What can I find at Lighthouse Beach?

Most days when I come to Sanibel Island, I feel hopeful and peaceful, the water is calm, the birds are going about their day, and somehow just being here makes the troubles of the world seem a little further away. But not every day at the beach is like that. Sometimes something happens that changes what's going on inside of us. And recently I had one of those days I heard and saw something happening to an animal that I care about and I became pretty angry. And as you know, life is like that. No matter how much you try to control and curtail your surroundings, you cannot control other people on the beach. So in the name of keeping it real, we are going to explore Lighthouse Beach and I will show you all the delightful little treasures I find, which I assure you will be more exciting than broken calico scallops, and I will share one of the less than positive interactions I've had with humans on the beach. Oh look, a little coquina. But you know, sometimes a negative moment can still become the beginning of something good. Now I am here at low tide, or at least the tide is going out. This is a corrugate jewel box. And my thinking was, for now, since the tide's going out, maybe I'll concentrate on the beach. So that's two corrugate jewel boxes. Someone recently had mentioned that I hadn't showed them on the channel, and I'm not sure if it's just because I wasn't interested or they weren't there. Hard to say. But right here, those are two, and here's going to be another one. There is another. They're just, they're funny. I always just call them like chewing gum. They're very irregular. Oh, and a little kitten's paw. Delightful. Another little hardy shell. So the corrugate jewel boxes, the kitten paws, and also this, the broad-ribbed cardidas, they're also, they're chunky shells that they really got some oomph to them. You wouldn't need to worry about walking on them. Not that I walk on the shells. I like to see them to see if it's something I need to add to my collection. All right, well that didn't work. I very quickly made my way to the water. That's the favorite place for me to shell. What do we get? Okay, an auger. Terrific. And yeah, I am going to find a couple of really great things. It's summer, it does turn a little bit slower, but it just means I need to hunt a little bit harder. And when that happens, the shells show up. So if you're ready to see what all is out there on Lighthouse Beach for us today, let's go to the beach. Now it did kind of see right off the bat, my heart kind of sank because they're really, there's lots of shells here, but it's a lot of the common shells. So I was honestly coming here hoping for tinies, I was, and a good thing because that's pretty much what I'm going to find. That is little fighting conch, but I was coming for rental traps. I was really hoping, and the conditions do not look like they're in my favor, but we'll have, just have to kind of see. All right, in the swash here, my favorite place. All right, another auger. Lovely. There's four different augers down here in Southwest Florida. I've only found, there's three other ones I'm still looking for. The Sally's auger, which I found, that was on the East Coast. So that doesn't technically count. So we do have a lettered olive and another, just an Eastern auger. There is a many-lined auger, a lilac auger. So there's a couple other ones I'm kind of on the hunt for. Who knows? Maybe today will be the day I find one. And that's the cool thing. Who knows? You never know what's going to be out there. Could be a banded tulip, could be not much of anything. So yes, that is a sweet little banded tulip, and I'm happy there's no Hermes in there. So perfectly safe to collect. Oh, a coquina. The variable coquina. Yes, they are known for just the sheer variety and the coloration of those shells. All right, so there's little things here. I'm definitely going to have to hunt a little harder. What do we got here? All right, an apple myrix that has seen better days, but at least it's here. You never know where there's one. There could be one that's recently vacated. So a spotted slipper snail. Now slipper snails, they adhere to other things. So they have that ledge on the inside. They are a gastropod, meaning they don't have like another shell that connects to it. That's all there is. Just a slipper snail. That is a spotted slipper snail, not to be confused with this one, which is the Atlantic slipper snail. So it doesn't have those kind of cool spots or the spikes like the spiny slipper snail. So there's a couple of different slipper snails that we have down here. Say that five times fast. Okay, another banded tulip. I'll take whatever kind of gastropod I can get. Oh, a little drill hole in there. So it's possible that animal was predated. So we do have a little empty banded tulip. Oh, a tinted cantherous. Now this tinted cantherous is not in great shape. It's fine. Not in great shape. Well, it's been hanging out at the beach for a little while. A turkey wing. Yep, not broken. I have to check the other side. They're just kind of irregular. And my understanding is they kind of lagoon-y, like marshy areas. So I don't know why they show up at the beach. I don't know. I'm not going to complain. So we have another spotted slipper snail. And I'm hiding, okay, the cross barred venus clam. I think it was that interior yellow color that just kind of caught my attention. The cross barred venus clam, very, very, very, very common. But if you get them when they're kind of fresh or new, they can be quite pretty. Now I needed to check kind of around the corner of the lighthouse. And I didn't think there was going to be anything there, but I had to check. Now what I hear is I hear someone going to the left, to the right, to the right, to left, to left. And I look up and there is this guy coaching this kid how to touch the manatee. Now the manatee is that dark area. Now it's in between them. And we're kind of having an exchange. And I did tell the guy that it is illegal to touch them. And obviously, you know, he didn't care. So if him touching the manatee didn't make me angry, what he said really made me mad. And look, I made a choice. I saw something that I could not ignore. I said something. I did report this over to FWC, but let's talk about the law a little bit. It is unlawful for any person at any time intentionally or negligently to annoy, molest, harass, or disturb any manatee. Was what that guy doing illegal? I don't know. It says you're not intentionally supposed to harass them. He was coaching that kid how to touch the manatee. And let's just look, FWC on their website here, being near manatees, look, but don't touch. It just to me is common sense. It is a wild animal. You wouldn't want to disturb it. Why? Well, mostly because these laws are in place for the protections of the animals, because we don't want them to lose their natural fear of boats and humans, which will make them more susceptible to harm. Believe me, I love these critters and I would love to touch them and pet them and hug them, but it's not good for them. And that's why we don't do it. Now back to more positive things to talk about. Now this is a cross-barred venus clam. It has been worn down. So pretty much all that's left is really that interior. Strangely, I don't find the yellow versions of this. That shell can be either yellow or purple. And I always end up finding the purple worn down ones. Well, look at this delightful little beaded chestnut turban. Well, thanks for showing up Pat. We needed a little bit of a variety here. Oh, another one? That's okay. I know I mentioned variety. Look at the, oh, very nice on the color variations of that chestnut turban. Now I know you can get the turbans here. I've never found the operculums for the chestnut turbans here. I really wish I could, because I love them. All right, we have a little shark eye that, yep, looks like it was predated. The shark eyes, it is a shark eye, eat shark eye world out there for certain. A little drill. Now shark eyes drill, so do these guys. That is a gulf oyster drill. And so they literally will attach themselves to other snails, drill holes, and slurp out the contents. Here is an auger. Augers like to eat worms. They do have that little harpoon like we kind of hear about with the cone shells, but augers like worms. The calico scallop. Now they pretty much typically filter feed. I get to see them live more in the when we kind of get some of these storms that come through. Calico scallops. That's another calico scallop. Don't normally see yellow. Yellow is not a color I typically find at the beach. Pretty though. Well, buttercup lucine, but yeah, lovely. Another calico scallop. This, the condition of this ribbed cantharis. Wow. Look at the little bumps and ribs on top. Oh, it's gorgeous. So yeah, that's the shell. That's the shell for me today. It's all I needed. One little delightful ribbed cantharis. That doesn't mean I'm not going to stop looking like, all right, got a little bubble. Now bubbles are good. Well, because they kind of tend to hang out with wentel traps. Although, I mean, again, the conditions are not even anywhere close to something I would hope to find a wentel trap. So, oh, okay. I was hunting something. I paid, my patience paid off and I did manage to find that little drill. And then there was also a little coquina. So yeah, the wave action is enough where it's kind of annoying, but it's okay. Look, a sharp ribbed drill. Oh, that is cool. Yay. A delight and it's empty. Yes. Gorgeous little sharp ribbed drill. All right. Okay. Here we have another cantharis. I don't get quite as excited over the tinted cantharis that I do. The ribbed cantharis. Still, that is a very lovely example of a tinted cantharis. Now here's a dark serif. It's on the smaller side. Another lovely little beaded shell. I love how these critters kind of decorate their shells. Okay. That is a, all right, little broken. Yep. That's a lightning welk. The sinister fulgur, sinister. Yeah. I'm probably going to save that for somebody else. Oh, that lady definitely needs that shell. But this little one, it's a little goofy, but I'm going to keep it. Yeah. I don't know why. I don't know why some appeal to me. Some don't. We all have our things, right? All right. Next, I was getting a little grabby with another, is that a gulf oyster drill? Yeah. I'm going to go with gulf oyster drill. Oh, a little moon snail, a little shark eye. It's broken. I don't care. That'll do just fine. And there was a little shell inside that other drill. Oh no. So yeah. Once I started pulling it, I'm like, oh man. So it's, it's a lightning welk. It's alive. Oh, I'm not going to leave it here. I had seen this picture of an x-ray. Someone had jumped off of a boat and they got their foot impaled by a lightning welk. So I don't know, that vision just kind of was in my head. So I did dig up the lightning welk. I moved it out into deeper water so no humans or snails would be harmed. And now I'm going to go back about my business here in the swash zone. All right. Here is an apple murix, an empty apple murix. Fantastic. Oh, it's cute. Yep. That's just terrific. Yeah. So I kept trying because again, overall, I really came here for wensel traps, but the conditions, they just weren't like, that's not, this is not the area I would look for them. And none of the areas I was kind of looking for that grit, like the black stuff. And so I kept trying and I kept ending up back in the water. A little horse conch, kind of crazy that that little snail can grow up to like well over a foot big. It just, it's crazy. Oh, a turkey wing. You adorable little thing. Yep. All right. It's a little broken. I don't care. Oh, it's so cute. Yep. Lovely little turkey wing. All right. Now this I call the imposter because it kind of looks like a wensel trap, but it is a fly speck serif. Beautiful. The condition's nice and clear and a bruised nasa augers and bubbles. Good. As long as something shows up, frankly. All right. What other delightful little thing? What do we have? A little gulf oyster trail. And it's worn down a little bit. That is all right. As long as it shows up. Okay. Kind of waiting for that tide to go out. It's getting there. It's getting there. But honestly, I don't know if it's going to help me. I think the conditions that I have are, it is what it is. So I'm just going to kind of keep, keep doing what I'm doing. We have another little gulf oyster drill. Fun color on that, even though it's a little bit worn down. Yeah, that's kind of neat. It's just different. And then the little bubble. Fun. Let's see another drill of some sort. Yep. And we have, survey says, oh, I think we're looking at a thick lipped drill versus the sharp ribbed drill. Yep. And a couple of bubbles in a shark eye and a partridge in a pear tree. I do love these little tiny stuff. I think we're looking at a little apple murex. Yep. Yep. I've mentioned it a couple of times. I do. I'm hoping to catch, to catch, yeah, to catch and to find little shells for the winter. I want to mess around with resin. That is another little gulf oyster drill. And that's okay that there's a little hole in it. Oh, I'll figure something out. All right. Now that I think is a thick lipped drill. Yeah, they do sometimes get little shells jammed in the aperture. Olives. Always. That always happens. Now, now this is a sharp ribbed drill and I do kind of confuse them. I think it's the whole sharp ribbed, thick lipped thing, but I, the sharp ribbed drill. That's so pretty. Yep. Gorgeous. A buttercup lucine. Nice to see a little yellow and then a spotted slipper snail. So the buttercup is a bivalve. There would be another piece to the buttercup, not on the slipper snail. Okay. I think there we're looking at one of those Atlantic drill. It just looks different. Maybe it's a worn down moth mouth. I mean, it's possible. It just looks different than some of the other drills that I normally find. I mean, I don't know a little bit of a mystery, but apple myricks, no mystery there. Yeah. The color, color gave it away. Even though sometimes they're like blonde. And then there's also like the brunette versions of them. Very nice little apple myricks. Welcome to the party. Apple myricks. Okay. This is a really popular beach. There was more people here than I've seen at some of the other beaches. So it is what it is, but this is also where I typically find the wentel traps. And that's what I came here for, but they apparently weren't paying attention when I sent the memo because they're, I don't think they're here. I'm going to keep looking, but again, it's the conditions. Like I, I have a hard enough time finding them. Honestly, I just, they're so rewarding to find because they're difficult. So I just really enjoy it, but I'm going to have to console myself with this rather yellow crossbar Venus clam for now. Going to keep looking. Never know. My luck may change. Tides going out, back in the water. And we have another little chestnut turban with a shark eye and a little bubble. Very nice. Again, just kind of happy that they're, I'm happy just to be hunting frankly, and that there's a little something to, to go. Now that's a thick lipped drill. Yep. Worn down a little bit. And there's another Gulf oyster drill. They kind of got like droopy shoulders and it really, I, it just helps. You just got to pick up about a billion of them and it really starts to kind of lock in. That is a little Florida fighting conch. It's the patterns. It's seeing them over and over and over. You kind of can tease apart the patterns. A little button. It's an odd, yeah, it looks like it's a little misshapen. Like that top whorl, it's kind of stacked a little bit higher. It's just different. I like it. Sometimes I keep the shells just because of their color. And then I tell myself when I do something with it one day, this is a little horse conch with its little white cap, little candy corn looking thing. Okay. Got grabby over another, look at how beat up it's like Swiss cheese, the Swiss cheese shell. That is a Gulf oyster drill that has really had a minute here at the beach. Don't worry. You can come home with me. Oh, a little, we have a banded tulip, another little banded tulip. Centura hunteria. Oh my goodness. Very nice. Spiny jewel box. Yeah, that is cool. That spikes. Yeah. It's a little black. It's nothing a little bleach can't, can't take care of. It's a lovely little spiny jewel box. Yeah. On slower days, I will be, um, Gulf oyster drill. I will be a little more prone to collecting and cleaning shells. Although I'm trying to be bratty and just kind of find clean shells. Now this is just a piece of a Sanibel turid. I am still waiting for the day where I find a Sanibel turid on Sanibel. Not yet. Only a piece. That's the closest I've come so far. That's okay. Yeah. This swash zone really seems to be, uh, we have a Gulf oyster drill and a couple of fighting conchs. It really seems to be more productive as much as I want to go up and look for one to try. I just kind of keep coming back here. So it is what it is for me anyway. I know people like to, they like to show a little bit differently, right? That is a broken fighting conch and a really slimy drill of some sort. So on a slower day, I might collect some slimy shells. Okay. There is a little horse conch. Terrific. That's right here. Oh, what did I see? What am I going to chase? Two. Oh, a little nutmeg. Yay. A little nutmeg and another little banded tulip. Oh, well that's just wonderful. I haven't seen a nutmeg yet today. Okay. That is a Florida prickly cockle that is a little bit, yeah, we're going to go with albinistic. So it doesn't have its full colors, just slightly. I think they're beautiful either way. Another drill. Yeah. Another kind of beat up Gulf oyster drill. Yeah. All right. Another little fighting conch. Yeah. Some of these snails look very different as juveniles than they do adults and others. That's variable worm rock or worm snail. So worms can make little, yeah, we know worm snails. So some of them just kind of act a little differently. There is another one of those crossbar Venus clams. Yeah. Purple's not terribly impressive. Yeah. I do see a slipper snail there. Broken bits and pieces. Oh, that is a live lettered olive buried and kind of, so yeah, that means the tide is going out, but we knew that. It's just not helping me. I mean, it is what it is. It's hard when you're looking for something that's like two times the size of a grain of rice and they're white also in conditions like this. Yeah. And that's, I think why I enjoy it so much because I find it really difficult. Yeah. I don't think today's my day and that's all right. I have fully recognized that I need some of these slower days to make the exciting days really exciting. A banded tulip. There's like seaweed and like stuff in there, but that is a rather intact banded tulip. I'm not sure if I'm going to leave that for somebody else or not, but yay. Another gastropod is here. Wow. Wow. That's as pretty as that other one we got. Oh, and look, a bonus barnacle. So that is another ribbed cantharis. Oh, it's so pretty. I just love, you can just see all the little, all the little bits and pieces. That's another bubble that's broken. Yeah. Probably pass on that one. Although frankly, the aperture might've been okay, but that's all right. Oh, I'll just settle for this one. Yep. That is really pretty. Beautiful little button. Yeah. There's a hole in it. Don't care. That's fine. Gorgeous little buttons now. Okay. Any tinies, coquinas? No, we're mostly looking at transverse arcs, crossbarred venus clams. Some of the smaller ponderosaurus. I mean, most of the stuff here is really small. Yeah. I'm not even finding intact little shells here. Most of them obviously was pretty much in the swash zone, which is where I spent a majority of my time. But at this point, I've been talking the entire time. I think I'm going to be quiet and let you have some beach time. Oh, a sand dollar. Hello, sand dollar. Yep. It doesn't seem terribly active. It also kind of a little bit looks like something's been nibbling on it. All right. Very, very active with the cilia underneath. The edges look a little nibbled on. I'm going to just push some sand on kind of, not bury it, but I'm going to get a little bit of camouflage. Kind of how I found it. Okay. So this is looking a little bit wintel trappy, but you'd need wintel traps in order for it to look or be like in conditions you want, but that's okay. Oh, a tusk shell. Someone had mentioned a tusk shell. Tusk shell recently. And I tend to find them even when I'm not looking for them. So I think they're kind of common here. They just kind of pop up. I never look for them. And just all of a sudden, sometimes they kind of show up. Now this adorable little kitten paw. Oh, I think that's going to look perfect in my tiny, tiny collection. So I have a little collection of shells. We're all like little tiny. Oh, look at that little Mexican tellin. There's a little top snail. Oh, the adorable little spectral bittersweet. Anyway, when I saw that little kitten paw, yep. I knew exactly where it was going to go. And plus I get to show you all these adorable little shells. So yeah, I have a little tiny collection. That's what that looks like. So now that kitten paw is safely in my tiny collection, but yeah, no, nothing intact, nothing whole, no little shells, just bits and pieces. I mean, I really tried. I had my magnifying glass clipped to my backpack. I was ready to go, but I was just, yeah, it just kept going back to the swash zone. No, that's where the shells were. That's where I was kind of having the most fun. So olive and okay. A little bit bigger of a chestnut turban. Fun. You know, yeah, at least there are shells here. So I do know that this is not going to be the most exciting video I've ever made, but frankly, I think that would get boring too after a while. Beautiful olive. I mean, like if every single time I showed up the beach, there was just cones and just beautiful specimens all over, it would kind of lose its allure. I like the hunt. Little horse conch showed up for me. Thank you very much, little horse conch. I appreciate you, you and all your other little friends. Now this critter, so that's what I like about low tide too. We get to see some critters. We have a pear whelk and I love that the body of the pear whelk is white, unlike the lightning whelk where the body of the animal is black. Yeah, I just find that interesting. Yeah, pear whelk just cruising along. We see its little brown operculum kind of rear of the end of the shell or the rear of the animal, the posterior part. We have an ibis. I was, I almost said snowy egret, but I think we're looking at an ibis here. Yep, yep. With his little sewing machine like action, he's trying to feel, so he'd be looking for crabs, worms, other little delicious things that might be living under the sand, like just the sand dollar. Now the sand dollar is going to eat sand and detritus and algae and all sorts of other little delightful things. Now the way that Sanibel is situated, it's kind of fun. It doesn't really go north to south. And so the sunset is going to kind of be behind us, but I can see the sunrise sometimes. You just don't see the land in front of it. So I can be here and it looks like the sun is coming up over the ocean. It is kind of fun. And I'm going to get to do that soon. The low tides are coming in the morning soon. So I didn't get any wental traps today and that is just fine because I did manage to clean up a little bit of garbage, not enough to really weigh in, but I don't care. As long as the garbage off is off the beach, that's truly my goal. Now I did manage to find a couple of things. There was that buttercup lucina, little nasa, the corrugate jewel boxes, spiny jewel box, giant Atlantic cockle, bunch of augers. We have a bunch of bubbles. There's thick-lipped drills, sharp-ribbed drills, some other drills, gulf oyster drills, horse conchs, apple murrex, lettered olives, spotted slipper snails. We have chestnut turbans, Atlantic slipper snails, cross-barred venus clams, a little florida, prickly cockle, a kittenpaw, some coquinas, turkey wings, the tinted cantharis, broad-ribbed cardida, dark serif, nutmeg, lightning wilt, tusk shell, shark eyes, fighting conchs, calico clams. I see some banded tulips in there, but my favorites were that tiny kittenpaw, that sharp-ribbed drill, and those two ribbed cantharis shells. So it was a bust on the Wenzel traps, but I had myself a swell time, maybe with the exception of that dude I ran into. That was not that fun, but you know what? I can't avoid that. Life is like that, and that's I guess what I was kind of alluding to, that I can try to curtail my life exactly perfectly, but I can't control other people. So it is what it is. I still honestly had a pretty swell time. It was a little annoying to run into somebody who was harassing a manatee, but maybe next time I can try to keep my cool and maybe educate him. Maybe. It might not be possible, but one can hope. So next week I decided to get kind of adventurous. I kayaked over to an island with one of my friends, and we went shelling, and it was awesome. So until then, I hope you have yourself a really great week, and I'll see you again next Sunday.