North West Winds, Negative Low Tides, New Moon....The Perfect Recipe!

I know I've said this before, but I'm just going to say it again....February is my favorite month for shelling! The weather here has been cooler than normal, that just means you add another layer of clothing and go out there with a really good flashlight and you're good!

Cindy and I did just that this morning, and it did not disappoint! We had the best time! Again, I didn't take a lot of pictures, partly because it's hard to juggle a camera, shellbag, & flashlight....mainly because I was too busy picking up stuff! Today for me was True Tulip day! 

It started out with this beautiful Live True Tulip, of course, he went back in after this photo op....was this a sign? Maybe!

This beauty was peeking out of the sand on a sandbar.... One of the nice things about Trues is they come in many colors!

Reds and Oranges

Here's another reddish Orange and what we call a Chocolate with a reddish top! Aren't they beautiful? Again, one of my favorites! ;)

We are also trying to find Cindy some big Horse Conchs and Lighting Whelks!....

Walking through the nearly empty (of water) Tidal pool, we stumbled on this beauty...

When you see it, a little voice in your head says....'please don't be alive, please be whole'....then you start lifting and digging him out...........

Viola!!! He was not alive, and whole!!!! (in great shape too, not a lot of cleaning to do!!)

We continued in the tidal pool, saw so many Large Live Lightning Whelks, both with the original Snail and with Hermit Crabs!

We don't take Live shells of any kind, they have to be empty! We saw so many!

The sun started coming up, and the birds were coming out....another beautiful morning and amazing Sunrise was on it's way....

As we continued our search in the tidal pool, the seagulls were picking up live Cockles, flying up in the air with them & dropping them on the nearby sand bar to break them open and eat the meat inside!! It's fun to watch!!

While we were picking up shells, and checking Lightning Whelks for inhabitants we found this awesome looking sponge....It is purple on the outside edges...I'm guessing it is a type of boring sponge....I looked it up in my books, but couldn't find it, maybe some of you scientific, Oceanographers can let me know!! ;)

The sunrise did not disappoint!

Doesn't it just make you say..."Ahhhhhhh"?!

Finally, as we got closer to the exit, she found it! 

How pretty is that??

To me the day was a Huge Success!! Here are my finds....The paper figs on the top right are for a friend Lynne to craft with....

I ended up with 15 True Tulips, of every color!!! (center of pic, of course I rarely pass up Shark's eyes (to the right of center) Banded Tulips, And check out thos Alphabet Cones! The 2 on the right are pretty good sized! Below those and to the right are a few Pear Whelks, Bottom Center are varing sizes of Horse Conchs, to their left are Apple murex, then a Kings Crown and a couple Olives. to their left are just some colorful Scallops with a worm shell!

I'd say it was a good morning....wouldn't you?!

Here's an update: Remember this guy from my last post?

With a lot of soaking in bleach, and some scraping and picking, this is how he turned out!!

Isn't it a beauty??? It still has a perfect tip with a little white dot, just like it was born with!!

Well, Stay Tuned, Hopefully more adventures to come this week in particular with these amazing low tides, and winter winds!!

::Shelllady Hugs::

Finding Treasures during the Super Moon!

We arrived back in paradise today! Since it was a Super Moon, and my friends from Virginia were down here, I couldn't wait to get out there on the beach!! The lowest tide during this Super Moon Wednesday was supposed to be around 9, and it would be dark, so we were going to stay until the last bit of light! (It is currently Turtle nesting season, so you should not do any night shelling as it can add confusion for the turtles) 

When we got to the beach, it was very nice, just a slight breeze....

see that little bit of a black cloud in the upper left corner?? That cloud decided to start sprinkling...then harder and harder....we headed back toward the car, and we all got pretty wet! No lightning or thunder, just a soaking rain....of course, you guessed it....when we got there it quit! So being the die hard shellers that we are, we went back out there, and we are all glad we did!! Susan, Katie (and her friend Mary) and I all found some treasures! I was too busy shelling to take very many pictures but here's a few!

It started with Susan finding this nice Florida Cone....(sorry it's a bit out of focus)

  Then I found this mini Lightning Whelk!

and right after that an Alphabet Cone! Score! Not perfect, but it's coming home with me anyway!

Then I found this pretty Juvenile Horse Conch....

and a nice Shark's eye! 

Susan's Daughter Katie, caught up with us, and she already had a nice bag full of treasures!

Susan found a NICE Alphabet cone...

Apple Murex....

another Apple Murex, and Banded Tulip and ANOTHER Alphabet Cone! Triple Score!!

then I scored ANOTHER Alphie!

And Susan found this nice Lightning Whelk!!

Katie reached down and snagged this nice Shark's eye also....

It was getting darker and darker, and harder to see....so We had to finally quit, but had a great short trip that brought us a lot of fun and some treasures!

Katie's friend Mary waited for us up on the beach....check out that beautiful sky behind her!!

It just don't get no better than this!! 

Stay tuned....many more adventures to follow!

::Shelllady Hugs::

A Little work and Play...

We had another Hurricane....Have you heard? Nicole (Cat 1 for a short time) came in on the East Coast and then turned North, adding insult to injury to Florida. We saw very little, a day or so of off and on rain and a little wind. So again, we were lucky here! We got the garage door fixed, it was only minor. I worked on getting the cardboard boxes out and replaced them with plastic boxes and cleared half the garage of stuff....and Hubby got it cleaned up while I was on a shelling trip!! So we are progressing back to normal pretty quickly. 

We also celebrated our 25th Anniversary, we weren't able to head out to Sanibel, where we went for the first time on our honeymoon... but we are close! It was a nice quiet day, we spent it together and then went out for a nice meal at one of our favorite restaurants! Perfect!!

Before I came down, I found out from Jolene that she had booked a shelling trip to Keewaydin on Veteran's Day. Keewaydin is an island that is reached by boat, from Marco Island, about and hour south of Fort Myers. So I called and booked it too, I barely got in as the boat was full! We've been on this trip before, but following the latest 2 hurricanes, Ian and Nicole, we were hoping that the shelling would be great! We stay out of the water, as the water is full of bacteria from the storms, but there is a lot of beach to shell!!!

We book with the Hemingway Water Shuttle, great company, Family operated business and

I highly recommend them if you ever have the opportunity! They start out at Rose Marina in Marco, a BEAUTIFUL morning...

and It's just a short ride to the island...

This is Jack, the first Mate....He greets everyone as they board, and is the first on and off the boat!!

There were several areas like this with just clusters of shells....you have to look very carefully so you don't miss any treasures, 

Everyone tends to rush to the same area, so I usually find my self rushing through...I finally slowed down and began to find stuff...Like this Alphabet Cone peeking out of a pen shell...

and this colorful Nutmeg! Look how dark it is!!

There were several live shells also, we don't take live shells, so it's important to check carefully...like this BEAUTIFUL Rose Murex....one of my favorites!!

But Alas, it was alive....

So into the Gulf it went!

But it paid off! I found this one also!!!

and it was not alive!!!! Wahoo!!! Score!

This Horse Conch, my favorite size, was hugging onto this pen shell, obviously alive...

But this one was not!! Score...again!!

I tried to save this little Pygmy Octopus, but I don't think he will make it, there was very little movement but I did get him into the water.

Another great find of the day, and a first for me is this Cabrits Murex!!

It has a small hole in it, but if you look closely it's still a little pink on the top! This is what they look like. I'm tickled with it, it will be kept someplace special!

Here are all the finds for the day! 

and my Favorites....

From the left, A Florida Cone, Rose Murex, Cabrits Murex, Lace Murex and Horse Conch, at the bottom is a mini Alphabet cone! Some who have been since the storm, including Jolene said it was not as lucrative this trip as it has been, but I can't complain... after all, it's beach therapy!

Stay Tuned!

::Shelllady Hugs::