Beaches

Boating Around The River Islands in May

This week my son and I went boating around the river islands. May is a very good time to go boating in Florida. The water temp has warmed to 80 (or close) and the afternoon thunderstorms are not yet a thing.

I try to get a lot of text into most of my posts, but after being out on the boat for two days, I have so many photos to share. All those photos convert to specific posts about my beach-combing finds, but getting the pictures sized and ready also takes time.

Because I end up with many photos of the landscape, like the ones below, I’m sharing a big block of scenes from the Indian River backwater area. Soon I’ll write more in depth about these boating trips because there is a lot to report. For one thing I found more tulip shells in one place than ever before.

Discovered a New Island to Explore

Three Sisters island low tide boating docked — Three Sisters

crown conch, low tide, mud, beach, florida, mud flats, beach combing — Three Sisters

The water temp was between 75 and 80 depending on where we went. The first day out we stayed in Edgewater and Oak Hill and found a new, low tide “new island” to explore. I found some really awesome marine life here, which I will be writing about!

Then we headed over to Three Sisters where I found more to photograph. That tiny sea star was a fun discovery!

mangroves oyster beds shallows mud flats low tide Three Sisters Florida lagoon — A new island to explore

boating docked, low tide, island beach, beach combing, saltwater — A new island to explore

After a while my photos all begin to look the same… mud, water, and mangroves! But each area holds wildlife that is interesting and beautiful. I never know what I’ll find out there.

Day Two and Boating North to Ponce Inlet

On our second boating day we headed north to Ponce Inlet to explore the sandy islands left exposed at low tide. It just happened to be a day when a rocket was launched from Cape Canaveral and we could watch.

Unlike our first day of boating, there were more boats and people. Also, there were fewer seashells and lots less marine life. But the water was a beautiful blue and the islands were hard packed sand instead of mud.

Docked at a sandy beach boating Florida — Fishing along the north jetty wall

low tide island saltwater — Fishing along the north jetty wall

A Little Spiral Whelk Shell I Can’t Identify

I came across this little shell a few years ago while walking the flats at low tide on the Indian River. A hermit crab was inside, which is the norm for this area, so I took a few quick (and not very good) photos and moved on. But it did not match the usual selection of shells I see in this area.

The shell was small, so possibly a juvenile, and young mollusk shells can look very different from adults. The only clue I have is from a link I found while researching the Channeled Whelk where there is a photo at Mitchell Publications containing shells that look similar to this one. They seem to have the very tightly coiled spiral on top.

My best guess at the time was a Pear Whelk, but it really didn’t have the rounded top. It didn’t look anything like a Crown Conch either, both of which I see often in the area.

Pear whelks — Three pear whelks with two crown conchs in the center

The partial shell below is a Channeled whelk I found not long ago. I rarely see these pretty bumpy topped shells, in fact this one may have been a first. While researching it, I found the shell identification page linked above, and saw the shell that looks like my gray one listed as a channeled whelk. To me, the image below does not look like the little gray shell, but if the spire had not begun to protrude, I suppose it’s reasonable to link them as the same type of shell.

little channeled whelk seashells — Pretty channeled whelk

For now at least, my best guess is that the little gray shell is a juvenile channeled whelk. If anyone knows for certain, I’d love to know what you think.

Pictures of Seashells on Beaches

Why is it that we enjoy seeing pictures of seashells on beaches? One guess would be that we dream of walking along a deserted beach, either all alone or with a special love, and come across a fabulous shell. It makes the walk all that much better, right?

The beaches I walk are mostly deserted, but they are along the Indian River, which is saltwater, and they are beaches without waves, unless made by a passing boat, or from storms. I do see lots of shells, in places, but they are not extraordinary like the helmet shell pictured on the beach in the photo below. Most photos online, like the one below, are staged. At least I assume the photographer didn’t just happen to come across this beautiful shell lying on the beach. But it makes for a nice photo.

Some beaches have few shells and lots of sand. Others can be mostly made up of shells. I suppose there are places where one can find big beautiful shells that have washed up, but I don’t know where that would be. Big shells are heavy, and the snails that live inside crawl along the bottom of the ocean. It would take a lot to wash that empty shell onshore.

My Photos of Real Shells on Beaches

I took the photo below while walking on a very windy day. The sand was really blowing and shells were being covered and uncovered by the wind. I was walking at Ponce Inlet in New Smyrna Beach.

shells in the sand — The wind was covering, or maybe uncovering, shells along the beach

seashell berm — Shells left by the high tide

In the image above, lots of tiny shells and broken bits have created a little berm at the high tide mark. This was on an island beach in the Indian River. It’s one of the camping islands, but I love to stop here when we are boating to search the shoreline for interesting shells. It’s where I once found two olive shells, a beautiful knobbed whelk, and always see lots of hermit crabs in all kinds of shells.

Below: I do not recall where I took the photo but probably on the dog beach at Smyrna Dunes Park. It looks like a dog print and foot traffic that have walked past, and over, these ark clam shells, which are by far the most common to see on this beach.