A Bittersweet Day

I decided to go back to my 'mini vacation' spot, from yesterday, Turner Beach, Captiva Island. I don't expect to fill my bag from any shells, So I've been happy with one special shell per day.....today they were Bittersweet Shells....

This is the only beach I've seen them, and they aren't very plentiful...but today I'd say they were!
I got a second special shell today....see it?

A Flat (ZigZag Scallop)

and another!

So already my day is complete!


I can't get over seeing the clear water....and being able to walk barefoot! You can see to the bottom in my shadow...it's just over knee deep....

Guess I shoulda got a picture of my knees, huh?! :)

There is a school of HUGE fish in this pic....

I couldn't see well enough to catch them in the center of the pic....the sun was too bright! There is one I caught in this pic...

There were more birds....a flock of Ruddy Turnstone were playing on the beach too!

I found this also...I have no idea what animal it is from, but I couldn't resist checking it out!

Orange was obviously the color of the day....I found several orange Scallops of all sizes! (I couldn't resist the tellin and piece of an orange Flat, wouldn't that have been a treasure if it was whole?!)

On my walk back to the car I found this special tiny guy..... He was alive....

...but he seemed very sluggish....I helped him to the water, and then was concerned that he may not be a water turtle....the waves washed him back to the shore....so I reluctantly left him, hoping he would find his way, whichever way that was supposed to be! 

I left Captiva and headed back to the other end of Sanibel to the Lighthouse, to meet Cheri to look for some minis..... She had found another tiny Arrow Dwarf Triton!....

Today was multiple day for me....apparently worm shells were plentiful also!

On the bottom left is an operculum (door) for a shark's eye....wentletraps above that with a TINY Lightning Whelk....Worm shells and 2 shark's eye...Big and Tiny!

I decided not to take pictures of the brown/orange water at the lighthouse, I have taken Wayyyy too many of them, it was fairly clear, though Brown and fairly stinky.  We did notice some Red Tide in the air....The city had several vehicles out there picking up fish....unfortunately that is the norm here lately. 

Cheri went out tonight at took some Beautiful Sunset pictures....it makes you forget about what's going on....if only for a minute!

Stay Tuned...

::Shelllady Hugs::

Day Three...

We saw so many live Lightning Whelks last night! It's amazing how excited I got to see them!

 The one on the left has the actual Lightning Whelk 'snail' in it, the one on the right has a hermit crab...

There were so many....these are just a very few!

Sand Dollars were everywhere too....in the tidal pool and on the beach....all Live!

Also a lot of King's Crown....so many more now than there used to be in this area....Cheri said there were so many Huge ones in the tidal pools too..

There was some sea creatures (dead) here too....  I have no idea what this guy is....(behind the sea squirts) looked up eel, sea snake, fish etc....

Here's another one of the same....

this poor crab didn't make it, but look at the beautiful colors!

I loved seeing birds! These are the first Pelicans I've seen this trip!

and a Snowy Egret!

The water seemed worse to me, dark, smelly....and there were a few fish on the beach, though the main part of the beach was in pretty good shape...

 The beach had obviously been cleaned up....

It was low tide, so the fish were being deposited as the water went out...

Don't worry....still wearing my scuba boots! Cheri wore her shoes too, saved her feet at least once!

Another interesting find was Tarpon Scales!....We picked up 4 or 5 of them...they make BEAUTIFUL Roses.....on the lookout for more of these!

Gotta make Lemonade out of Lemons, right?! Saw this......a Junonia....

 piece....! ;)

Cheri found the Operculum from a Shark's eye....love these!

and of course, Minis....always looking for minis! Especially Wentletraps!

And I hit a hotspot for Baby's ears! There were many more broken ones! I love these!

The Sunset was Beautiful....I love being on the water for both Sunrise and Sunset....

Look closely, I caught the sun on the horizon, under the pier! see it?

I always gotta snap a shot of the lighthouse.....

I will keep trying to remain positive but informative...these posts have been kinda tough this time! 

We had an amazing thunderstorm last night around midnight....i tried to catch the lightning on film....I didn't do so well, but Cheri caught an amazing shot!

Enjoy, and Stay tuned!!

::Shelllady Hugs::