Beach Bling on Sanibel (Part 2 of My Shelldventure on Sanibel)

And I'm back with some more story time!!!!!!!!!!!!

Right now, I'm gonna show you lots of different stuff (shells and beach bling) that you can find on the beach on Sanibel Island.

This here, is a Saw-toothed Pen Shell. I've talked about them before. These monsters ( 8-12 in) can be found all over the beach and in the water, so after a few days you don't notice them anymore, unless you're looking threw them to see if a shell got stuck in side. That's how I found one of my baby True Tulips!!!

Next up a Horse Conch Egg Case- lots of egg casings can be found on the beaches on Sanibel. These can be distinguished due to the fact that they are not like a string or garland, but more like a bag, a saddle bag, in fact ;)

Another type of egg casing is the Lightning Whelk egg casings. You can see how these resemble garlands unlike the Horse Conch egg casing above.

Moving on to shells- this is a Yellow Prickly Cockle. You can see how its yellow color gave the shell its name. About the prickles, you can see little spines on the shell's ribs when you look closer. I'm sorry this photo doesn't show the shell up close.

Just a portion of the shell line. This is what miles and miles of shore can be like and you have to plod slowly along in order to find a great shell. But when you find it- Shellcess!!!!!!!!!!!!

A Sea Urchin!!!!!!!! I absolutely LOOOOVE these echinoderms, if you don't already know. This guy is obviously dead, and a little broken on top, but I still took him ( he was my first full sea urchin in all time, too!)

Some more egg casings- I thought that these belonged to the True Tulip, but they don't. If you do know what they are, please tell me in the comments below!!!!! The egg casings were attached to the inside of a Saw-toothed Pen Shell.

An Atlantic Calico Scallop- there were so many of these guys too. But I have a very distinct taste for the orange scallops, so I didn't really pick up any of the pink or purple ones. :D

 

Hiding under a Saw-toothed Pen Shell, I found a cool little piece of Variable Worm Shells. I love these cute tube clusters!

An egg casing on an egg casing!!!!! The tiny egg casings are those of a True Tulip and the larger ones are those of a Lightning Whelk.

When I looked closer at the picture on my phone, I saw that the True Tulip egg capsules were still closed and held teeny tiny baby True Tulips- shelldorable!!!!!

 

And that's a look at some of the awesome things that wash up on Sanibel!!!!!

 

See ya soon!!!!!!

Lava of Ocean Dawn :D

 

Spring Break Sanibel Part 1

Ok, so time to recount my Sanibel adventure!!!!!!!!!!!

I arrived on Sanibel around 5 pm on Sunday, April 13th. Here's a photo out of my car window of the Sanibel Causeway.

Here's the Sanibel Lighthouse!!!! Getting closer to Sanibel :D

And here I'm finally at the beach.

As soon as we arrived at our lodging ( apartment, rented house, whatever ;) ), I jumped out of the car and ran to the beach with my handy shell bag.

Let's get this party started!!!!!

 

My first find was this live Lettered Olive. The tide was receding and I've noticed that quite a few of these guys can be found slithering in the sand at low tide.

 

Then I got busy shelling!

Here are my favorite finds for that evening- juvie Florida Fighting Conch, juvie Lightning Whelk, parts of  a Sea Urchin, paired Scallop and a Fish Scale.

 

Not much, but it was a great start!!!!!!!!!

 

The next morning I got up bright and early for the 7 o'clock low tide.

There was a great high tide wrack line with Pen Shells and Seaweed and Egg Casings, but I decided to go walk at the water line and see what goodies lay there.

And here's another view of the high tide wrack line. To the right you can see a bit of the shell line and then the waves. It was rather foggy that morning also.

 

Well, that was the start of my "shelldventure" !

More to come!

Have fun,

Yaroshelllava :D

Return from Sanibel

I'm taking abreak from class during school right now and writing this entry to give you a sneak peek at teh many posts to come about my trip to Sanibel Island for Spring Break!!!!!!!!!!!!
Im sooooooo excited!!!!!!!!
I'm sorry that I haven't posted for so long, but I hope that the future Sanibel posts make up for it. :D

I got to Sanibel on Sunday, April 13th afternoon and I immediately headed ot the beach. And kept on shelling everyday. at various of the beaches around the island all week long, until I left on Saturday, April 19th.

So, without further ado,
I give some shell pictures to you!!!!!!!!!!!

A handful of my shell treasures, from Thursday at Gulfside City Park during the incoming high tide. I found all of these buried in the high tide wrack line: Buttercup Lucine, Skate Egg, Aphabet Cone (first one!!!), Florida Cone, two baby True Tulips (ahhhh!!!!), a mini Orange Scallop, three Alternate Tellins and an Apple Murex.

Another one of my FAVORITE finds at Gulfside City Park during the incoming high tide, on I think, Wednesday! I caught this sweet juvie Horse Conch in the surf with a net.

I was sooooo thrilled!!!!! Sweet Shellcess!!!!!!!!!

Another handful of treasures- found on East Gulf Drive during an afternoon outgoing low tide.

I loved the Florida Worm Shell and the West Indian Worm Shell ( the white wormie)!!!!!!!! The other shells are two Florida Cones, I think, a juvie Lightning Whelk, a huge Bubble Shell, an Angulate Wentletrap, and an unidentified shell that I think is some Periwinkle. :)

 

More shells: a baby Saw-toothed Pen Shell ( I think these monsters are adorable when small!!!), an Atlantic Winged Oyster, a Lace Murex and a Pear Whelk.

I found these on East Gulf Drive too :D

And lastly, for today- I promise I'll be back!!!!- my first baby True Tulip!!!!!!!!!!!

It's in the first picture of this post too, but it's just ot delicious- so I had to show it to you separately.

 

Well, I gotta get back to my school work!!!!!!!!!

See ya soon,

Lava of Ocean Dawn :D