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::

Shell piles, Birds and Sunsets

The last couple of days have been so busy with all kinds of wonderful therapy, I'm already behind on my posting.... Cheri and I met up for a walk and talk and to see the amazing sunset....we ended up doing more talking and less walking because we ran into an area on the beach that had LOTS and LOTS of minis! Wentletraps galore too....and if you read my posts often, if there is something that will stop me it's those 'wentles'. I neglected to take pics of the areas, but I did take some of what I found...I didn't bring any containers for smalls, but I did fill up my shirt pocket!  There's a dime in there to give you an idea of size....

 The sunset didn't disappoint either!

Just before sunset, the Skimmers came out! I absolutely love these guys and have not been able to successfully photograph them, tonight I got a little bit closer...they are so graceful and so fast....with the fading light it's just tough to catch them. These pics aren't too bad though for my little point and shoot water camera!

They fly along just off the surface, and their bottom beak onto the surface, just amazing to watch!!

Early the next morning, Liz came by and picked me up and we went to check out the newly refurbished Turner Beach, just across Blind Pass Bridge at Sanibel on Captiva Island. It traditionally has a large shell pile right at the rock Jetty and today it did but we walked up the beach for a while to see what was out there.

We couldn't find anything on the beach, so we decided to try our luck in the shell pile....

I haven't done this very often, but have seen many posts where people have found lots of treasures in there! It was still damp inside, so I'm thinking it hadn't been there for too long....right off I got a teaser....a pretty good sized piece of a Lion's paw!!

Then after a little while I ran across this....see it in the center of the pic...in the shadows

Score!! A nice sized Alphabet Cone, and it was perfect!

I got teased a couple more times with two pieces of Junonia!

But alas, it wasn't going to happen today....I did find a few orange scallops, sharks eyes, a couple Gaudy Nauticas, Bittersweets, and a sweet little True Tulip.

We took a short walk on the Sanibel Side at Blind pass, 

and found this Calico Crab taking a dip in the clear Gulf...

That afternoon, I got a call from Cheri and she wanted to know if I wanted to go by Ding Darling to see some White Pelicans on the way to our afternoon Walk-and-talk and Sunset....

I've only seen White Pelicans in flight, never 'up close and personal' they only fly in during the winter here as they migrate here. I was truly amazed! I love the 'goofy' brown pelicans, but these guys are so much larger and much more graceful! They eat like ducks, (don't dive after fish like their cousins)

We spent so much time looking at these guys, we got to the beach just in time to see an ABSOLUTELY gorgeous sunset... and this guy came by to say hi....

How about that for a beautiful ending for a day!! 

 Stay tuned! Hopefully more adventures to come!

::Shelllady Virtual Hugs::