14 Hours of Lightning Whelks

I wasn't able to go out first thing yesterday morning as we had terrible thunderstorms here starting at about 3 am. At 5:30 it sounded like a lightning bolt hit a tree just across our pond, so I decided not to go and to sleep in a little.  Of course, when I got up and went out about 7:15 it was a beautiful blue sky! 

So I decided I would try in the evening, and catch the sunset for a change!

It is just as beautiful on the beach at sunset.
Apparently the surf got pretty rough during the storms, as it washed away some of the beach and created a shelf.

It also helped clean up all the beach bling, it seems the beach is getting a little cleaner every day!

I walked quite a way down the beach, and about an hour before dark I ran across an area where the waves began bringing in shells, and quite a few lightning whelks! 

It was a blast, you had the time of one wave to grab what you could, I ended up soaked up past my knees, but got quite a few treasures...(and missed a few)!

I made a mental note of exactly where I was and would be back to this spot at first light! I hated to go, but it was growing dark and I didn't bring a light!!

Here is what I ended up with, in that short time..

18 Lightning Whelks and several bright orange scallops!

 ...and a tiny horse conch!

This morning was very foggy, you couldn't even see the Gulf until you got to the edge of it.

I was excited to get out there this morning, and made a quick walk to that same area. I couldn't believe the pile of shells there. There were already several people digging through the pile....and I found more lightning whelks!

There was an area right before it on the beach that had buried shells in it, I worked there too digging and found several treasures there as well! I spent 2 hours there and it STILL wasn't long enough! I had a BLAST!! But I had to head back home so I left a few for someone else to find! :)

The shell pile and the beach in front where digging found all kinds of treasures 

Close-up of the area to dig

There were still a few monster Horse Conchs, along the shoreline, this one had such beautiful color! I have never seen one this large with all this color, He was at least 12 inches long I would guess.

I dug up this Huge Lace Murex, but he was live, so I took his picture and carefully placed him back where I got him.

There were crucifix all over the beach today also...

I finally saw a spot of sunlight, just before I left around 9 am.

It stayed pretty cool since there was no sun... about 65 degrees! :)

Here are the results from today's trip!

25 Lightning Whelks this morning Lots of apple murex, and a bunch of jewel box pairs!

One Alphabet, not beautiful, but I kept it!

Jewel box pairs

2 King Crowns I dug up!

43 Lightning Whelks in about 14 hours....so much fun!! I will be giving some to our neighbors friend who is visiting, she loves them so she can take them back home with her!!

Stay tuned.....

::Shelllady Hugs::

Every Day is Different on the Beach!

I didn't go shelling on Valentine's Day, but I wanted to show you my finds from Saturday!

Not too bad! So many unusual things to see, I don't travel as fast as usual! I did find a pretty good sized Angel wing, not perfect, but I'll take it!

 I couldn't pass this huge scallop up either, it's unusual to find them all in one piece when they get this big!

 I'm collecting 'doubles' whenever I find them for an upcoming project!

...and last but not least, remember my Alphabet cone! For some reason, these have been difficult for me to find lately!

Today started with another beautiful sunset!

The 'beach bling' is still here, but it is slowly being washed back out to the gulf, so everyday is a little different.

Further down the beach I came up on an area that must have had thousands of live fighting conchs and banded tulips! I have NEVER seen so many, there was absolutely no way to catch them all in a photograph! 

It was amazing! There were still several of the huge Horse conchs hanging with them! All still alive!

I found this live Albino Fighting conch, so stark white!

...right next to this powder pink one!

I have no idea what in the world this is! I think it's some sort of a worm...freaky huh?!

and I guess you could call this a mussel condominium! So many live mussels in such a small space!

I hadn't found much to keep and as I headed back toward the car, I ran across an area where the surf was breaking that obviously had many buried shells, the surf would slowly uncover them, then cover them back up.  A couple had already found 2 huge empty horse conchs, and I managed to find several nice Lightning whelks in just a few seconds between waves! I tried to snap a picture to show what it looked like.

That pear whelk on the bottom left is live, but you had to be fast to grab whatever you could! The first thing I found was this beautiful lightning whelk!

Then another, and another, and tulips, most of what is here!

It was sooo much fun! But I had to head back to the car because I had to get to the shellcrafters at the community center....but that will have to be another post...stay tuned!! :)

I want to give a shout out to a fellow 'Shellinator'  Keelee Johnson in Missouri! She is 6 years old and has gotten very interested in shells so Several of us have shared our shells with her, and I couldn't resist the opportunity today to 'carve' her name in the sand for all to see....just like she was here with us!!

Stay tuned!!

::Shelllady Hugs::