Jean in her happy place (looking for shells), at sunset. This is Tigertail Beach at Marco Island, the night before our charter to the Ten Thousand Islands.
For our 24th anniversary, we headed down to a sketchy, but inexpensive, place called Port of the Islands Resort. (MUCH cheaper than staying at Marco Island, and just as close to the good shelling.) It is actually down in the Everglades/Ten Thousand Islands proper. We took Reel Kind Fishing and Tours again to head out to go shelling in the morning.
Our haul included (from left to right, top to bottom): Top Snails, Murex (Apple, Lace, Rose), Venus Clams, Tulips (True, Banded), Lightning Whelks, Crown Conch, Lettered Olive, Gaudy Nautica, Nutmegs, Paper Figs, Cones (Florida, Alphabet), Sharkeye, Worm Snails, Arks, Florida Fighting Conchs, Angle Wings.
The variety and beauty of design never ceases to astound me. These are still pretty chalky, pre-cleanup. Once we do an acid wash, the colors will really pop.
We love the wildlife. We saw a 9-10' gator hanging around in the marina.
Jean got close to this Egret...no zoom. He just posed for her.
The wildlife signs down here are pretty wild. "Panther Traffic" is my favorite. How many panthers do people have to see for it to be 'traffic', and not just 'crossing'?
The shell below is a Junonia. It's the Holy Grail of shells here in Florida. Pretty rare. My first time holding one...unfortunately we didn't find it, but a lady on our charter did (six people charter).
Comments