Florida Beachcombing

 

I now have 3 containers of seashells plus several items not in containers. I have done beachcombing at Hilton Head (South Carolina); Amelia Island (Florida), including Little Talbot Island State Park to the south; Gulf Shores (Alabama), with a side trip to Perdido, Florida; Sanibel Island; and several areas around New Smyrna Beach (Florida). The beach across from our condo in New Smyrna Beach was not a good shelling beach. Smyrna Dunes State Park and Canaveral National Seashores were better.

When you first start beachcombing, everything is new and exciting. Usually, you have little idea of what you collected. Now, I have a pretty good idea of what I pick up. I want to find new specimens; I want to find certain items like a cone shell or Scottish bonnet, neither of which I have.

I find it interesting that very different items predominate at the different beaches I have walked. Amelia Island had tons of cockles; Gulf Shores mostly coquinas; Sanibel at the time I was there mostly fighting conchs and pen shells. But Sanibel is a special case because of the way it is situated, and the finds there change with the tides and weather a lot. That is why it is a great place to beachcomb, especially in the winter after storms.

I do not care to join in the hunt for the perfect shell; I pick up pieces if they are colorful or an interesting shape. Still, I imagine it is a thrill to find a shell in great condition. I loved finding some olive shells with high glossy color at Smyrna Dunes.

The Bailey-Matthews National Seashell Museum showed me that there are places in this world that have spectacular shells. That does not ruin my enjoyment of United States beaches. Because I am not obsessed with finding treasures, I enjoy each piece I choose to possess.

The very last shell I picked up on this trip (at Canaveral National Seashores while walking to the parking lot), is a homely thing, but so different than what I already had. That one I had to research to identify. There was a certain satisfaction in ending my Florida stay with a new kind of shell. (Imperial venus clam).

We think we may take a Caribbean cruise next winter; my beachcombing days are probably coming to an end. Yet, if I should find myself at a beach in the future, I am sure I will not just lie in the sun. I will be out there eyes cast down to the sand.

While on Sanibel, a little boy around 7-8 years old showed me his find at Bowman’s Beach. His advice to me was “You gotta get in the muck.” I wear a pair of cheap canvas slip-on shoes from Kmart to protect my feet from sharp objects, but I don’t mind if they get wet or sandy. Heeding the advice, at Smyrna Dunes I was treading the area next to the waveline when suddenly I sank almost up to the top of my shoes. When I tried to get free, I sank even more, almost like quicksand. When I finally escaped, one of my shoes was still stuck in the muck. I had to retrieve it. I don’t think I am a muck person. How about you?

Here are most of the shells I collected during our recent trip to Florida. Starting with the little white plate at the upper left: lettered olives, sea urchin test, seaglass; going clockwise: turkey wings, pieces of shark’s eyes (a type of snail), possibly pieces of ram’s horn squid shells; beneath the turkey wings are broad-ribbed carditas and ceriths, to the right of those, the brown with white streaks is a bittersweet clam, the one with the deep grooves is an imperial venus clam (my last find) and I am not sure about the other two; the far right perimeter includes kittenpaws, spiny jewelboxes, and one auger; working back across the table to the left: slipper shells, the really big shells are quahogs, jingles, and banded tulips (mostly fragments), next to the plate a disc dosinia with both halves attached, angelwings and Campeche angelwings.

Under the quahogs, are lots of calico scallops. All the color variations and patterns fascinate me. There are orange calicos, but I think the little orange one may be a rough scallop because the ears are not quite symmetrical. The larger whitish shell at the edge of the scallops is a prickly cockle. Underneath the large array of scallops is an oystershell with a tiny bubble shell.

To the left of the oyster, are two cross-barred venus clams, pieces of whelks including one tiny whole lightning whelk (with the streaks), coquinas, calico clams, the white channeled duckclam, with two apple murexes. Above that are the Florida fighting conchs, including several juvenile ones. Whew! And there are many more specimens at Florida beaches that I do not have.

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 Other bits and pieces, including arks and whelks.

Lettered olives, scallops, a banded tulip, a kittenpaw, sea urchin test, seaglass.

I put some of the smaller shells inside big cockles to display. The round white shell in the right cockle is a baby’s ear I found in the beach hash (piles of broken up shells) on Amelia Island. The deeply grooved shell in the right cockle is the imperial venus clam.

Several large pieces and one almost whole whelk found at Little Talbot Island State Park several years ago flung ashore during an extremely windy gray day. We were going to eat a picnic lunch, but had to eat in the car.

Thanks for letting me share my shells. I learned a lot doing beachcombing and enjoyed walking the beaches. Maybe you will give it a try?