Honeymoon Island whats on the beach

Well hello there beach friends and oh my gosh we're going to have fun. We are at a brand new beach. I have never been here before so I'm super excited to explore it. I had to wake up at four o'clock in the morning and drive 150 miles north to get to Honeymoon Island State Park. So that is where we're going to be exploring today. Brand new beaches to me are so fun because I just have no idea what's going to be here with the exception of the chestnut turbans. Now I knew chestnut turbans were going to be here as well as probably the cat eye, the operculum of those shells. So we're going to see what's here today. We're going to find, like I said, those chestnut turbans. We're going to find some of those bay scallops. We're going to find some long spine sea stars. We're going to find a couple of critters and say hi. We're going to find some things that I have never seen before and I'm going to find some things that I am just delighted over because it's so awesome. So if you're ready to see what's out there today, let's go to the beach. It's been a while since I've been to a brand new to me beach so I am just so super excited to be here. This is the Florida Fighting Conch. I see those all the time down where I am but I am now 150 miles north so I do expect to find a couple of different things. Let's see what piqued my interest. A prickly cockle and it's got a nice color on the inside and then crossbarred venus clam. Okay that's very very common but it has a little bit a little bit nicer color than I usually find and of course we're going to pick up any garbage that we see along the way. I have a feeling we're going to do okay in the bivalve department. Look at that beautiful little orange scallop and a buttercup lucine. So that's all the goodies are here in this particular pile. There's a jingle. I'll probably get that jingle. Excellent. A lot of the common stuff that's kind of been hanging around here. There's another jingle with a little drill hole in it. Okay just kind of I mean there's definitely stuff here so if there's stuff that means that there's probably going to be good stuff buried in there somewhere. Look at that bay scallop. Beautiful and another really pretty buttercup lucine. So I know I go shelling all the time but for whatever reason when I went here I felt like like I you know like this is a brand new to me beach. I'd never been here. I don't know when I'm going to be back so I was collecting like a mad woman. So the bay scallops and I was just so interested in seeing what else was here. So there's a turkey wing. It's broken. I'm not going to keep it but again I'm just kind of cataloging. That's cool. Okay turkey wings come up here too. Wow look at the color on that little horse conch and it's kind of cool because chestnut turbans will also come in that bright red color. So I'm kind of hoping maybe maybe I'll find one of those too. Beautiful Paul Newman shark eye. Wow gorgeous shell. So you can imagine like my delay at this point. I'm brand new. You know I just got here and I'm picking up shells left and right. I'm having a good old time. So that's another beautiful bay scallop. So this is my first time ever finding one. A long spined star shell. Isn't that awesome? It's not in the best condition but as far as I'm concerned it's gorgeous. Isn't that fun? So probably I'm or I'm not probably I'm definitely looking for those shells while I'm here. I assumed they would be here. Oh look at this little piece of coral. I don't know if that's golf ball coral but a little piece. So the beach is a little different. A little different. Wow very pretty. Somebody else had actually mentioned it in the comments like Pavlov. Like I see a pretty color and I just kind of start going gravitating toward it and I can't even help Oh another one of those long spined star shells. I'm probably not going to keep that one but let's see. Oh oh look how pretty with a little bit of color on the bottom. Beautiful bay scallop and look at all the birds just enjoying their morning. This place is beautiful. Now I had done a little bit of research. I had an idea of some of the different things that might be up here and the chestnut turbans was something that I did assume would be here but it really kind of took me a second to wrap my head around when you kind of come across a pile and there are just dozens and dozens and dozens of them. How fun is that? Chestnut turbans and they're all different. Sometimes they have some patterns on them. Sometimes they're monocolored but trying to make my way to the north end of the island. That is a big old lump of horse conch. All right so those are up here too. Okay so trying again heading up north to the end of the island. All right lightning whelk. Fantastic. It's a little chipped on the aperture. I mean barely so I'm going to make an exception. I'm going to hold on to that lovely lightning whelk and then sometimes the treasures are just sitting there for you. It's a little bit faded but gorgeous alphabet cone. Isn't that awesome? It's the size and that is fantastic. Great alphabet cone. Oh this is great too. The bay scallops here. They're beautiful. Look at that like black and brown and we're going to see so many of them. Some of the times they're yellow and they're kind of an orange color. They're just gorgeous and I could not resist these Florida prickly cockles. They were so the rich color on the inside. Yeah I picked up lots. Oh my gosh. So yeah I'm feeling like I'm in a candy shop. Even better like literally the best for me ever. Just drop me on a brand new beach with a ton of seashells. Oh yeah this is what I'm talking about. How fun is that? And this is what I was talking about those bay scallops. Look at the color on Yes I went a little crazy and picked up a lot of shells to the point actually where I don't know if it was about this point or somewhere soon I had to stop and take all the shells out of my shell bag put it into my backpack. Look at that angel wing because I was going so crazy. There the rich dark color on that pear whelk. Oh that's really pretty. Really pretty. Oh I got my eye on something else. Oh that's weird a chestnut turban. So pretty much every time I bent down to pick up a shell I was picking up a chestnut turban too. Oh that one's got some barnacles on it. Yep you could get picky but hey you know what sometimes even the broken ones are kind of pretty. Yeah it was absolutely awesome. So I'm already excited to go back because I kind of figure at least I know the chestnut turbans will be here. How fun is this? This is so fun. Wow. Now I imagine though if you come to this beach all the time you're like because you see them all the time and I think that's one of the things that makes the shells special is that they're rare and you don't find them all the time. But for me this experience is is so fun. I am having a ball. Now granted my goal is to get to the north end of the island and I'm having a hard time just passing by these shell piles. So I'm slowing down to pick up some chestnut turbans as well as that lovely lettered olive. Nice pointed lettered olive. Fantastic. Another beautiful bay scallop. Yeah the variegation in colors was so fun. So another awesome bay scallop. Okay hopefully this is empty. Look at that beautiful lightning welk. Holy cow. Awesome. Yep. Honeymoon Island I like you. I like you a lot. Here is a hinged giant Atlantic cockle. So that's one of the things I do find typically down in my beaches where I normally am. Kind of like the Santa Belle Fort Myers area. Beautiful. I call them beach bowls. Hold on to that just in to get some tinies. Sunray Venus clam. Oh it's so pretty. Yeah I like those too. So those are also up here. Okay interesting. I'm kind of noting all these things. That is a juvenile fighting cock. See the piece of the chestnut turban. You can kind of see so that's nacre underneath it. So underneath that outer layer it's kind of like this iridescent layer. It's called nacre. Looks like the mother of pearl. Isn't that pretty? So even the broken ones can be kind of pretty. Oh and there's one of those bay scallops. Bright orange. Beautiful. Okay and you my friend need to probably go closer to the water. So we have a little critter in here. Wow beautiful shell. I'm kind of admiring the uh stromboid notch on that. And what about this guy? All right this one's alive because I see an eyeball. So let's see if I can kind of explain a little bit better that stromboid notch. So all these shells do have like scientific names and latin names. The latin names for the Florida fighting conchs are the strombus elatus. And I don't typically use those names just because I'm not really kind of a fancy kind of girl. So here you see the two eyeballs and you see its little trunk. It's proboscis. And then the stromboid notch is there and that notch is for one of its little eyeballs. And so those two little curvy things on the end there look how its eyeball just kind of fits right in that little curve. So that's the front of the shell. I know it kind of looks like the back of the shell but that's the front of the shell and that's her little eyeballs coming out of their little notches including the stromboid notch right there. So that some friends that I got to say hi to up at honeymoon island. Awesome. Oh here's another little friend. This one has taken over this banded tulip. Looks like there might be some other kind of stuff going on there. Now I am not exactly sure what kind of hermit crab this is. My best guess is it is a flat claw hermit crab. Not exactly sure but holy cow it's cute. Looks like it might need a bigger home too. Oh it's got all sorts of little yeah we got a little ecosystem going on there. Cool. All right friend at least he has company right. All right and we're moving on to oh oh my gosh oh look at that shark guy. Oh you know what else I see? I see some hermit crab legs. So this is not empty and that means that that shell is not a keeper. That's got to stay at the beach. And look it happens. Sometimes you win some, sometimes you lose some. But whoever gets it first gets to keep it. So I'm gonna just there you go friend. I'm just gonna kind of hide you a little bit. Keep moving. Gorgeous lettered olive. Nice pointy fat little thing. Oh it's so nice. Chubby little lettered olive. Awesome. Next. What next? All right got a banded tulip that is alive. Got a little bit of resistance so that means that the critter is happily doing whatever that critter wants to do. And is this a critter? Yes we also have a critter. Mary! Oh it's cute little face. All right so we'll just leave those critters. Wow look at this awesome wrack line. All right what all is here? So definitely pieces of those chestnut turbans right? Oh and some of those common ones. Look at that cross-barred venus. I know it's really common but they're prettier here for whatever reason. That's a nice one. Yeah that's a nice one too. A chestnut turban. This it felt weird like I don't know if it's starting to fossilize but it it felt heavier than it normally should. But it's just a banded tulip. It doesn't look particularly different to me other than it just felt a little different. So again a little different one to show you. A little bit weird heavy banded tulip. Oh wow you see yeah see what I mean? Like I was I was just like a kid in a candy shop picking up candy except for me it's picking up seashells. Another chestnut. Can you believe this? There were so many. Now if you if Honeymoon Island is your typical beach are you bored of the chestnut turbans? Do you do you even pick them up? I'm curious. Do you even see them? Because man that's all I see. How fun is that? Now I've had experiences like this on Captiva where there would be a lot of the chestnut turbans but this is just this is just bananas awesome. Love it. And here now one of the things you may have noticed is how let's look at all the seashells but look at all the rocks too and then our little cormorant I guess he just decided to kind of hang out here for a hot second and he's fine. Typically those birds you don't really see them on the beach but he's fine. So he went he went on his way or her way. So you'll notice it's really really rocky here. The island got its name from this guy called Clinton Washburn. He decided to name it Honeymoon Island. He was going to kind of try to develop it and that didn't really work out. So in the 60s another developer came in and he was going to this 200 acre island a 3,000 acre island by pumping fill in from the Gulf of Mexico. Well the dredging didn't go so well because much of the material that was pumped onto the island as you can see was rock. So in 1969 the dredging permit expired and because of the efforts of local environmentalists the permit was never renewed. And then finally in 1974 the state of Florida purchased the 113 acres of the island. So it is now a state park for us to enjoy. And here is another lovely bright orange horse conch. Terrific find. Loving that bright color. Oh what do we got here? Now this particular one I couldn't quite tell. It's a paper cockle but I'm not exactly sure if it's a broad paper cockle or a spiny paper cockle. Not great with a lot of the bivalves. So I do think it's a paper cockle just not sure if it's a broad or spiny. Any help would be appreciated down in those comments below. This I don't need help with. This I do know is a calico clam. Aren't they pretty? The calico clams and the sunray venus clams are just so pretty. For a clam shell they're gorgeous. Gorgeous chestnut turban. Yeah the nacre, the outside, the kind of beaded texture, the way that the colors are. They're so pretty. I like them anyway and just the fact that there's just so many of them I don't find them like this typically. So I'm having a ball. Please be empty. Yes! Look at the color on that. Oh it's so pretty. So that is a juvenile fighting cock. Loving the color of that. Yep digging the color on that too. Another chestnut turban. So many and they're just you know each one is individual so there's no two the same. Each one is its own little treasure. Now that I think of it probably something that drove me crazy in the identify but I just love those fighting cocks and I'm probably going to bring a couple of chestnut turbans home as well. The cut ribbed arc. Now check this out. So this is a cut ribbed arc. I've picked these up before but you know what I never really noticed? The cuts in the ribs. Hence the name cut ribbed arc. My mind is blown. I never noticed that. So that's where that shell gets its name from the actual cuts in the ribs there and that one actually had them. It was very very cool. Very very cool. And this is another one of those long spined star shells. It's a little beat up. I don't care on this one. It's got a little bit of spininess to it so I'm going to keep this one. And a Florida prickly cockle. All right we have those down where I typically shell as well. As well as the littered olives. Yep that is not a stranger to me. Awesome awesome. Florida prickly cockles. Look at that color. So yeah it's been a hard day. Oh please be empty because every time I pick something up I just want to keep it. Oh I wanted to keep that too and that's okay. This is a critter and that one needs to stay here. Yeah I know what am I doing? Put him there. It's gotta go all the way. There we go. Oh look at its little eyeballs. It's checking out its little trip. Getting a little lift. Okay lightning whelk. Beautiful. Awesome lightning whelk. Those are relatively common warrey shells. See they seem sort of common up here too. Look at the color on that one. Isn't that pretty? So we're going to give this critter another ride. So the tide is very very low. Tide is coming in and I'm gonna bring those out. I had to stop because I didn't have a chestnut turban that color yet. So I had to pick that up. All right and this little critter. Yeah I'm gonna get it into the water. There you go friend. Then I got myself a cool chestnut turban. Oh just look at this scene. Look how pretty. Isn't that pretty? So many shells. But I'm really going for that long spine star shell after I get this bay scallop. Yep that's the shell I was looking at. Those are so pretty. Look at all the texture on that. That is a really neat shell. That long spine star shell. And then that's just kind of cool. It's worn down a little different. So I'm not slowing down on the turbans. Although I do. I promise I do eventually kind of slow down on them. I do. But I'm still kind of you know new to the beach here and still just delighted to be here. Delighted to give these little snails a little trip to the water. Another one of those hinged calico clams. This is on the the bigger side versus a little itty ones. Beautiful. All right in this shot I totally missed a shell. That limpet right there. Totally missed it. But I did get this gorgeous shark eye. It's got a little bit of that blue eye. It's like a baby. A baby Paul Newman shark eye. Oh little pear walk. Beautiful color. That yellow undertone color is so nice. Normally it's kind of a white color. No shortage of treasures. Oh pretty. I wish it was that fire engine color. But isn't that beautiful? Like that orange chestnut turban. Beautiful. Oh a Florida worm snail. Aren't they weird? Love them. Love a good worm snail. And this true tulip that had to repair itself at some point. So that shell was cracked and the critter did need to repair itself. And it's a little chewed up. But it's in I never find the true tulips or very rarely. So I'm going to hold on to that. I don't know if the color will come back. I'm gonna I'm gonna find out though. I'll dip that in acid one of these days. And look at this gorgeous pile. So if you are a fan of chestnut turbans I do recommend you hit Honeymoon Island. And I suspect that you will not be disappointed. And you will come home with lots and lots of those chestnut turbans. It's just bananas awesome. Love it. Another one of those. Look at that. Beautiful shells. There's another beautiful shell. A lightning whelp. Terrific. Well hi that's another. Oh it's empty. A banded tool. Fantastic. All right. Nice color on that too. And then a beach bowl because I'm here and it is too. And I should probably take it. Wow. Beautiful. Beautiful beaded chestnut turban. So I've been doing a lot of talking and a lot of picking up. So I'm going to be quiet and let you enjoy some long sleeve shirt and shorts. It is absolutely beautiful here. I'm having so much fun. And the seashells are cooperating. So thank you. It would have been a little bit of a bummer to drive 150 miles and not find anything good. But I am having a ball. Would you look at that. How cool is that. So I suspect that that's like sand or something that was packed inside a shell and it just kind of turned to stone along as time went on. Kind of neat right. This is kind of neat. A little sand dollar. I've been hanging around here for a while but so we get sand dollars up here too. So what a great variation of different things that you can find here. Now this shell is a little bit of a mystery to me and hopefully maybe somebody could help me out. My best guess is that this is a Florida lucine but I don't really know. I think it's a juvenile Florida lucine but I'm not sure. And all the ones I found were about that size so I don't know. It's kind of a pretty mystery white shell. And it's curious as to why I'm shelling like I'm on vacation. Like I'm shelling like I only get to shell like once a year. I'm going a little bananas. But I'd like to point out I'm leaving a lot of shells too. Like I only picked up that one. Look at all the other ones I'm leaving behind. Another cool long spine star shell. Awesome. Another. Oh look at the color on that bay scallop. Beautiful. I can't leave that behind. All the other ones I do though. Look I'm only gonna take that one or it's technically it's two because it's hinged. So a hinged sunray venus clam. Beautiful. Yep. A lovely hinged sunray venus clam. And this is broken but it's empty. Oh I wish we had met sooner. If only. Well what about you? Well you're empty. Juvenile fighting conch. Oh how pretty. And a broken pear whelk. Look there's just goodies everywhere. Wow that's a big one. Big chestnut turban. A little broken one. Beautiful. Oh it's alive. It's alive. I see little eyeball. Oh and it's kind of pink the shell. Beautiful. All right critter I'm gonna let you do your thing. Oh do you see it? Oh my gosh it's huge. It's beautiful. It's a baby ear. Would you look at that? It's stunning. Absolutely stunning. I've not found one in so long. Look how big it is. So that is a big beautiful baby's ear. Oh man that's cool. That is so cool. And this again super duper common where I typically am. A cross barred venus clam shell. It's still kind of neat. Kind of cool here. The color's a little bit more different. And an egg cockle. Looks like it has been kind of kicking around the beach for a little while. Another star shell. Oh drat. I was hoping for at least one really good one with some nice long spines. Although I certainly can't complain about what I'm finding right? A turkey wing. Also known as a zigzag arc. All right it's a little worse for wear. Probably will not keep So I'm thinking it's alive. Nope. Wow. Lucky. Look at the color on that. Gorgeous lightning welk. Give a little TLC to that beautiful shell. Gorgeous. So I have not tired yet of the chestnut turbines. Oh I don't think I'm gonna get it. That's a sun ray venus clam. But I was kind of looking at that bright orange cross barred venus clam. Oh well. I know how you guys feel. You see that shell and I didn't pick it up. I know how you feel. I do it to myself sometimes. And then this is just again another beautiful shot. Can you see what I mean? That's why I'm just so animated and so excited. This is just so cool. Super fun. The baby's ear. The alphabet cone. All these chestnut turbines. It's beautiful out. Lucky girl. Now this. See that color? I know you might have been thinking Florida horse cock. But that is a ribbed cantherous. Isn't that neat? So that bright orange color will trance. Some of the other shells have that super bright orange color. And that is a ribbed cantherous. Very very cool. So guys, girls, beach friends. We've been together for a while. And next week we are going to continue to find amazing treasures. I promise. And we're going to say hi to a critter or two. And we're going to find finally the operculums of those chestnut turbines. And this that's just a sample of the shells that do not make it to that big shell board that I show you every week. So that's the shells that don't make it there. So believe me, next week is going to be just as much fun. Patreons, I would like to thank you for helping me pay for this little excursion. The $8 state park entrance fee as well as the gas to get up to Honeymoon Island. So thank you so very much for supporting me and everybody else. I hope you had fun. Thank you for coming along. We will continue next week. I find more never before found never found before shells. Tripping over my words. I promise it's going to be fun. So I hope you have a great week and I will see you again next Sunday. Transcribed by https://otter.ai