Full Moon at the Lighthouse

I met Liz at the Lighthouse this morning, she is another friend/admin from the Shellinators facebook page! We started out with only our flashlights, a full moon and the Lighthouse Light to guide us! My camera made it look much lighter than it actually was....that is Liz there, just under the lighthouse....

There were not a lot of shells out there, but we did have a long walk, picking up a few along the way....I found a nice small Pear Whelk

and right next to it was a Shark's Eye Operculum...

and believe it or not a small Alphabet Cone...

worn and tattered, but he went in my shell bag!

Liz found a small False Angel Wing....I found out later that it was actually a pair!

She also found this really cool Albino Apple Murex!

I did manage to find a few other minis.... Like this small Pear Whelk, Baby's ear, sharks eye and Winged oyster pair...

There were so many crabs out there...of all sizes and shapes! Most were small, and alive, if just barely....we tried to save several by taking them back out to the gulf since the tide was so low....The first was this Spider Crab....

Lots of Calico Crabs....small to very large!

...and the starfish (Sea Stars) I don't know how many of them were high and dry....we both were taking them to the nearest water we could find!

My most unusual find was this watch....it was almost under a log in the water....the battery was barely working...

After the sun came up, we were able to find a few smaller minis....like these two Wentletraps...

Liz actually found one first, in the dark!

I actually found quite a few minis!

...Liz took a pic of some of her favorites from today

As you know, I always have to finish off with a Sunrise pic....or two...

These Royal Terns were enjoying the sunset with us!

Stay tuned....More adventures to come...

::Shelllady hugs::

Final Night Shelling Ends with Roses

I'm back home in VA now, missing Sanibel already. I wanted to post Team Cheri's last shelling trip. We shelled multiple beaches starting at sunset until....can you believe it, 2:00 in the morning! No I'm not obsessed much, so glad that Cheri is as obsessed and we can share these adventures. 
One thing is for sure, the Sunrises and Sunsets do not disappoint on Sanibel...this one was so beautiful...

This trip had lots of life....I enjoy seeing what is moving around out there after dark almost as much as I enjoy finding non-live shells to take home.... This Live Sand dollar had his little hairs sticking out in a tiny tidal pool, (click the pic to enlarge) I just love to watch these guys move around....

I never see too many of these beautiful Live Lightning Whelks

 Look at the beautiful color of this Live True Tulip...This is one of Cheri's favorites...

Haven't seen very many of these Huge Live Horse Conchs, this guy was particularly gnarly, all covered in barnacles!

 A beautiful Sea Anemone, flowing in the water...

 Another Live Lightning Whelk out for a Stroll in a tidal pool....

You have to look closely to see this Millipede Sea Star burying himself in the sand...

This Live True Tulip was doing headstands!...

..While this Live Banded Tulip was doing donuts....

 ...and this live Pear Whelk was just laying around all exposed!

 Look at the BEAUTIFUL Yellow on this Pear Whelk....

 One of my favorites, a live Medium-sized Horse Conch...

 and This live Calico Crab was looking a little bit crabby!

Cheri did find a BEAUTIFUL True Tulip that wasn't live...have you ever seen such a beauty?

 I, of course, couldn't resist this Lightning Whelk...

and Cheri found this NICE medium-sized Angel Wing, unfortunately he didn't make it home in one piece. :(

 I found another nice Lightning Whelk that wasn't live...

 and this Apple Murex that was Purple inside!!!

 Cheri picked up this beautimus Pear Whelk...

...and another small True Tulip

 This was definitely the night for Pear Whelks of all sizes! Here are 2 more with a worn Florida Cone and Shark's eye or Moon Snail...

 I found another Alphabet Cone, far from perfect, but HUGE and he went home with me anyway!

 I cannot pass up a Horse Conch of any size, especially with such beautiful color...

 This is a Shark's eye (or Moon Snail) collar, it lays it's eggs under this and it surrounds the shell, there were a lot of these out there. Picture the two edges on the right connected, this forms a hole in the center where the shark's eye rests.

 This is a Shark's eye Operculum, a first for me, and Cheri found 2 and gave me one!

For me though, the highlight of the night was this guy! Do you know what it is? It's a Rose Murex! Fairly rare, though several have been reported to be found recently....

Cheri found one at the same time, while looking for Wentletraps! Her Rose Murex is on the bottom right, along with several Wentletraps and Sharp edge drills and a tiny True Tulip!

My Rose Murex cleaned up very nicely...

Isn't it beautiful?  

This will be the last shelling post for a little while, but I do have some Shell Crafting posts to share in a few days! Thanks so much for coming along with Cheri and I on our Journey! She is a snowbird, so will be heading back North in the next couple of weeks, so I may be solo on the next trip...

::Shelllady Hugs::