The lighthouse is continuing to bring in what looks like the bottom of the sea. Clark talked to one of our shelling buddies and they found nine ALPHABET CONES yesterday in the surf all along the east end of Sanibel. Holy smokes! Nine?? Wow!! That says it all. If you are in town, you need to get to the Lighthouse. It's like you are walking through a Discovery Channel episode on the beach anywhere on the East End. I used to see these SKATE EGG CASES on the beaches of Virginia Beach and the Carolinas after a storm when I was young. I like to call it a Mermaid's Purse but some call it a Devil's Purse or a Devil's Pocketbook. There are lots of URCHINS and HORSESHOE CRABS and some other fun treasures on West Gulf Drive but not the crazy shelling as at the Lighthouse. I'm still so happy that we stopped to check it out because we met these wonderful two couples from Nova Scotia that travel around North America in their RVs every five years. …
Archives for December 2009
Excellent Shelling!
It's a wonderful life on the beaches on Sanibel today. Hundreds of MUREXES, WHELKS, URCHINS, FIGHTING CONCHS, HORSESHOE CRABS, STARFISH, TULIPS and PEN SHELLS. It's a shmorgish borg (no, I don't know how to spell that!) of shells. If you go to any beach in southwest Florida today or tomorrow, I don't think you will be disappointed. Pictured in my favorites above that Clark and I found are clockwise, HORSE CONCH, SEA FAN, BABY'S EAR, smaller HORSE CONCH, PAPER FIG, PEAR WHELK, larger PEAR WHELK, WORM SHELL, COLORFUL MOON SNAIL and underneath is a cool piece of DRIFTWOOD. After I took this picture, a little while later (since I couldn't get Clark off the beach) he found an ALPHABET CONE and a very cool WORM SHELL....it was still a purplish color so it hadn't died long ago. …
Santa Brought Gifts of the Sea
We couldn't believe that the parking lot at the Lighthouse was so packed today! There were lots of other people celebrating Christmas on the beach with us and they had their bags and buckets overflowing with seashells. I've seen a lot of seaweed and algae on the beaches the last couple of days but the Lighthouse has the thickest deposit and is mixed with tons of PARCHMENT WORMS. They look like whitish tubular sausage casings. They may look ugly on the beach to some people but this is the kind of stuff that catches the shells and drags them on the beach too. This is a good time to have a stick, net or Clark's shelling "backhoe" so you can move some of that stuff around to see what's underneath. I saw bags of LIGHTENING WHELKS, FIGHTING CONCHS and MUREXES. Clark was finding gorgeous PAPER FIGS which are normally broken by the time they get to the beach since they are so thin and delicate. All of the parchment worms and seaweed protect them a bit so they get to the beach in one …
