We were boating a few weeks ago in October and I stopped to walk the beach I frequent whenever we are out on the water. It was high tide – or close to it – so it wasn’t a good time to beach-comb, but I did see some interesting bean vines. Please leave a comment if you know what these are! (Photos below)
Palmetto Palm tree
One day I will gather my greenery photographs and try to identify some of the interesting things I’ve seen growing on the uninhabited islands we visit. This will be a daunting task for me because I know very little about the local sea plants. I’m guessing that the vine below growing into the water is some type of Purslane.
Vines growing along the shoreline
Just for fun I took another photo of a hermit crab – because I don’t see enough of those… hahaha….! This one is just under the water at the shoreline and he is carrying a blackened pear whelk on his back. Although the water is very clean right at the sand line, it’s murky and dark a few feet out. You can see this clearly in my last photo on this post.
A hermit crab walks across the shelly bottom
I took my beach shoes off and walked barefoot in water about up to my knees as I strolled the shoreline. That wasn’t a really smart thing to do because of the trash people leave behind, but I walked slowly searching for treasures. There wasn’t much new to find, but this thick clamshell caught my eye. It stood out among all the tiny shells that make up the beach.
Big heavy clam shell
I picked up a chunk of shells and sand just because it was different. Maybe it’s a piece of coquina rock. I strolled north along the beach slowly so as not to miss a good shell. In the past I had found two olive shells in this spot. Today I found no exciting shells.
I like to find strange things like this
Then I came across the beans.
The island has a lot of growth with shrubs, palm trees and sea vines and such. Camping is allowed here so there is trash as well. People can be pigs. But as I got closer to the end of the island I found this cool bean vine. You can see it hanging from the tree below.
The vine was growing within a shrub, which may or may not be some type of mangrove. I tried to research this tree with the clumps of flowers (it looks a bit like a viburnum to me) but found nothing about mangroves with clumps of flowers. I also could not identify this vine.
Vine with long bean pods growing in a bush.
As you can see, the vine has rounded leaves with wide bean pods hanging from it. I mean some of these pods were big! I have seen plenty of the long pods that grow in the red Mangroves and they are very long, but super thin. I have never come across these wide pods before but I’m sure they are not part of any mangrove. It’s a vine, not a tree.
Bean vine hanging from a tree
Curiosity had me wondering what was inside this pod, but I dislike messing with nature, and especially when I have no idea what I am dealing with. So I just took photos.
Wide bean pod
Next time we go boating I will stop by the island and see how this vine looks and get better photos of the shrubs. I would love for someone with knowledge to respond here.
We took a drive on Thursday after Dorian had left our area in Florida just to see if the coast had held up okay. We didn’t get over to the beaches, but drove along Riverside Drive on the ICW / River.
I got these photos out the truck window as we drove. Except for dead palm fronds blown off the trees, we didn’t see any damage. Before the storm all talk is about getting ready. After this one we are all thankful and thinking of the poor souls in the Bahamas.
Menard-May Park
Dead palm fronds cleared from the trees seem to be our biggest clean up worry
House boarded up with plywood for Hurricane Dorian
South Causeway and Indian River view from Riverside Drive
Metal shutters on house
The Black Dolphin Inn on Riverside Drive in New Smyrna Beach, Florida.
Black Dolphin Inn
I had to look this one up, but the little red building hidden among the trees across from the South Causeway bridge is the new Riverpark Terrace Restaurant. Check out the video in their “gallery” section at this link, because the place looks pretty interesting.
Riverpark Terrace Restaurant
The South Causeway in New Smyrna Beach
September and October are often busy months for hurricanes so we will leave our shutters up, like many other people. I think I can safely say that Floridians have breathed a sigh of relief after this one. And the power stayed on! After suffering through Hurricane Irma, that was the best gift of all. That, and this beautiful sky.
The shell-makers are the mollusks, or sea snails, which begin life as tiny creatures who will make stunning and intricate homes we call shells. The shell thieves are the hermit crabs who take over the shells once the mollusk has died and left it empty. Let’s be clear, they have to steal these shells to survive, and they don’t kill the owner, just move in once it’s no longer occupied.
Of all the shells I find on my Florida boating and beach-combing journeys, 99% of the gastropods (shells in one piece, not two) are filled with one of these; mollusks / sea snails, or hermit crabs. Rarely do I find a pretty spiral shell which is empty.
Let’s Take a Boat Ride and Find Some Wild Florida Things
Once we launch our flats boat, we head out across the main channel of the Intracoastal Waterway (Indian River where I live) and enter the back channel. The waterway we travel is not as deep, but it is large with numerous islands and shallow canals. It would be very easy to become lost, or turned around in this area. My son has been fishing here for many years so he knows where to go and how to follow the deeper water while running the boat. The water is murky as you can see in my photos, and it is saltwater. On this day in May the water temperature was around 85 degrees. Very warm! We saw many dolphin, but no manatee.
Shallow backwater where islands of mangroves and oyster beds thrive in brackish water
We pull up at a canal which is emptying into the larger canal as the tide is being pulled out (photo below). Tides are weird way back here because the water has a long way to go to meet the ocean up atPonce Inlet. The water can move fast in places depending on what the tides are doing.
In the photo below the water is rushing toward me. The tide is going out. The greenery you see are mangroves. The bottom is sandy and the water is shallow – about to my knees. (There is an excellent article about Florida mangroves at the FDEP (Florida Department of Environmental Protection.)
A more shallow canal emptying water out as the tide changes
To the right of the photo above I see grass and a sandy bottom just below the water. Soon the sand will dry out while the tide is low. This is where life abounds.
The shell-makers and shell thieves live in the same places as far as I can tell, and they love the mangroves. The conchs and whelks can probably find food in this ecosystem and the hermits can find empty shells. There were no birds here, but we usually do see herons or other birds (sometimes the Roseate Spoonbill) along the edge of the mangroves.
We beach the boat in shallow water here and I get out to find sea life to photograph. I expect to find lots of hermit crabs and I do. One is poised at the top of a stalk (below). Others inhabit whelks and conchs (lots of crown conchs) and they all scurry around doing their thing. Sometimes I find groups of hermits together and I don’t know what they are doing except maybe inspecting each other’s shell size. I’m not a scientist, but I know they need to upgrade to bigger shells as they grow.
This little hermit crab has climbed a stalk in the shallow water
As I begin my walk I immediately see three different shells at my feet. A pear whelk (bottom of photo), big tulip, and crown conch are all scurrying. The sea snails move slowly, but the hermit crabs, which now live in the shells, are quick. I can see their spidery legs pulling the shells along the sand.
Three different shells each inhabited by a hermit crab
Those two shells at the top, in my photo above, meet up and the bigger one seems to be bullying the smaller and pulling at the shell. I plan to do some research on our local hermit crab population and write a post all about it. I most often see the Striped hermit, like the one in my photo. One time I found a Giant red hermit crab and that was awesome! Right now, I don’t know much about the activity of hermit crabs but I often find clumps of them together.
The hermits meet up
I’m always amazed at the various sizes of hermits I find in the wild. The one inside this little shell is very small. I wanted a photo of the shell to maybe identify it, but I don’t know yet what it is.
Little shell of some sort with a tiny crab inside
Below is a photo of a haven for sea life. In this murky water, which is at the base of the mangrove tree roots, are oysters, small fish, hermit crabs and quite possibly live sea snails.
There are many living creatures under this murky water
A little further along and I found higher ground where the red mangrove roots could be seen. At high tide the roots are mostly covered by water. See the oysters attached along the base of the red roots? Oysters are important for filtering the water. We have to be careful not to hit any oyster beds with our boat, and it’s one of the reasons I wear water shoes. Oysters can easily cut feet!
Oysters cling to mangrove roots
As I walked along, blue crabs scurried out of my way, or ducked into holes in the sand to hide.
A blue crab scurries out of a hole in the sand
I saw small fish, but larger fish use these mangrove areas to have their young and find food. Fiddler crabs were abundant on this island and another island we visited which was closer to the Inlet up north.
All those little brown things are tiny Fiddler crabs scurrying into the shadows as I walk by! There had to have been millions on this island…! Fiddler crabs are a favorite food of Sheepshead fish. Other fish probably eat them too.
A gazillion fiddler crabs scurrying off into the mangroves
The Best Part of Florida
In my opinion the best part of Florida is where there are few to no people. The mangroves and backwaters, during the weekdays, are peaceful and quiet. It’s like going back in time to the way Florida was before the invasion of people. I imagine this is how it looked to the Indians and explorers. But I think the wildlife was much more abundant when they were here.
Then I catch a glimpse of the high-rise condos along the Eastern horizon and it’s back to reality. I fear for this area because my biggest problem with Florida is it’s seeming lack of consideration for natural habitats. I can’t help but wonder if years from now no one will get to see what I’ve seen today.
Our first trip to stay at Silver Springs Campground was a lot of fun. This is a beautiful spot to camp, and is just down the road from Silver Springs and a chance to paddle the Silver River.
