Sanibel Island Surfside

As most of you know, I spent part of last week on Sanibel Island. I know, it's a tough life, but somebody has to live it! The first morning there I had the pleasure of meeting up with three, yes three, other bloggers! 

From left to right we have

Debbie of

Pam of

Karen of

and, of course, myself! Click on any of these headers to visit their beachy blogs.

You can tell by our outerwear that the day started off a bit chilly, but we were a determined group and proceeded to hike down the shoreline to a prime shelling area. From the first photo you can see that the day did warm up — Karen was down to shorts and I had abandoned my cap and sweater.

Everything didn't go as planned on my part. I never talk about it, but I have a condition in my feet that, while I have made great strides, limits me to how fast and for how long I can go. I spent a couple of years basically homebound and another couple of years in an electric scooter. To make matters worse, I slipped in the sandy mud and really did a bit of damage. Excruciating pain slowed me down, but I carried on as best I could in pursuit of a few treasures from the sea to share with you. Later this week, I'll share with you the seashells I collected and a few great places Karen and I visited, but for today I'll show you some of the things we saw as we walked the sea line.

Lightning Whelks are one of my favorite shells to collect and when I spotted this fine specimen I was really excited. When I flipped it over, I was even more excited to see it was a live specimen, so I carefully flipped it back and left it to breed future generations.…

Other living specimens spotted were…

Starfish

Sand Dollars

Sea Urchins

Baby Octopus

(Debbie spotted this little guy first, he was stranded with the low tide,

so I gently carried him back down to the water.)

Fighting Conchs by the thousands!

(They were still alive, but lethargic. Scientists still don't know what caused this phenomenon,

but my hope is that they will survive and get back to water where they belong.)

??????????

(We saw lots of soft-bodied creatures and I have no idea what they are,

but the one on the left looks like a martini olive to me.)

Pen Shell

(These are very common and while not a particularly pretty shell, if you look inside you'll see lots of

things going on. This one had another baby octopus curled up to the right,

some mini shells and lots of barnacles.)

Dolphin

(Just feet away from us! I found out later from a local that the trough that runs offshore is the perfect place for dolphins to teach their young to hunt. Cool!)

Grocery Bag

(I HATE seeing this! This bag has been in the water for so long that barnacles have made it home.

Think of all the baby turtles, fighting for their lives in a tough environment and some inconsiderate

beach goer has added to their struggle to survive.)

Leave Only Footprints, please.

My Shoes

(Yep, I love this sight, it means I'm wandering the beach with the sand between my toes!)

Sometimes the sea and the stars line up perfectly and you get a chance to meet fellow bloggers who share the same passion as yourself. Thank you to Pam and Debbie for meeting up with Karen and I for a day at the beach. Hopefully, next time I'll be on more "solid" ground and we'll get a chance to talk and share, you are both such lovely, interesting women. You both rock shell!

Speaking of the sea and stars lining up, I am SO excited to announce the winner of my giveaway!

Drum roll, please…

Today 13 is indeed a lucky number for Jane of Artfully Graced! I had the pleasure to meet Jane in August and she is a DOLL! I hope she enjoys this $75 shopping spree at CSN Stores. Woo Hoo!


That's it for today folks, come back this week, I have a few little surprises for some of my blogging friends and another giveaway!