Archive for Apple
Low Tide Sanibel Skies
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Breathtaking. This is what I love about low tide shelling on the evenings of spring and summer. The reflections from the backdrop of dramatic skies on the shallow water from the receding tide is magnificent.
This is where colors can change in an instant with a splash of yellow or pink.
It gets even better to mix in a few seashells and….
My favorite addition to any beautiful sky background would be …… Shelling Sistahs!!! Jean, Anna and Linda drove down from Ohio to spend time relaxing on Sanibel and to hunt for WENTLETRAPS. Okay, maybe not just wentles…. any and every beach treasure they can find!
We all found plenty of minis in the surf just about the same way as I showed in my video yesterday (Seashells In The Surf).
Darcy and Mary (MN) were finding a few nice FIGHTING CONCHS and a nice size APPLE MUREX.
I saw a very cool live LETTERED OLIVE making a curly q track in the wet sand…
I got a little closer look at the OLIVE to see its siphon pop out. When an OLIVE buries itself, it uses the siphon as sort of a snorkel. I’m so good with technical terms aren’t I? Ha! NOT!
Wow, take a look at this…..
We always love to see live, healthy shells and hope they breed, breed, breed more beauties. But we also like to see empty ones…..
I found a TURRID shell on Sunday night that I posted in the first picture yesterday but I didn’t name it because I tried to take a close up photo but it just didn’t show properly. Low and behold, I found another one last night (the one on the left) so I can show you what a TURRID shell looks like.
Super Sheller Clark and I started making our way back to the parking lot…..
to find (you’re gonna love this!) Linda, Anna and Jean’s car driven all the way from Ohio…..
It’s Raining Dosinias
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Earlier this week the DOSINIAS were everywhere at the lighthouse. Doesn’t it look like Mr Greenjeans just dropped all of his ping pong balls all over the beach? I know, I’m showing my age.
There has been a variety of shells washing up at the lighthouse beach this week. The MUREXES, SHARK’S EYE, TURBAN and FIGHTING CONCH that are resting inside a double DOSINIA CLAM were some of the treasures in Dennis and Terri’s (WA) shell bag.
A shelling sister!….With her tee shirt to prove it!
This is a view of the outside of a DOSINIA. You’ve probably seen one of these before if you’ve come for a visit to Sanibel or Captiva.
I placed their shells in the DOSINIA in the first photo because I saw this live APPLE MUREX looking so cute hanging upside down in this one.
That’s a huge WENTLETRAP in Terri’s hand! The smaller one is the size we are used to finding.
Ha! Clark hates to be out-shelled (remember the day I found my first SCOTCH BONNET? Clark found one the same day.) So of course he found a monster WENTLETRAP too.
This was a live BRITTLE STAR that got caught in the receding tide so we picked him up (they won’t hurt you) and placed in back into the gulf.
Here are a few pictures I took this week. I just didn’t get a chance to post them yet so the beach may have changed (as it does every day).
Judy and Robin
More Sanibel Stooping.
Don’t worry, it’s a DOLPHIN not a SHARK.
A pink SEA ANEMONE.
Blind Pass update: I took the photo above and the one below Sunday at Blind Pass on the Sanibel side. The sand is filling in between the shore and the sand bar so I wonder if there is any water that separates it now. I didn’t see anybody collecting too much there but I’ll check it out tomorrow too.
Let The Shelling Season Begin!
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Seashells and waves
Shells! They’re back! I felt like a kid in a candy store today at Blind Pass on Captiva Island…. speaking of candy….
My candy
This was my first find.. a bright orange baby HORSE CONCH…. my candy. Right next to it was a broken FLAT SCALLOP.
Seashell Collecting at Blind Pass, Captiva
I haven’t seen lots of shells at Blind Pass lately so I felt so giddy. The temperature dropped and the wind picked up from the north…. signs for good shelling at the pass. Take a look at the mound forming. Yippeee!
Blind Pass Shell mound
Fighting conch with other shells
Apple murex in shell pile
I met a couple from Chicago who couldn’t get enough of this good shelling day.
Lorna and David (Chicago)
This is David a few minutes later. I told you, he couldn’t get enough so he had to get fully shellified.
Adventures of shelling
Lettered Olive and other shells
I saw lots of MUREXES, TULIPS, WHELKS, OLIVES, CONCHS, COCKLES and pieces of CONES. I took video but I was very shaky (from my excitement!) and my lens was very spotted from the spray. I’ll try to salvage what I can and get that up soon for all of you virtual shellers. Shellebrate!
Shell collecting
Simple Sanibel Beach Stroll
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Little Sheller
It was a beautiful beach stroll on the east end of Sanibel near the lighthouse.
Apple Murex Sanibel Sunset
An APPLE MUREX was our biggest find.
Sea Bean with waves
We found two SEA BEANS .
Button Seashell
…..and a BUTTON SHELL. We didn’t see big shell piles but it was simply a beautiful afternoon.
Romantic Sanibel Sunset
The Gulf is Alive and Well
Posted by: | CommentsLow tide exposed so many live shells this afternoon at the shoreline on Sanibel. We thought we’d find lots of shells to bring home but not today- they were all live. That’s a good thing! It’s wonderful to see all of this sea life alive, well, eating and breeding.
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- Live sand dollar bottom
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- Live snd dollar top
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- Live olive
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- Murex feast
Did you know that live SAND DOLLARS are brown and fuzzy on the bottom and edges? The white smooth ones are dead and you can take them home….if they don’t break on the way.
I think this was the first time I’ve ever seen a live OLIVE! Cool! Can you believe this clump of MUREXES all piled on that PEN SHELL? Of course, after I snapped a photo of these live shells we put them back where we found them….to live happily ever after.
