks in this group along with several other treasures....

Hoping to find some more treasures out there....Stay Tuned!!

::Shelllady Hugs::