MIssing The Beach

The thermometer tells me it's 11° outside right now. 

The snow is falling. 

And I am on day #12 of a rotten cold. 

What I need to do is revisit some photos I took on the beach on Sanibel Island, Florida last month. Ah, to be there right now.

If only.

Communing with nature

looking down

tern

sanibel sunset

snowy egret

sanibel beach - SO many shells

♥

low tide

shells shells and more shells

pelican

west coast sunset

terns & gulls

Portuguese man-o-war

a really teeny weeny person?

sand dollar

how to do christmas on the beach

Sanibel Island December 2007

Star Fish Constellation

After a bit of reading, I learned that Starfish are not actually a fish at all, but are animals belonging to the Phylum Echinodermata, and are further divided into two classes Asteroidea (sea stars) and Ophiuroidea (brittle stars). Starfish eat mollusks and other echinoderms. These guys are probably "Brown Stars" , though I am certainly no expert on the subject!
There was a wonderful tide pool as the tide went out on the Sanibel beach one morning, that enabled me to have this little peek into their world.

Royal Terns

To every season...tern, tern, tern...
Happy New Year!

I am not kidding you. This is how easy it is to find shells on Sanibel Island. It is quite distracting when you are trying to do a power walk. I think I needed some of those blinders like police horses wear in the city. It's impossible not to look down. But wear shoes or you may wind up with a nasty gash on your foot! (Or a painful jelly fish sting)

Surf & Turf

An interesting thing on the Sanibel beaches is the frequent discovery of animal bones amidst all of the beautiful shells. These are usually pig feet bones-remains from the bait that stone crab fisherman use to bait their traps.

Sanibel Island

So, we just got home from our latest beach adventure. Sanibel Island is home of some of the best shelling around- maybe in the world. Even if you aren't a "shell person" you will find yourself unable to resist bending down into the classic "Sanibel Stoop" position to pick up an incredible sea creature. (Don't take it home unless it's dead! No live shelling allowed!) Some years I find multitudes of lettered olives, lightning whelks and my favorites: shark's eyes. This year was a big year for star fish, scallops and anenomes. Oh, and barnacles! I have never been much of a Florida person, preferring the beaches and landscape of coastal Massachusetts and Maine, but the west coast of Florida is the next best thing. And certainly the weather is better in December. There was not a stone or pebble to be found, so I didn't collect much to add to my jewelry, but the gulf breeze, sunny days and the luxury of time to relax and take long beach walks was inspiring and rejuvenating. I won't be changing the name of my business to SHeLLZ any time soon, though!