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::

Catching up....

The first day shelling was last Tuesday, I got out just before sunrise....the beach therapy started immediately....it was instant!

The beaches looked so much better than it had on my last trip...though it was very windy and the gulf was churning....Hurricane Michael was on the way....it was west of us, but we did get some pretty rough water....we even had foam along the beach...

It did push the water up on Sanibel, but only for a day or so as it passed by.  I feel so badly for the panhandle...they are devastated, it's so hard to see! I lift them up daily in my prayers.

I did find a few strange things....a few bones....

and I collected some Pufferfish spikes.....gotta find some craft to use these, though they are fairly hard to find now.... that's all I found! The therapy was the most important thing!

Wednesday I didn't go shelling at all, the Gulf was extremely rough, and I didn't even come out to the island due to some flash flooding.

Thursday, Team Cheri got together and went out just before sunrise....we took a nice long walk at Bowman's beach....we did find some unusual things....like these round things....not sure what they are!!!

They may be a type of sponge, I think the bottom one is a Loggerhead sponge, but that is just guessing and looking in my books....any help would be awesome! The top one looks like it has some hair on it!! 

Thursday, Cheri's Flat radar was working well! First few steps she found this huge one!

It has also been the day to find Lightning Whelks....it appears that everyone has been finding these guys!

Cheri collected several!

We were walking back, and I completely missed this one!!! Almost tripped over it! Cheri finally said something....guess I was looking at little stuff! 

 It's a nice one too!

Here are my finds for the day....

Cheri had some good finds, too!

Today I decided to try some therapy at Blind Pass....the water looked much better today....fingers crossed that it will stay that way!

And there were birds!!!!! So excited to see them!
Flocks of Pelicans in formation....

Ibis strolling along the shore....

This Cormorant was just checking out the beach....

This Bald Eagle dove down right in front of me! I was watching him, he flew just above me and I grabbed my camera....not fast enough, he dove in, picked up a snack and flew off!

I didn't find many shells, a Bittersweet....

and a nice piece of coral were the highlights of the day....

Tomorrow I spend the day at the Shellcrafters, which is a blast!  

So now you are 'caught up!'

Stay tuned!

::Shelllady Hugs::