Life has been hustling and bustling with holiday festivities so to sink my toes in the sand yesterday was heaven on earth. Just to breath the sea air and hear the water lapping on the shore gave me the peace I needed. I had no expectations to find any rare collectables but the actual combing of the beach is what I knew I needed. Ahhhhh. Mother Nature always seems to give me the perfect gift of the sea. Yesterday’s gift was a handful of SEA PEARLS!
A few weeks ago, I had a local fella who grew up on Sanibel come to the house to fix a few things. As soon as he saw my little “dish” of SEA PEARLS, he started laughing and told me those “Hot Rocks” brought back funny memories of his boyhood life growing up on the island. He said they would rub the SEA BEANS back and forth at a fast pace on the sidewalk, jeans, wood or just about anything to get those PEARLS hot as the dickens. Then they would touch the “Hot Rock” on the skin of their unsuspecting victim to shock them with heat. LOL Boys will be boys! Thank goodness, they aren’t hot enough to do any damage other than the other boys ego after screaming like a “girl”. hahah Okay, yes, I tried it just to see how hot is gets. It’s just hot enough to give a little startle….but I see why it was a kids game on the island. I’ve heard them called “Burn Beans”, “Hot Beans” and “Burner Seeds” but that was the first time I heard them called “Hot Rocks”- thanks Paul!
Want to find a few SEA PEARLS too? Then talk a walk with me at the Lighthouse Beach by clicking the next image…
PS- I know that little rope bracelet looks a little ratty now but I can’t bring myself to take it off because I still love it too much and it still makes me very happy. I wrote about it in May… “While on our trip to Thailand, we were blessed by a Monk who wrapped this string with a knot around our wrists. I was told it was called a “spiritual line” and we are to wear it until it falls off and not to cut it off. It is for good luck, good health and to remind us every day that today is special so live it that way. I immediately thought of those strings I used to tie around my finger to remind me to do something. So every day now when I look at this string on my wrist I am reminded that today is a gift.”
I found one of these the other day at lighthouse beach and asked my daughter Karen if she knew what they were. I kept the one but did not pick up any more…next time I’ll just pick stuff up and keep it until I find out what it is.
Melody
Pam, I just got home from a very hectic day at work. My head is throbbing and my desire to hit something is in gear. The first thing I did was get the laptop opened and looked at your site…Yea a post. then I saw your video…the sounds of the waves and the beach stretched out right before me calmed my anxiousness immediately. Oh, how I wish I lived at the beach, it’s the best medicine or theraphy I could ask for. Thanks for all the time you spend sharing the wonders of Sanibel with so many of us. We have our reservations for the Island Inn set for June..I don’t know if I can hold out that long…Thanks Loree
Cool! Sea Beans, huh? They sound like pebbles when you were holding them in your hands in the video…are they rocks or seeds? They sure are pretty. Looks good in your shell bowl. I too, love to listen to the sound of the ocean in your videos, Pam. It’s a really calming, soothing, comforting sound. Next best thing to being there!
Hi Christine. Yes they really are seeds, but they do sound like rocks don’t they? They are very hard indeed. I don’t know how they manage to split that seed coat when it is time to germinate! :)
I grew up in Florida and they are almost like a seed but are very hard like a rock. I too know of them as “hot rocks”. Same story basically Paul told. As kids our schools would take us to Sanibel Island and we would rub them on our shorts or sidewalks and they would get hot enough to make you jump.
When our girls were down in November. Beth found a Baby’s Ear and she brought it to me and said “is this any good”. When I told her what it was she was delighted and the next day she found another. I’ve been shelling for years and only found two of those little guys. Will have to look again next year. Always something to look forward to. :-)
Hi Lee! I just love Baby’s Ears! So pretty and delicate-looking and yet they are surprisingly strong.
We love all of your videos of Sanibel! We try to come down at least twice a year, and miss it terribly when we are back home…One day we will be down there for good! Thanks for all the strolls down the beach! Keep up the Great work!
Sincerely,
Alex and Debbie
Wdbg,N.J.
I did some searching this afternoon. I found another cute tiny little candy. I found half a wormie, a handsome very dark brown turrid that’s s bit more than 1/2 inch long, two small pale grey fine-ribbed augers (not the regular auger, much smaller and skinnier):
http://shellmuseum.org/shells/shelldetails.cfm?id=114
and two striate Nassas:
http://shellmuseum.org/shells/shelldetails.cfm?id=85
…plus some other cool micros. The knees and elbows kind of shelling is rather athletic. You get tired crawling around, but you find some neat stuff!
The waves are still pretty rough on the Gulf. The frontal weather system has kind of stalled out over us it seems, but we did not get any real rain or storm today.
I like the micros too. One thing they don’t take up too much room in the luggage! Some of the ones I find I can see on the beach. Some real tiny ones came out of larger shells after they have dried. I think I found a miniature lucine and a wentletrap, but they are too small to photograph. I still like them. Susan I love all the information you post. You and Pam are giving us a great shell education. Pat
I am glad you enjoy the posts Pat. Wow, you must have good eyes Pat, to see the miniature lucine and wentletrap when you were standing up! I used to be able to do that when I was much younger, but not any more. Now I’ve got to get down to the beach surface to see the small stuff well enough to recognize it.
I do the sanibel stoop. If I see something that looks interesting, I’ll pick it up for a closer look. The two minis were inside a banded tulip. I’m going to get some knee pads so it won’t be so hard on the back. Pat
Thanks so much for all you share!!! Especially the references. Keep adding to the post….. You & Pam just make my day!!
Mary Ann
From CT
Thank you Mary Ann! It’s fun to write these little reports. :)
this is the highlight of my day…all i want is a one-way ticket there!
Hey Pam!!!!!! Omg I have not spoken to you in forever!! How are you doing!!? I can believe how much Blind pass had changed! I miss it there so much :(
Are these the same as the gray nickernuts? We have lots of them at Cayo, if so, and their pods are very “prickly”.
Heading for Florida Sunday morning!!!
Yes I believe Pam wrote a post about that and showed a picture of the spiny pods, maybe about 6 months ago or so?
Hi Pam
Today is a gift especially when we all read your blog!! Bringing us closer beach beauty! Got some sea bean my last trip to Sanibel in Oct. … Was my first time finding a few…woohoo !!
Have a great day everyone!!
Mary Ann
CT
Thank you so much for the video on sea pearls. I was not aware of these little gems but will certainly look for some on my next trip. Your website is beautiful and well done. I know I can always count on lovely beach scenes and sounds while I live most of my time in the Arizona desert. I look forward to going to my vacation home in Estero and taking a different friend to discover the joy of shelling. Thank you for all the time you put into this website.
Hello folks. Well, I got up at 5:00 am and went out in the dark with a flashlight at 6:00, an hour before the low tide, which was a 1.1 foot minus tide. Normally on a big low tide like that you would see all kinds of neat live things. However, the waves are still big (relatively) from the storms we had for a couple of nights and so first of all (because of the relatively rough waves) the water comes washing up higher than normal. You can’t look in the shallow water, it’s too rough and too cloudy. Secondly I think the waves had pushed sand over most of the living creatures (like the olives) so you couldn’t see them.
In any case I think I am just not good at night shelling.
But when the light started coming in it got a bit easier although it was very overcast, no sun yet. It’s a bit cold now actually after 5 days of being rather hot! I was shelling with this nice older lady who has been coming to Sanibel from Atlanta for 30 years. We looked up at the high tide mark where there was an accumulation of shells. I found a couple of nice Princess Venus shells (one valve each, not rare, but I like them) and one nice, quite pretty, very pale purple valve of the Atlantic Semele.
Big news was that before it got completely light out “we” found a one inch piece of Junonia. Actually the other lady found it, she was just slightly ahead of me and to one side and she has a very good eye. She also found a nutmeg, which I just don’t seem to see them, at any rate I have not found one yet.
I am going to go out again and look again after lunch at the shell piles.
I was out at dawn as well today. I spent a fair bit of time at a high sand bar at the 1 mile marker, and there were murexes(sp?), as well as some cones, whelks, and fighting conchs. Most of them were buried under the sand, though, with only tiny bits peeking out. A fair bit of digging was required.
As well, I have this to say- a pox on all hermit crabs! They always get the best shells!! ;-D
As well as the aforementioned pesky hermit crabs, we saw couple of other types of live crabs in and out of the tidal pool. I also saw a few live clams, and lots of live olives……
Olga, you are so right! Everywhere in the world I have been, the hermit crabs find the really good shells, leaving the “seconds” for us humans!
I always get so mad when I spot a good shell…..and then it suddenly gets up and walks away!! :(
Pam – The beans are nickerbeans. Google them. It’s a vine that lives in undisturbed parts of the island. It has lots of prickers on it – it can really be nasty but when the seed pods ripen and open up, out comes the beans that you are seeing on the beach!
https://www.google.com/search?q=nickerbean&hl=en&tbo=u&tbm=isch&source=univ&sa=X&ei=0krKUM6rF4GK9QTf4YDgCQ&sqi=2&ved=0CDQQsAQ&biw=1054&bih=710
As Olga can confirm, the weather cleared up totally this afternoon and there was a beautiful classic sunset over the Gulf.
The air is no longer humid, as it was for several days earlier this week, and also it’s no longer chilly as it was this morning, so now it’s very nice out. Also the waves are calming down on the Gulf. I am optimistic that tomorrow morning’s minus time will be a nice one.
The extra shells should start appearing soon, if not tomorrow, then the next day. :)
Thanks for the “play by play” shelling reports- almost feel like I’m there with you. And thanks for the links-I never found any Nassas. Don’t wear out your knees or eyes. Happy Shelling!
Hello Linda. The Nassas are all of them very small. Thanks for your good wishes, my knees and eyes are both doing well.:)
Yes! The sea pearls (or sea beans or hot rocks or burn beans.. whatever you might call them) come from the nickerbean vine. I posted photos and talked about these pods in June… http://www.iloveshelling.com/blog/2012/06/19/collecting-fossils-seashells-and-memories-on-boca-grande/. I should have linked to this post again- sorry y’all.
I am also in Sanibel this week and have found a murex, olives, whelks, fighting conchs, miniatures – especially augers and ceriths buried in the sand at high tide… did find a 5′ horse conch at Turner Beach while fighting the waves. I did a little happy dance over that one! But no cones or anything else special. Also saw 5 pairs of Horseshoe Crabs. Did go to Tigertail Beach today on Marco Island and found 3 Crown Conchs!!! and a lot of nice Jingles and Rose Tellins, 2 Banded Tulips, Sand Dollars and some nice spiney Jewel Boxes. These were found on the Gulf side and you had to walk a fair bit (~ 1/2 mile). Going out tomorrow to either the Lighthouse or Blind Pass to see if I can find something else. Would love to find a Sea Pearl :) Also ran into another shelling sister Melody (first poster)… hope you are having more luck since this morning! There has been lots of rain, waves, and humidity this week.
Love your shelling report. Congratulations on your great finds. Three Crown Conchs – that’s amazing. I’m still dreaming of finding one that’s intact. Enjoy the rest of your week in paradise.
Love all the christmas carts in the parade. Looks like lots of fun. Tammy so happy for you finding your Horse Conch. West Gulf is the best spot I’ve found for finding Horse Conch shells. I’ve found 2 this past year on West Gulf dr.beach.
Ive never found these beans before..yet another to put on list of things to find.
Hey Pam, maybe at the shellabaloo we might find these!! That and WT’s!!! :D
20 more days Pam!!!
This morning I went out very early here on West Gulf Drive (not much there but I think more shells are starting to come in) and then another guest here, Mary (aho is a birder and a sheller), drove me over to Gulfside Park Beach and she and I explored that area.
There was a sand bar with literally a thousand live fighting conchs on it and there was also one huge really mucky-looking tidal pool-channel which had lots and lots of live things in it, including a zillion hermit crabs but also sea cucumbers and so on. And along the edges, along with the tiny hermit crabs, there were some nice empty micros, including one species that is not on Jose’s Shell Museum database of SWFL shells, although it’s going to be hard to ID to species level.
I saw a live chiton! Cool! It was very tiny but I believe it was Chaetopleura apiculata:
http://shellmuseum.org/shells/shelldetails.cfm?id=286
It was shown here on Pam’s blog:
http://www.iloveshelling.com/blog/category/seashells/chiton/
I also (last but certainly not least! :) ) and thanks to Pam’s blog, I got to meet Sue S and her husband Ken. Sue was the person who had asked on here about the Dusky Cones a couple weeks ago!
Pam, your wonderful blog brings us shellers together, not only in Cyberspace but in Real Life too! :)
Hi Susan,
I also went to Gulf Side today ~ 9:30/10 am but didn’t notice the sand bar. Did see lots of pen shells that look like they have been there for awhile. In the morning I was at Turner Beach and there was a shell pile building, but only with the usual bivalves. Only found a few ceriths and augers. I went to try my luck at Blind Pass after Gulf Side Park and this time found another smaller but still 3″ horse conch close to the area where the beach has eroded away. Have to be patient though and have good eyes to watch what the waves bring in. It’s just a guessing game to know where to go each day! I am also staying on West Gulf Drive at Mitchell’s Sandcastles and seems like I have only walked the beach there once! Will try again and see what I can find. Seems like there are a bunch of Pam’s followers here this week! Looking forward to Pam’s next post to see what she finds.
Yes Carolyn, you are staying quite near me — I am at Blue Dolphin. And yes, it really is hard to know where to go! The same beach can be totally different one day from the next.
I have not been to Blind Pass ever. Lighthouse I was there once last year.
I want to try to go to Gulfside again tomorrow morning because it was good for the micros today. We don’t have a car, so I am deciding whether to try to ride one of the hotel’s “free” cruiser bikes over there (it’s about 3 miles away) or whether to book a taxi. The bikes are a bit rusty from sitting out all the time, so despite the fact that Sanibel is flat, you have to peddle peddle peddle all the time to keep going; it’s work.
Susan H. I feel for you. It’s surprising that there isn’t any public transportation on the island. Maybe you could hitch a ride from one of the employees as they end their shift! Be creative! I can’t imagine riding a bike with all my shelling gear in tow! I have a mini-van….hmmm…. maybe I should retire….
:)
Thanks Janet. My shelling gear is very minimal. I will wear my water shoes, and I will actually wear my knee and elbow pads too. I take only one large ziplock with a nice large plastic vial inside, and a very small plastic vial in another small ziplock in case I find something small but really amazing. I will have my three kinds of reading glasses (different magnifications) in soft cases that are on straps around my neck.
I will start out with a sweater on, or whatever warm clothes are needed first thing in the morning, but will either tie them around my waist or put them in a cheap cloth bag that I will leave with my bike helmet. I will also have a baseball cap. I think that’s it.
Oh, probably an apple and a small bottle of water too.
I just love your videos Pam! I am having daily day dreams about being there in 20 days!! Lol…. you can video for hours and Id never get tired of watching it!! Lol..
Family says Im addicted to shelling and beaches! Lol
We will have really low tides for the shellabaloo…cant wait!!
You are so lucky!!