Tag: Florida beaches

Shells Found on a Deserted Beach

Found lots of knobbed whelks on this deserted island beach in Mosquito Lagoon. And a few other pretty shells.

A Trip by Water

I wrote a post about our trip down to this island on a previous post, “A Beach All Our Own”.

Now I want to share some photos of the shells we found on this deserted beach.

The water was very clear right near shore. The darker part is where the grass is growing.

Warm water, but creepy grass – I didn’t swim
Beachcombing the rocky shoreline

The Island Beach

We, my son, daughter and me, visited this Spoil Island in October, after Hurricane Ian, which hit our area the end of September. It is likely that many of the shells we saw had been uncovered by the waves. The beach erosion, and tree in the water, was most likely from that storm.

Mosquito Lagoon island
Spoil island along the ICW
Everywhere the water is very shallow

Shells We Found

I’ve never found so many knobbed whelks in one place. In fact, I rarely find knobbed whelks on our normal boating trips. But this island had many. None were in perfect condition, but they were also empty, so I collected a few.

There were hermit crabs on this island. The crown conch and tulip shell (pictured below) both contained hermits, so I got photos and left them alone. A hermit crab would need to be quite large to live in, and carry, a heavy knobbed whelk shell.

The angel wing shell is encrusted with hard sand that doesn’t come off. Quite a few of the shells and pieces are a pretty pink-orange color, and a few were yellow.

knobbed whelk
Knobbed whelk
Knobbed whelk spire
Spire
knobbed whelk inside
Crown conch
knobbed whelks
Knobbed whelks
lightning whelk
Lightning whelks
shark’s eye seashells
Array of colorful shark’s eye shells
banded tulip shell
Banded Tulip
angel wing seashell
Angel wing
seashells
Holes in shells are made by predators.

The two gray scallop shells are very interesting as they differ in appearance.

Finding the Creepy Face

My daughter was beach combing at the front of the islands on the rocks, and called me over. As she went to hand the shell (face) to me, it fell on the ground. Because she dropped it, we thought it didn’t want to come with us. I brought it home anyway and it’s in my garden. I was going to sneak it into her suitcase to creep her out when she got home and unpacked. But I like it too much and wanted to keep it. The Face is now watching over my raised bed garden.

face in a shell
The creepy face
Shell collection on boat
Shells on the boat
broken whelk piece in water
Piece of a large whelk at the shore
mossy knobbed whelk
Moss covered knobbed whelk
Facing the mainland

Thanks for reading!

Pictures of Beaches on The East Coast of Florida

Beach photography taken on and near New Smyrna Beach in Florida.

This is a quick post with some photo collages of past pictures of the beaches I frequent on the East coast of Florida.

Location: Ponce Inlet, New Smyrna Beach, backwater islands of the ICW near Edgewater and Oak Hill.

Ponce Inlet Beach
Ponce Inlet Beach
Low tide at the inlet
Low tide at the inlet
Sea greenery
Sea greenery
island beach at low tide
Island beach at low tide
grass on island
Sea grass and tiny shells
beach on ICW river
Saltwater river beach made up of tiny seashells
blog about seashells
Clouds building for the afternoon storms
Ponce Inlet jetty
Ponce Inlet jetty
dark clouds at beach
Storm at the Coast
Beach at the Inlet
Beach at the Inlet

We vacationed at a house on the waterway one year and although the house was not to our liking, the location was perfect. The sunrise photo was taken there. Continue reading “Pictures of Beaches on The East Coast of Florida”

Late in the Day Trip to Smyrna Dunes Park

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One of the long boardwalks that make up the park.

Recently I went to Smyrna Dunes State Park to walk, visit the beach, and take photos. My camera was full, so I had to keep deleting photos to take more, which was annoying.   I would have taken a lot more photos.

My son had his girlfriend visiting over the Christmas break. She lives in New Hampshire and had never been to Florida. Well, the Christmas break is NOT the time to visit as everyone in the world is visiting Florida then…. or they are waiting to come for the spring break, which is also a horrible (touristy) time to come here.

We went to Smyrna Dunes Park late in the day and had to leave by 6:00PM or be locked in, so I was constantly checking the time. I was the odd man (woman) out accompanying the young sweethearts on a romantic stroll among the dunes, but I did come in handy when it came to photo taking.

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We ended up on the west side by the Intracoastal (Indian River) where the sun was beginning to set and my son wanted pictures. So I used the girlfriend’s cell phone to take most of them, and got some very good photos (if I do say so myself). The sun was setting and they posed in silhouette… ah, young love!

The Park is a long boardwalk over the dunes that leads to the ocean and river  in several places, and Ponce Inlet. I had visited this place years ago – probably 15 or 16 – and it has changed. Now there are trails just for dog walkers, and there were many people taking advantage. The dogs are not allowed on the boardwalks except at certain places.

seashells

At one point we walked down to the beach by the rocky jetty. The tide was out, and lots of little shells were caught in seaweed along the beach. My picture here shows some of the seashells I found. Pieces of shells that were once quite big, and the regular finds of the incongruous arks and cross barred venus clam.

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We saw a gopher turtle (tortoise) snacking on some weeds in the dunes (no photo, camera issues), and I was reminded of the one that used to live in the corner of my yard. They are big turtles and slide down into their dens that are a maze of underground tunnels. My daughter volunteered at the Central Florida Zoo (named differently now) and learned all about them. They are quite amazing wild animals. With all the building going on constantly in this state, they are threatened. The gopher turtle, like much wildlife in this state, has lost a lot of it’s natural habitat.

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Ponce Inlet lighthouse and beach at the end of the boardwalk.

We had a lovely time walking the boardwalk, and I was sorry I didn’t just buy the $20 yearly pass. I may go back and use this place as my exercise area. But I do have a beach pass, so I can drive onto the beach and then use the boardwalk, or simply walk along the beach. I’m lucky to live so close to this beautiful area.