Slow and Steady Beach Therapy

It was another beautiful Morning near the East end of Sanibel Island, Florida.... 65 degrees and with a slight breeze, the only sounds are birds and the water slowly lapping up on the beach, headed toward low tide....How does that sound? Nice Huh?! 

Another day of Beach Therapy, and I just took my time, in no hurry....pretty soon I found this awesome Apple Murex...I don't normally pick these up as I have way too many, but this one was Big and Perfect, lacy even...

...and it was Purple inside!!

It was a nice sunrise....

 I managed to catch the sun a couple of times through the holes in the clouds....

 ...still beautiful!

Back to the beach stroll....

Olives aren't my favorite either, but I do collect them for a friend, and I couldn't resist this one....more on the way Sheila!!

I did find one of my favorites....a Medium sized Horse Conch....we call them Ponies....Love the coloring on this one.....!

...and another favorite, True Tulip....

Most of the shells I found today were buried in the sand...so you HAD to go slowly so you didn't miss anything!! They were hiding!

Small Horse Conch...

Banded Tulip....

Lightning Whelks...

I actually love this kind of shelling, takes concentration and is great Therapy! :)

I got to see some live stuff today too!!! 

This guy charged me as I stepped into his tidal pool....he was adamant that I leave the area!! 

and this beautiful Sea Anemone...

Notice, I'm getting better with the new camera....Learning every day!!

Here are some of my finds for the day....

Murex....Apple and a couple of Lace!

One of my Favorites.... Horse Conchs... so many different colors and sizes!

and more 'Sheila Shells'! (Lettered Olives)

Here's my finds for the morning....another good day!

It's supposed to cool off tonight, so I may have to add a couple of layers of clothes tomorrow....but I plan on being there!! 

Stay Tuned!

::Shelllady Hugs::

Island Hopping with Friends!

My time to leave is rapidly approaching, so I am trying to fill every minute with adventures! A couple of days ago, we went and toured the 10,000 islands by kayak! I am not a kayaker...this is only my second time ever, so that is an adventure all by itself...it was a load of fun and I was with some great folks....including the Shellinator himself, Donnie!

From Left: Jodi, Donnie, me and Cindy!

Donnie immediately found this beautiful orange True Tulip and gifted it to Cindy to welcome her home! How sweet is that?

I finally did it!!! I found my Alphabet Cone....Whooop Whoop!....and it's a beauty!!

My day was complete at this point!!! But of course, I couldn't stop looking for treasures!
I saw lots of double Spiny Jewelboxes....

Jodi found this awesome Spiny too....

Donnie picked up this Live 'Freak' Lightning whelk....

and put it back into the water to continue growing!

He found this live Lace Murex...climbing on a mangrove root....

and this HUGE Angel Wing...

Before the day was done...he found a BUNCH of them!

There were shells all over the islands! It was Sensory overload....under logs....like this pretty little Lace Murex....

 It will clean up nicely!

...this Gaudy Nautica sitting there waiting for me!

a pretty Florida Cone....in among the other shells...

and my goodness the Alternate Tellins!!!! so Many I just had to ignore them all!

and pretty Scallops, and Angel wings...

...Olives, this one has Golden Olive tendencies, not sure it is truly a Golden though....

Donnie found this HUGE Apple Murex....

and the tiny Sand dollars! I had to grab a few and got some of them home unbroken...

I'd say it was a pretty good day!

There were huge Jingles too! That's a quarter for size comparison!

I picked up a few other cones....not great, but kept them anyway...and a Salmon colored Fighting Conch...

lots of small False Angel wings, even some pairs!

I can never pass up the colorful Scallops and the Top Shells!

Florida Cones, More jingles and some tiny ones!

...and of course, the Olives...for my Friend Sheila....I call them 'Sheila Shells' there are a couple with some Golden colors....

and I had to bring home 3 of the Big Angel Wings!

This folks are so much fun....I can't wait to come back after Christmas and have some more adventures!

We traveled to the East Coast to try some shelling yesterday!!! Stay tuned for pics from that trip!!!...Maybe later today!

::Shelllady Hugs::