Archive for Storms
Sanibel Beaches After Hurricane Sandy
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Hurricane Sandy is still wreaking havoc all along the east coast of the United States so I feel so bad getting excited about some of the shells that we are finding along our shores of Sanibel because of Sandy’s northwest winds. But… we all need a little good news too in times like this… right? So if you still have power in your home, I hope we can spread a little Florida sunshine and share our treasures with you to hopefully make you smile at least once today.
As I picked up this SHARK’S EYE in the next photo, I realized I snagged it up so quickly because it was in such great condition then realized it would be a good idea to let you know what it looked like when I spotted it so you would know what to look for if it was upside down like it was when I found it.
See? It is so different looking if it is laying in the sand with the aperture side up.
There are still oodles of PEN SHELLS lining the beach but I only found a few other shells hiding among them. Down by the water at low tide, there were FIGHTING CONCHS were everywhere!
I met Eric from Ft Lauderdale scoping out the best spot on the beach scooping up handfuls of shells. Happy birthday Eric! You got plenty of gifts from the sea!
I found other fabulous treasures besides seashells at Gulf Side City Park as well… like Shelling Sister Judy from PA!
She immediately showed me some of the goodies she had found around the same spot…
Then Cheryl showed me this big honkin LIGHTHING WHELK she had found!
After I talked with Cheryl about her LIGHTNING WHELK, she told me that I had taken a photo of the backs of her with her sister at Blind Pass watching sunset in June 2011. I remembered that photo! They looked so cute sitting on the beach because all I could see was their backs and matching straw hats while they watched the sun setting right in front of them. It’s the 15th photo down on my post “Sunset, Seashells and Shelling Sisters”… CLICK HERE to see it. Then you will know why I took their photo this way (since they didn’t want me to take their faces… silly girls!) Here is Cheryl and her sister Brenda holding their WHELKS…
Joyce and her daughter Kristin had just gotten started filling their shell bags but were so happy to already find some goodies.
There are some good shells to be found at Gulf Side City Park… BUT, it doesn’t even compare to the shells we found after Hurricane Isaac, Tropical Storm Debby or any of the other storms that brought high northwest winds like this. Blind Pass still is empty of shells- weird. I didn’t find too many good shells on any other beach other than this one… Mother Nature is definitely fickle. She likes to change the rules to stay in control so we don’t ever think we are smarter than she is. You’ve got my respect , Mother Nature!
PS- I did take a few minutes of video so I’ll try to get that downloaded ASAP for you to see on my next post.
Hurricane Sandy Sprinkles Seashells On Sanibel
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Our Sanibel and Captiva beaches were pounded by 4 to 6 foot waves for three days because of high northwest winds from Hurricane Sandy so I assumed we would have lots of shells at Blind Pass Sunday morning at low tide. I was wrong… so I kept moving.
Gulf Side City Park showed promise!
It’s always a good sign to see PEN SHELLS! They get washed up first in a good storm so you know that there are better collectable shells on the way. I was lucky to see a SEA WHIP caught in this group of PEN SHELLS. I love these purple ones.
After walking east only 1/4 mile, we found a nice shell pile!
My first find… a beautiful dark WORMIE!
And a candy corn for Halloween. See it trying to hide?
Then I found a TULIP, WHELK and CONCH…
I saw Kim from Michigan find a gorgeous TRUE TULIP rolling in the surf.
Are you ready to go shelling? Okay, then… Let’s go CYBER SHELLING! Click on the next photo to enlarge this random photo I took of the shell pile. Notice how many beautiful SCALLOPS there are…
I think today will be even better but I’ll never know until I get there. As we all know, the beach changes every single day but I think Blind Pass will take another day to load up with shells so I’m headed back to one of Sanibel’s mid island beaches…. like Gulf Side City Park again.
Hurricane Sandy may be bringing us a few new shells to get excited about but we are very worried about all of you and our families that are up north bracing for Sandy and the “Super Storm” (as they are calling it). Please be safe!
Waiting For Seashells From Hurricane Sandy
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Hurricane Sandy ripped through Jamaica, Cuba, Bahamas and is giving the east coast of the United States a huge scare. All we can do here on the west coast of Florida is hope that she doesn’t do any major harm to anybody else in her path… and wait for her north west winds to bring us shells. I took a short video of the winds from yesterday at Blind Pass Captiva which looks just like this today so far as well.
Ohhhhhh. For 2 days, we’ve had strong northwest winds up to 30mph so I can’t wait to see what Sandy will bring us! She’s appropriately named because all she’s brought us so far is … sand… but I’m hoping tomorrow she will give us the seashell goods we’ve been waiting for!
Morning Seashells from Sanibel Lighthouse Courtesy Of Isaac
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Now this is what shelling after a storm should look like! Woop! Woop! Look at those LIGHTNING WHELKS and that HORSE CONCH! But hold on… I hate to get you too excited. So before you start envisioning piles of shells washed up by the load full in the aftermath of Hurricane Isaac already, the shells really haven’t made it on the beach yet. They are still in the water. That’s how our buddy Donnie found all of these shells this morning. By the time I got to the Sanibel Lighthouse Beach at sunrise, Donnie had already scooped the goods. See? All by himself in the water with no other competition. LOL
There were a few FIGHTING CONCHS and usual suspects on the beach closer to the lighthouse point but not like Donnie’s finds.
So before I get to the beach again this afternoon when the tide starts to recede, I thought I’d go ahead and post these awesome photos so you will know what to expect when these beauties hit the shore. Need help identifying any of these shells? Click on my SEASHELL IDENTIFICATION page…
Gorgeous shells Donnie! Should I call you Awesome Sheller Donnie since “Super Sheller” is already taken? Or King Of The Dawn Donnie? Donnie The Cone King (He’s found over 140 since January)? Never mind, I got it!… Donnie, The Shell Dominator! LOL
I just heard that Blind Pass Captiva had some shells churning in the surf so it’s hard to decide where I’m gonna head first in an hour or so. Acckkk! So many places to shell and not enough time! If I find major shell piles forming, I’ll will send a quick TWEET or post on FACEBOOK then post again here ASAP. Happy Shelling!
Oh wait! I wanted to show you that in case you couldn’t figure out what that thing is in the top right corner… It’s a sea turtle shell bone. I found a piece yesterday too but mine doesn’t have that bone piece running through it. BLING!
Tropical Storm Isaac Hits Sanibel
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Tropical Storm Isaac blew through Sanibel last night and today without doing too much damage that I could see… thank goodness. Whew, we got lucky. Very lucky.
Through sporadic rain and north east wind gusts, we headed to a few different beaches to see the effects of Isaac. The morning’s high tide brought waves crashing on to the sea oats and up on to the beach access boardwalks. Wow!
Then by the late afternoon at low tide, the water receded a bit to let us hunt for shells. Nothing yet but a few PEN SHELLS and a few areas of “shell crush” which is just bits and pieces of broken shells coating the sand.
We ran out to the Sanibel Pier yesterday to check the beach condition and met Joe (a meteorologist!) and Joanne from Las Vegas looking for any signs of shells. They weren’t finding so many whole shells yet but it was so much fun to meet y’all!
Okay, this is interesting… Look at the beach erosion at the pier in the background of the photo with Joe and Joanne and remember that was yesterday. If you’ve ever been to this beach before, you’ve probably walked under the pier to get to the other side to look for shells. Now take a look at the photo I took today of the pier. Look at the difference with the sand! No way to walk under it now!
We did not find any shells today but I will be at the beaches tomorrow to check the conditions. We still have high east winds so I’m still not expecting any good shelling until the winds change directions and start coming from the west. Of course I will keep you informed but my thoughts are now with the folks in Louisiana and surrounding areas that are now in Tropical Storm Isaac’s path. Please be safe!
Until I can give you more shelling news and updates for Sanibel and Captiva, I filmed a few areas of the beach today with my good friend Diane so you could come along with us on our check-up of TS Isaac. You won’t need a raincoat to join us but earplugs might help because that wind was howling!
Saving a Live Angel Wing
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I found this ANGEL WING pair the same day I found those cute little RAGGED SEA HARES in my last post but I kinda got distracted in showing this cool find for a few days. Things have been a little crazy here in on the west coast of Florida since Tropical Storm Isaac has been trying to make his mind up if we were going to be his target or not. It doesnt look like a direct hit for us, so before I get distracted again, I’ve got to show you what happened with this cool juvenile ANGEL WING!
As soon as I saw this double ANGEL WING on the beach, I got out my video camera and started filming since it isn’t often that you find the pair together laying on the beach. It seemed so weird to me…. and it got weirder when I saw that the body of the MOLLUSK was still inside the shell. So walk along with me while we watch what happens to this “shell” …
He was alive! It’s that so cool he survived?
Remember when I said I thought he lost his MESOPLAX(which I probably mispronounced the word but hey, I was happy that I remembered the dang thing 
)? That is the little plate or cross bar that is attached to both valves when the animal is still alive. I thought that was gone when I didn’t think he was alive. I quickly put on my cheater readers (thank goodness I had them with me!) and saw that the MESOPLAX was still in place. To show you what it looks like, here’s a photo of an ANGEL WING pair with its MESOPLAX that MurexKen and MurexAlice found and I posted in Angels On The Gulf Coast.
As I write this post in my home on Sanibel Island, it is rainy, dark and dreary with scattered wind gusts effecting us already from Tropical Storm Isaac which is just starting to hit the western part of the Florida Keys. The storm track has now moved further to the west so we are not in “the cone” as we were yesterday and early this morning. We are far enough away from the storm now that we don’t have any evacuation warnings. Oh. Thank. Goodness. We don’t have to evacuate but we were prepared to leave and would have left in a heartbeat if we were still on track for a hurricane. We don’t mess with Mother Nature. Now our thoughts are with the folks that are in the new path and wishing safety for everyone. Please be safe!
So now that they are only predicting tropical force winds here similar to what we experienced with Tropical Storm Debbie in June, I expect to see shells rolling in but not until a couple of days. Right now the shells are being taken out with the east winds so there is nothing really on our beaches at this point. The storm should pass us tomorrow afternoon but it may bring storm surge flooding which can be very dangerous so we always have to consider safety first. It should take a couple of days any way for the shells to arrive since they have been pushed out with the eastern winds so they have to have time to get pushed back on to our shores. I’m thinking late Wednesday afternoon or Thursday… then game on. I cannot wait to share with you the shelling effects of this storm later this week! Do YOU have a time prediction for this to happen? …
