tidal starfish with seashell

It’s always exciting to see what Mother Nature has in store for us on the beach when the Gulf Of Mexico is stirring with choppy seas from high winds.

stormy skies on a shelling day

At the water’s edge at Blind Pass Sanibel yesterday morning, there were lots of shells rolling back and forth in the surf … but you had to be fast to grab them! There were quite a few live shells, so we had to be very careful to inspect each one but here are a few of the empties I found…

Sea shells found in the water of Sanibel island

Then Clark and I went to Lighthouse Beach later in the day…

stormy seas and seashells at Sanibel Lighthouse beach

As hundreds of DOSINIA shells lined the beach, most folks were mesmerized by the family of DOLPHINS feeding close to the shoreline.

dolphins and seashells

I watched the cuteness for a few minutes as well but couldn’t keep from eyes from wandering among the shells and bling.

Sunray venus wings of a sea shell in the sand

There were little surprises washing up at this beach too.

ribbed cantharus and angel wing

It was a fun girls getaway to Sanibel weekend for Kelly (CO), Katie (MN), Amy (MN), Cyndi (Ft Lauderdale, FL) to celebrate Maria’s (MN) birthday… and to find those shell treasures washing up on the beach.

girls weekend shelling

Cousins Helen, Kristine (Indiana) and Kate (from Illinois) have been shelling every year on Sanibel for 20 years. They take shells back to their kids’ schools to teach them about the gifts of the sea.

family reunion shells

Clark was out in the water scooping with the shelling backhoe.

Clark scooping shells at Sanibel Lighthouse beach

He scooped the shells in the water and brought them up to the beach… voila! This one scoop brought up a GAUDY NATICA and an APPLE MUREX.

Gaudy Natica found at Sanibel Lighthouse beach

His fave was an ALBINO FIGHTING CONCH and these…

some of Clarks shell finds

I went back to the beach this morning just west of the lighthouse to find more bling along the beach.

shells and bling on the beach

There were still hundreds of DOSINIAS…

beautiful beach with shells and birds

But I didn’t see the TULIPS and MUREXES like yesterday. That’s okay, there were different treasures… like quite a few perfectly intact fragile PAPER FIGS scattered along the beach. Score!

paper fig sea shell on the beach

Lovely…

paper fig shell in the sand

I think the cutest thing I saw all weekend was this sweet baby STARFISH stranded in a pile of shells in the high tide wrack line. I saw a few live SEA STARS at the water’s edge washing out with the tide change but this was the tiniest one I saw. Awwwe- so cute!  After I turned her over to see that she was still alive… yay! In the water you go to live out a full happy life.

tiny juvie starfish on my finger tip