Archive for Sunsets
Full Moon Beach Bling
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The weather conditions and last night’s full moon caused an extreme high tide that washed up lots of live creatures on the beach. Unfortunately for them, an extreme low tide left them with no where to hide. Fortunately for Cory from Cape Coral (and me), he got to see a tiny live SAND DOLLAR with a few mature beauties as well as several live STARFISH at the Sanibel Lighthouse Beach.
I saw several live TRUE TULIPS hiding inside a STIFF PEN SHELL.
I did spot one empty bright orange TRUE TULIP hiding under one of those PEN SHELLS. A keeper! Yippee!
Along with a WORMIE and CHESTNUT TURBAN…
Caroline and Jennifer (Atlanta) are long time “wentlers” so they knew just where to look to find dozens of WENTLETRAPS.
Jennifer found all of these WENTLETRAPS within an hour and a half…
Her daughter Caroline has the WENTLE-eye too …and the KING’S CROWN-eye and the BABY’S EAR-eye!
Guess who I met! …. Sanibelle! If you read a lot of my post comments, you might have read one of Sanibelle’s comments. She rocks! …well she “shells” …but you know what I mean. 
It was a pleasure to me you, Sanibelle! This is miss cutie Sanibelle…
Since there were so many live creatures to ooooh and ahhhh at, it was hard to find many big empty shells besides PEN SHELLS. I talk about PEN SHELLS so often but I rarely ever show them so I found good example of both types that we find here. The one on the left is a STIFF PEN SHELL and the one on the right is a SAW-TOOTH PEN SHELL.
The most unusual shell I saw yesterday was a MANGROVE PERIWINKLE that Clark found yesterday on the gulf side of Lighthouse Beach. We just don’t find many of them at that beach.
He also found this little army man. I think he’ll make good company for my LEGO guy I found in February.
Since there are so many live shells on the beaches right now, I just want to make sure you know that you can’t take any live shells, SAND DOLLARS, STARFISH and such. You should gently put it back where you found it or in deeper waters. Lots of people don’t know how to tell if a sand dollar is alive or not. Here’s the deal… if a SAND DOLLAR is brown and looks a little “furry”, that means it is happy and healthy so we need to let it live a long time …..so it can breed! This is what live SAND DOLLARS look like. See that “fur”? Those are his feet AND how he breathes. Cool, huh?
This was the moon rise last night over Fort Myers Beach. I did not change or colorize this photo! It was really that big and colorful! I guess that’s why all the living creatures were stirring yesterday.
There should be more goodies washing in so for now…. Gone Shelling.
Scouting The Beaches
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After almost 2 days of high north/west winds, I bundled up in my warmest clothes then hit the 45 degree beach this morning. I know some of you are experiencing much lower temps than that ….. but geeez….the wind chill was killer. My finger tips almost froze off! This poor guy was not too happy either rolling in the surf but he was still healthy and kicking.
I was a little surprised but there was only a few left over shells at the jetty rocks on Captiva…
One side of the sand bar in the pass had a few COCKLES and CALICO SCALLOPS…
The other side had no shells but still had a beautiful view…
Then I went home. Late this afternoon, I couldn’t stand it. I went back to Blind Pass to scout out the beach again thinking the shells were finally coming in.
Not yet still! But I did find Susan from Fort Walton Beach, FL. She found a few treasures including this double ALTERNATE TELLIN…
There were a few LETTERED OLIVES, FIGHTING CONCHS and COCKLES to brighten the day. I also saw lots of HORSE CONCH EGG CASES…
Tomorrow, the mercury will start to rise. Oh thank goodness. And maybe we’ll see some shell piles too!
Sun Begins to Set On Sanibel 2011
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As the sun begins to set on Sanibel 2011…. beautiful reflections.
Merry Holiday Beach Art
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Merry Christmas, SS Marcia! In my last post, Marcia asked me if I had seen beach art yet. I had to laugh when the first thing I saw when I walked on the beach was this Christmas tree made with PEN SHELLS. Then right beside it was this beautiful menorah! This is the first that I’ve seen this season so thank you to the beach art artist who made these!
There was so much Beach Bling in between Donax Rd and Fulgur Rd on Sanibel.
This was one of several TULIP EGG CASES I saw…
I didn’t even see the second KEYHOLE LIMPET on the left when I took this photo. I was so amazed at the dark stripes on the big LIMPET and the colors on the tiny APPLE MUREX and BANDED TULIP.
In one little area, the high tide was bringing in shells to build up this nice pile. See that gorgeous LIGHTNING WHELK?
Maybe the golden rays of this Sanibel sunset shining on the amber edges of the ROUGH PENS will inspire the richly talented artists who create their beach art masterpieces for we mere beachcombers to fill our hearts with joy for the holidays. Ahem…. did I ask that nicely enough for more fun holiday beach art stuff?
The Boy In The Golden Sunset
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As the sun was setting near Gulf Side City Park, I witnessed a boy witnessing the golden beams of the sun reflecting on the water.
….while watching his dad watch this wonder of his son through the lens of his camera. I just love a photo of someone taking a photo…. a captured memory. This was a memory for Dave (the dad) and Joshua from Toronto.
Look who I ran into again! Diane and Steve from the golf cart parade…
They were filling their bucket with the Sanibel Six… plus a few more
I met Jan from Pittsburg who had a great shell bag. It’s a small aqua mesh bag with an outside pocket, a drawstring and a strap on the side. It’s from Bailey’s Grocery! I think I’ll have to go one too.
I didn’t see any big shell piles but I found these cute shells that somebody gathered then left for the pickins.
The Beach is Always Worth The Trip
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I had to pull the car over on one of the causeway islands last night on my way back to Sanibel because the sunset was so pretty. It always makes running errands so much more enjoyable when I can time it to return to the island at sunset. Ahhhh. Makes it worth it.
I also thought it was worth the trip to Blind Pass today to see if the shells were starting to show up again. To me, the shells have seemed a little scarce there lately for some reason. We’ve just had so much sand filling in again so I’ve been hoping for some good west winds to bring back the shells. I’m seeing more showing up now! Especially BITTERSWEETS. I saw quite a few today!
I think this is the first BABY’S EAR that I’ve ever found at Blind Pass Sanibel. After I found this one, I found one more in the same area mixed in with the same type Beach Bling.
Leo from Chicago showed me some cool live creatures he found before he set the free in the water.
This is a live PURPLE SEA URCHIN hanging on to a live PEN SHELL. See how the PEN SHELL is partly opened? This is how Sandy The Sanderling got in trouble by putting her beak in there. It slammed shut on her beak and wouldn’t let go. Ouch! If you missed that story click HERE.
This wrack line looks like a good sign to me for the next few days.
I didn’t find loads of shells today but it was just good to get back on the beach on this beautiful day. I like quality these days over quantity. My BITTERSWEETS and BABY’S EARS made my day soooo much better.
I’m getting back into my routine so I’ll be out tomorrow again to find out if there are any other shell spots hiding out there. Have you been finding great shells lately?
I want to thank you guys again for your feedback on my new i Love Shelling Shop. I’ll continue to add designs and merchandise so you can stay closer to Sanibel and we all can show off our love for shelling.
