What a difference a day can make! The wind changed and was coming out of the North this morning. I feel a little silly saying this since we are here in Florida...but it was COLD!! It was also VERY windy and I didn't have enough clothes on....but we are determined so we stuck it out for a while....and there is Always an adventure out there! Cheri started the morning out with this awesome Shark's eye!
This is what I saw first thing!!
Finally...I scored an Alphabet Cone!! ....Not perfect, but close enough!! Woohoo!
Then I found this HUGE Sunray Venus pair...
...and this great big sand dollar!
There is so much interesting life out there, especially during low tide...
Like this Beautiful live Pear Whelk...
And this amazing Mid-sized Horse Conch...look at that beautiful color!
There were live sand dollars all over the place, you really had to be careful not to step on them...they were just under the surface, did you know this is what these are?
Check out this shot, these guys were EVERYWHERE!!
Along with LOTS of live Cockles! Here is a Cockle buried under the sand!!
There were also lots of Sea Stars...I thought this particular one was beautiful, he is a Lined Sea Star and he was moving all over the place...
See his tracks in the sand? Almost looks like he was dancing!
You can just barely see his little 'feet' in this picture (click to enlarge)
This guy obviously had been really dancing around
There were also a lot of these strange little Orbs, which I think is some sort of a sea squirt...
Cheri also found live Painted Egg Cockles, which really aren't that common
The live olives were busy writing all over the beach
Cheri found this guy...This is both sad and funny....just don't really know what to say about it!
Check out how low the water was, partially due to low tide, but mostly due to the wind change....so much beach exposed!
I did find a few more treasures... like this perfect Nutmeg
The Sharks eyes have been very plentiful these days...
SCORE...another Alphabet cone...not perfect, and a little faded, but he came home with me!
Cheri found this medium sized Angel wing, which was in perfect shape! We lasted a little after sunrise,
then home to a nice HOT shower! Tomorrow I will wear many more layers...including shoes! Stay tuned.. ::Shelllady Hugs::
Our adventures continue, today was the lowest low tide, tomorrow they begin to come back up, but only a little. We have seen such awesome things, mostly live...so many in fact that I am having trouble keeping the pics down for these posts! So much to see and share!! I hope you are enjoying this as much as I am! The morning started out with one of my favorites, a nice size Horse Conch was the first thing into my bag...
Cheri trumped that with this Awesome Alphabet Cone... Isn't it gorgeous??
I did finally find an Alphabet cone in the tidal pool!!
Boooo! It certainly was in bad shape!! Half of the back was missing! The small shells all over it are live ark shells...they are out by the billions! They are easily taken off if you have a treasure you want to keep! Cheri and I each got a huge Horse Conch! (Actually Cheri found them both, one for each of us!
They were very stinky and heavy...we both had wished we found them much later so we wouldn't have to carry them all morning!! :) They will take a few days to get cleaned up...But still an awesome find... I found this Shark's eye, Gaudy Nautica and Bubble shell all together in one spot!
This amazing Lightning Whelk was just laying there waiting for me to come along and take him home....I just knew he wouldn't be empty, but he was!!
The problem is, when I got home..(hours later) and was reviewing these pictures, I noticed the little spots the are at the center top of this photo...didn't see them when I was there! I believe that is at least a piece of a JUNONIA!!! I'm going to say it is a piece and not one buried!! Do you see it?? I was so upset!! We found this Lightning Whelk occupied by this awesome hermit crab, we both took pictures of it....then after we got home, we see there are a total of 3 crabs in the picture...can you find all three?
The tidal pools were full of all kinds of life.... Like this Huge Beautiful True Tulip, (Cheri's favorite) and they have been hard to find alive or dead ....we found many live ones today!
If you look closely, you'll see a nice size live Horse Conch under all those arks!
There were lots of live Scallops... (see video below!!)
Cheri found this beautiful live baby true tulip...
We saw this beautiful tiny Octopus....
If you look closely, you can see the outline of a Millipede sea star hiding at the bottom of the tidal pool...
Cheri found this amazing LIVE Florida Cone...
You have to be very careful with live cones, the are said to be poisonous! She also found this shark's eye and beautiful cone, it was just as orange and beautiful!
There was so much life in the tidal pools! Sea Urchins....
This beautiful Sea Anemone was in full bloom...
This true tulip was about to munch down on this banded tulip... (I think ;))
Such a beautiful live Horsey...
...and these 3 banded tulips....they were all tangled up!!
Cheri found this BEAUTIFUL live Pear Whelk as we were heading back to the car..
I added this pretty pear whelk and sharks eye to my bag...
and this Nutmeg that had beautiful color...
Cheri picked up the Brilliant Orange Fighting Conch to hers...it was amazing!
and what is a day at the beach without a beautiful sunrise?!!!
The adventures continue!! Stay tuned! ::Shelllady Hugs::
