Archive for low tide
Sanibel Low Tide Golden Sky
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Walking out on the beach before sunrise is a special feeling. It has an extra special feeling when it is a very low tide of -1.0 AND it’s Christmas weekend.
I thought my eyes hadn’t focused when I took this next photo of Clark. Whatever happened to it (too early in the morning?)… I’m so glad! It came out like a beautiful impressionist painting…
As the sun was rising near the Sanibel lighthouse, the sky turned golden…
We saw lots of live shells and washed up sea life like this poor LINED STARFISH that took a beating but wouldn’t give up despite losing all of its arms. It survived al of the elements and started growing each of its arms back. What a survivor!
And you thought all SEA PORK was ugly, right? Well look again! This one looks just like an orange with its bright orange peel.
My best find was this rich in color nice sized TRUE TULIP…
Clark had the find of the day with this WAY cool tiny shell I have never identified before. It’s a COFFEE BEAN TRIVIA…
We both tried to rub off those brown smudges…HA! Silly us, those brown spots are part of the shell! That would be like trying to rub off the spots off a JUNONIA or SCOTCH BONNET. Silly!
Hmmmm…. whaddaya think? Look like coffee beans to you?
Beautiful Buried Treasures
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Gabriel found this live STARFISH (BROWN SPINY SEA STAR) on a PEN SHELL at low tide late this morning at the Sanibel Lighthouse beach. His whole family came over to look at it and to ohhh and ahhh so I had to find out what the fuss was about. It’s just beautiful, isn’t it? Yes, I mean the STARFISH is beautiful but also to hear the excitement and amazement of finding life and treasures that come from the sea. That’s beautiful too.
Gabriel, Danielle, Peggy, Paul and Mark
It was such a pleasure to meet this family! They were trying to learn the names of all the shells they were finding so I was thrilled to help them. This was our best find…. an ALPHABET CONE that was semi buried in the sand.
I don’t have photos of all the shells we were finding but here are some of the shell they found that I help identify…
Oh how I’ve missed my walks at the lighthouse beach on Sanibel. Ever since the day light savings time change, I’ve been discombobulated. I like my walks with Clark in the evening but now it gets dark too early for me to wait until he gets home from his office. But now after meeting such an amazing family on the beach today, it got me right in my beach combing time zone again. Here are a couple of my finds….
Most of my finds today were half buried in the sand like this half buried perfect ANGEL WING.
This LIGHTNING WHELK was perfectly empty too but I almost missed it since only this much of it was showing. More buried treasure.
This morning started off my weekend with a smile so I hope I can pass it along to you too. Have a great weekend!
The Calm After The Storm
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All is quiet now on Sanibel.
The storm is gone and seas are calm.
The sun will rise…
Life will continue…
Shellers will shell…
Lizbeth and Maureen will laugh with joy…
Share their gifts of the sea…
This is what I call paradise.
Junonia Schmanonia
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Blind Pass from Captiva looking towards Sanibel
Yesterday evening at around 6:30 pm was a nice negative low tide at Blind Pass of -0.2 . Look at all the people shelling on the sand bars all the way across the pass. Of course since Clark has found 2 JUNONIAS in the last couple of weeks (mind you, they aren’t perfect by far- I’m not complaining, just stating facts- ……I sound jealous, don’t I? grrrr- but if you really want to see them click HERE and HERE) I figured there’s no way I’d find one too but there’s always something else interesting to find out there.
No, I didn’t find one of those little JUNONIA buggers (I’m still sounding jealous, aren’t I.) but I was happy to find this sweet FLORIDA CONE right off the bat. I was especially happy when I found this cute family from North Carolina who found over 25 SAND DOLLARS! Lisa Marie called them the SAND DOLLAR whisperers.
Kim, Hannah and Abby with sand dollars
Abby's sand dollars
Speaking of shelling sistah Lisa Marie, here she is with her son Jeff having a great time filling their shell bags with all sorts of goodies…
Jeff and Lisa Marie (NJ)
Jeff found the prettiest LACE MUREX I’ve seen in a long time….
I met a family from Brasil so excited to see live OLIVES and CONCHS but even happier to find empty shells to pluck in their shell bags.
Marisol, Renan and Enzo
Okay, I guess I have to fess up now……. YES! I am a little jealous of Clark’s JUNONIA finding ability. The man’s got the pattern down to find those stupid stinkin’ elusive SCHMANONIAS (yes, I made that word up). Would you believe me if I told you he found another one last night? I probably wouldn’t if I didn’t see it with my own eyes. But, he did. He found it on the Sanibel side down on the edge of the surf way passed the sand bar that sticks out almost to that huge house on the beach. And it’s in so much better shape than last week’s shell.
Really, I still can’t believe it and it’s just getting weird now. LOL Like Julie commented last weekend “Ok, now he’s just showing off! But we love him anyway.” Ha! Look at his face in this picture, he even looks a little embarrassed- like he’s hoping nobody will “booo” him.
Alright, I was green with envy but I can’t help but be happy for him now that I’ve gotten the jealousy off my chest. Another congrats to you Clark! This will only make it sweeter when I find my perfect VOLUTE.
Sunsets, Seashells and Shelling Sisters
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The week started out with beautiful sunset skies at the lighthouse beach with some serene Sanibel Stooping…..
Tiny shell finds….
Avery with a Sharp Ribbed Drill
Beautiful families with some Shelling Sistahs! ….
Avery, Caroline, Jim, McKenzie and Amy (Orlando)
Live critters….
A few keeper shells like this double JEWEL BOX Super Sheller Clark found….
Then I moved on to Middle Gulf Drive beaches to find more Shelling Sistahs! Weehoo!
Janet, Pam, Betty Jo
But Blind Pass has been the place to find the best finds of the week! Look who I saw again from the lighthouse beach but this time at Blind Pass finding KING’S CROWNS. McKenzie!
And her sister Avery was lucky enough to find a JUNONIA! Even part of one is lucky, I think. Great find Avery!
My buddies Susie and Ellen joined me at Blind Pass to see what all the fuss was about.
They found FIGHTING CONCHS, a PEAR WHELK and a few more.
Marie from Charleston was purrrrrrfectly satisfied with lots of kitten paws…
The shelling is so much fun right now because the tide is so far out you can walk on sand bars that are not normally showin….. especially at Blind Pass. On my last post Negative Low Tides, Positive Winners! , I didn’t really explain what a negative low tide chart looks like so I’ve added the chart for today and tomorrow. To get more information on the tides for future dates for Captiva, Sanibel and Cayo Costa, go to TIDES.
Super Sunrise, Sunset And Super Moon
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Sanibel sunrise
It was a super weekend with a “super moon”, super sunrise, super shelling, super dolphins and super sunsets. I am still over the moon (heehee) after seeing that dolphin rushing towards me yesterday morning at sunrise so I’ve added that video again at the end of this post. Hope you don’t mind.
Super moon seashells
The full moon was setting over Sanibel leaving a low tide and live shells exposed on the beach. I always love to see live shells at low tide and especially when they are healthy and happy eating a scrumptious meal (sorry Mr Fighting Conch).
Lightning whelk eating conch
I was so amazed at how black this WHELK was devouring the other shell . It looked like a tar blob oozing out of his shell. Okay, let me make sure you know….this is not tar…this is a MOLLUSK!
Live Pear Whelk
Look how cute this live PEAR WHELK is! He’s doing a great job of making his way to deeper water.
Diana (Oregon)
Diana got out on the beach at 5:30 with a flashlight to take advantage of the full moon low tide yesterday morning. Notice the moon setting behind her right next to her ear…. I think she is listening to what the moon has to say. She found lots of FIGHTING CONCHS, a gorgeous double SUNRAY VENUS, BANDED TULIPS and lots of other shells.
Diana's seashells
Right after I took this picture and admired the moon again, I turned around to ogle at the sunrise view again and that’s when we both saw the dolphin splashing in what looked like golden water. I lost track of exactly where I was since I followed them along the beach a little ways but it was somewhere between Holiday Inn and Sundial.
Sanibel Dolphin at sunrise
It’s so much fun to see Dolphin so close to the beach whether they are feeding or playing. They corral the little fish up to the beach so they can easily pick out the ones that want to enjoy for breakfast. I happen to think they have a great time putting on a show as well.
Beachcombers with dolphins
Shellers watching dolphins
Since there were two low tides yesterday, I went back to the beach in the evening….
Sanibel shell seeker Todd
Todd (PA) was searching for shells in the low tide surf while his girlfriend Courtney was on the beach finding goodies.
Sanibel beachcomber Courtney
She found a beautifully colored PEAR WHELK, CANDY (JUVENILE HORSE CONCH), TURKEY WING, LIGHTNING WHELK, NUTMEG, BANDED TULIP and a little tiny OLIVE.
Courtney's beachcombing shells
So along with all of the other super-ness of the weekend, you can see I met some super shellers.
Super Moon over Buck Key
