Finding seashells at the beach. Island hopping with a kayak for seashells on Florida Beaches.

hello beach friends today we are going to be island hopping via my kayak and we're going to be stopping at big hickory island as well as lower part of lovers key so excited to have this kayak it gives me a lot more freedom and we're going to visit some beaches that i've always wanted to visit and was never able to get to so we're going to see some dolphins and shells and critters and just have a spectacular time so let's go [Music] [Applause] [Music] okay we are going to start our morning over on the very around the corner of south fort lover's key i'll kind of i'll show you the map in a little bit but i've never had access to this because there's all these mangroves and i've always wanted i always wanted to know what's over here so i'm finally able to come over here and check it out and as it turns out because it is mostly it's not really gulf facing there's really not all that much here i did want to check it out you know just in case there's a giant horse conclave in there for me you know be terrible for me to not at least go over and take a peek we found a rose petal talon all right a little something here and a sunray venus i like those guys but i was kind of creeping around and there's not all that much over here so i wanted to go across the pass over to big hickory but before i do that let's kind of talk where i am and what we're talking about so here is the south end of fort myers beach and here is lover's key and essentially i'm going to be at the south end of lovers key let's zoom in on that so i started kayaking here and then i checked out this little part of the beach and then i kayaked across the pass and that's where we are right now we're currently over here on big hickory island but in a minute when we go back in the water i'm going to be back over here on the south end of lovers key so we are currently on big hickory so this is across from lovers key i've never been over here before never set foot over here and have always wanted to check it out couldn't because i didn't have a boat but i got a kayak so now i can come over and look for things like this this beautiful calico scallop gorgeous markings on that and looks like a little quahog with its little ridges and here that's just a ponderous arc with absolutely zero color but you can still kind of tell what it is and we got ourselves another little crossbar venus they never fail they are always around and looks like a buttercup blue scene that has lost all its color so there's definitely things here and we are gonna just check out it's not a big part of the beach because it's shared with a resort so we're gonna check out at least as much as we can now this is a jingle and these are interesting because they have this thing called a bisis and it's a little thread that goes through the shell on the lower half and it attaches itself to other shells or rocks on the sea floor so that's why with these jingles you almost never find the two pieces you only find those top pieces which come in a variety of colors so i thought that was kind of cool learned something new about those jingles i thought that was kind of neat an abandoned tulip dang it with a big old hole in it oh well that means that maybe they're here maybe there'll be a whole one a florida fighting conch rolling around all right it's a little bit worn down but it's got that beautiful marking that band down the middle i'm gonna keep that let's see what else we got okay letter to olive what's not to like about those fantastic shells i love those and another olive albeit a little bit beat up what else we got okay shark i can't always quite tell what it's going to be got to at least check it out right a lightning welcome it's kind of missing its bottom and it's a little chipped but i might be able to give that to somebody so i'm going to hang on to it just in case what do we got okay another florida fighting conch oh dear i'm not really happy with that side and a beat up olive so i probably will leave those behind okay cool surf clam i don't know why i like them i just do okay another scallop that's discolored and a little bit beat up i'll leave that behind but this bay scallop oh i'm definitely hold on to that beautiful base gallop looks like i might spy another yup that's not in great condition so i'm gonna leave that for somebody else so there are goodies here looks like another calico scallop so we're gonna hunt as much as we possibly can so there's the resort there over that wall and here's one of our snowy egrets one of our beach birds and he was hunting and i thought he was kind of fun to check out let's zoom in a little bit on him so he's checking out there's any little fish in there that he can go and snack on hopefully he'll have good luck good luck buddy we're going to keep looking for shells oh a nutmeg that has some great color that's probably why i spied it because of the color and there's a nutmeg without great color can't it's probably faded real pretty texture though ooh colorful moon snail gaudy nautica awesome those are fantastic finds yay [Music] another nutmeg all right he's kind of missing his little point oh dear he's got a hole in it too that's okay i'm gonna keep it anyway and a cone a florida cone a little chipped a little pitted missing color i'm still gonna keep it oh it's really pretty over here now something i wanted to mention if you're showing by yourself like the way i am um don't put the shell right back where you found it because you're just gonna pick it up again so i don't know give it a toss on the beach or maybe toss it back into the water because i kept picking up the same shell so i kind of just wanted to pass that along if you're shown by yourself just pitch them out of the way so you don't have to examine it twice oh there we have a rough scallop it's a tiny bit chipped but real pretty color and what do we oh hello gorgeous that is an alphabet cone not perfect color but really nice and they're called alphabet combs because those markings can look like letters very cool okay a thin finger piece of coral it's kind of neat and we're back in the water and look the dolphins and they're right there i know we saw them right from the beach not too long ago in sanibel but to be in the water with them i can't explain it it's unbelievable i love florida so much i'm so lucky hi dolphins all right so now we are on the south end of lover's key so across the way there that's where we were with that little sea wall on the end there so we've made it across new paths and i'm at the south end of lover's key and we're gonna walk around and see what we can discover over here okay a very beat up very worn down lace mirex and that's okay i don't know why well probably because it's all white because i'm kind of into collecting white shells i just like it it's beat up pitted but i like it nonetheless so here we are at the south south end of lovers key now the tide is not all that low otherwise there is another sandbar that can be exposed out in the distance there and i saw some things on the beach i should bring binoculars maybe that's something i need to add to kind of do scoping out but i want to bring you with me because i'm going to walk over and see what is actually on the beach and i'd also kind of like just to mention i finally decided to put on some beach shoes they're kind of they're called flip kicks or they're kind of like a solid sole on the bottom and stretchy on top just to protect my feet i have been injured a couple times lately so i've decided to kind of just do the right thing and put my shoes on and unfortunately those dark little splotches i kind of were hoping were florida fighting conks or just leaves now if i had binoculars i might have known that i still probably would have come over here anyway but oh well i'm honestly not gonna complain it's still real pretty ooh well hi florida fighting conch aren't you pretty ooh and inside too all right cool i'm definitely keeping that guy or gal and a lightening milk okay no worries all that stuff on it piece of cake to clean off you need a little dental pick but that'll come right off so that is a keeper all right we see something rolling around in there a hinged sunray venus very cool it's kind of hard to open up with one hand but there we go oh it's beautiful on the inside too awesome i don't know why i just like them different colors different stripes i just like them oh another florida fighting conch all right see cut some of that purple in there i don't know look at this all right this is a turkey wing great shape beautiful color not beat up oh that's gorgeous well it's got a little thing in it that's okay nice turkey wing and this is also a jerky wing not as good of condition as the one we previously picked up it's a little pitted it's definitely losing its color but just in case you pick up something that looks like that you'll know it's a turkey wing okay moon moon snail shark eye and it's broken so weird like it's saying you gotta put me on a necklace so i'm looking at it like yeah yeah i think i really do i absolutely need to keep you so i know it's broken and it's weird and beat up but i'm keeping it so i've creeped out into the water probably chasing little pieces of seaweed hoping it was something bigger and better so out in the water but i'm not finding all that much look how beautiful and clear the water is oh it's so nice so i popped back onto the beach i wasn't having much luck out there see what we'll find on the beach quite a prickly cockle a florida prickly cockle kind of a light color and an olive with the busted top yeah we'll leave that and okay this is an imposter turkey wing also known as a mossy ark it's just a little mossy arc okay so i'm trying to make an alphabet and so when i see these i kind of try to figure out if i can maybe make a letter out of that so i'll just keep it figured out later so there is stuff here just a matter of kind of what you're looking for okay another jingle those are fun they come in all different colors yellows and oranges black silver here's some gray ones and only the tops maybe one day i'll get top and bottom discolored scallop that by the shape of it was probably a calico maybe not hard to tell discolored discolored nonetheless now this guy i was gonna say it was a white atlantic simile but there's just nothing white about it so i'm thinking maybe a purplish simile i don't really know some of these shells still if you know what that is help me out here now this i thought was kind of cool because the south florida beaches receive rubble from more than 50 species of stony coral and identification of many of these can only be confirmed by looking at it under a microscope i still think that is called golf ball coral but i don't know for sure this i do know this is a spiny jewel box although he's really more of a lumpy jewel box it's got that cool ridge in them a lot of times they come with that ridge this spiny jewel box oh it's so pretty i'm gonna be quiet a minute let you have your beach time okay let's back at it all right now this is also the turkey wing imposter that is a mossy ark although it rather beat up a mossy ark and so i'm kind of zigzagging and this is what i mean when i would see those kind of like dark things in the water it's just seaweed and leaves but if i see a clump like that out in the water i really want to go check it out just make sure it's nothing more interesting than a blob of seaweed i'm kind of walking along here see if there's anything in the water we can find okay it's a horse conch um albeit no color peed up chipped i don't care i'm gonna keep it anyway and an olive hello lettered olive you're so pretty i like those dark ones gorgeous and another turkey wing whoa ah he's not in great shape but look at he's kind of got a little wing on the end there so that is a little bit of a beat up turkey wing and a yellow prickly cockle i haven't found those so i'm thinking that the florida prickly cockles definitely outnumber the yellow prickly cockles at least for the last couple weeks for me anyway all right back in the water uh lightning well yeah he's pretty beat up maybe i kept it to give away to somebody oh dear these shells drive me crazy all right i'm pretty sure that's a golf oyster drill but there's a couple that looks so similar to me i think that's what that is and a cone all right cool at least those are really easy to identify by the shape florida cone not great color i'm still keeping it though cool fine cool cones are cool finds okay that's one of those west indian worm snails see what else we see in here oh well all sorts of stuff oh a little oh dang it a top of a moon snail and a serif these are fun little pointy guys and a button snail they only get to be about three quarters of an inch big so that's pretty much the maximum size you're going to find those oh another little sunray venus oh cute oh another one of those west indian worm snails what else we gonna check out oh cool an eastern white slipper snail and a jingle and if i can focus it that was another jingle a gray one all right and this is a broad ribbed cardina with no color but you can definitely tell by the shape oh another i although this one even though it looks just like a gulf oyster drill i think that's a ribbed cantharis so that is my plate trying to figure out some of those drill shells oh spotted slipper snail so pretty those slipper snails are everywhere everywhere everywhere let's talk about slipper snails for just a second these guys are also called boat shells canoes and quarter decks and i'll show you why in just a minute there is another eastern white slipper snail and a lightning whelk that's actually in great condition okay cool a keeper lightning milk and a shark eye it does also a moon snail and nobody drilled a hole in him very cool just a piece of an orange scallop oh and a jingle and something orange what oh another jingle and yep whole bunch of colorful jingles another slipper snail another oh a little sunray venus with an umbro drill the drills it's safer for shells to drill the other shell on the top there so they won't get snapped by the closing of the clam and another lettered olive lovely all right now this reminded me of another huge apple mirrorex that i found i never showed you guys because i was shelling with my friend and i dug this out of the water so this is one of my prized apple murex shells isn't it awesome and that's what that other that's what that reminded me of because it was just it was so big another jingle okay and a piece of and i'm trying to figure it out a lightning welcome we know that because the aperture the opening is on the left side and that's one of the only shells that do that and this you know i just kind of marvel at how big that would have been and that's how the shells grow they start in the middle and they just kind of keep spiraling and spiraling and getting bigger and bigger at least the gastropods unlike the bivalves like this two pieces to it and the spiny jewel box that actually has a little spike to it fun shells oh and a piece of a crown conch yeah like just a piece um we'll just leave it oh a base scallop you could probably use a little bit of cleaning but kind of pretty oh and a rough scallop and it's a little busted up but the color is fantastic very pretty now i'm trying to show you that it's shiny that sunray venus it's got natural shine to it and i think that's one of the things that kind of appealed to me in these shells i know they're just they're just clams but i like them anyway the sun ray venus clam and a kitten paw but it's hinged and i was surprised at how sharp though the closure is very very zigzaggy and i liked it that it was hinged and not closed because that happens a lot i will find them but there it's closed and i don't know whether it's viable or not so i usually don't keep it another turkey wing albeit very beat up pitted little holes but still kind of cool i haven't found this many turkey wings in one day in quite a while all right another alphabet letter of some sort uh you me and i'm gonna keep it anyway and figure it out later so here we are and it's lovely another prickly cockle i like to kind of check out the inside to see if it's one of those bright ones or a blush one this one it's not a real thing but it's much lighter than i usually find them ooh all right beautiful calico scallop and another turkey wing oh man it's in great shape but it's kind of missing a chunk in the front there all right but that's a turkey wing and another lightning milk most of a lightning lock it's missing some pieces so maybe someone else would like that and a light olive i always like to check them out just in case it's golden i don't think that's golden just a light lettered olive now before when i was telling you that those slipper snails are called boat shells or canoes or quarter decks check this out yep it floats just like a boat and i you know this could be something fun if you're at the beach with the kids or find yourself some slipper snails and if you found some water that wasn't too rough you can have yourself a boat race kind of fun and enough oh no i thought that was going to be a calico scallop but that is a very very beat up and old rose petal talent so we're going to leave that and then oh another alphabet cone but dang it all right big hole almost no color but i like checking out the inside i like that kind of spiral kind of interesting the way that they grow so we'll just check it out and leave it for someone else another lightning whelk okay and i'm just should i keep it to give to somebody i know it's beta all right yeah we'll leave it let somebody else find it and a broad rib cardinal that has fantastic color look at that yeah i thought that was really cool the broad ribbed cardeta and a shark eye all right let's see what kind of condition all right it's a little beat up a little pitted but there's no drill hole so we'll keep it oh i thought that was just going to be a piece but no it is a whole one no drill hole does have a little bristle worm marking it we'll leave it for someone else oh see just is that a golden olive nah probably just a discolored old one and there's another big old piece of a shark eye and a nutmeg with a kitten paw and carrier shells and all sorts of stuff going on yeah too much for me a little tiny i think golf oyster drill i think pretty sure cute little guy nonetheless maybe that was a rib canthas all right well here here's another one all right i'm going with gulf oyster drill on this one i think i'll get it one of these days so this is what i call my breakfast place i stopped had some breakfast and then hit the water again because we were gonna go kayak a little bit through lovers key another dolphin encounter awesome i was kind of hoping i'd see a manatee but maybe at some point so i decided to take a little kayak just through lover's key since i already you know drug my kayak out and everything figured it would be nice to just see what it's like to kayak through lover's key and guys it is so peaceful if you think that the beach is tranquil tranquil and beautiful being out on the water by yourself like this is amazing just incredible it did this video does not do it justice it was awesome and the water here is really really shallow so you're able to see kind of what's going on the bottom and of course i'm always scanning and just in case you didn't know there is a fishing pier over at lover's key and you can access it from the beach so a lot of people fish off the bridge you see there in the background but you can go right here and look i thought our shelling was over but not quite i saw this lightning welk i figured i did figure it was alive but i wanted to just make sure it'd be terrible to leave that shell behind so you can kind of see what's going on here and it's shallow enough i was able to kind of scoop him out but he's got to go back he's alive and look what else i found a live crown conch very cool the shell is in terrible condition but the critter alive and well so we'll just say hi real quick put her back in the water and then last but not least i found this pair well empty so i'm still shelling i'm in my kayak i'm gonna have to bring my little scooper next time make things a little bit easier so lover's key kayaking big thumbs up totally beautiful highly recommend it plus you never know you might find a shell or two and part of lover's key is part of the colusa blue way it is a kayak trail so if you are into kayaking it's part of the trail anyway and that is a reddish egret hunting and they're known for their usually their theatrics they kind of do all dancing and jumping and stuff but unfortunately i think i might have been a little too close and he just got irritated so he left sorry and so that is across the way from the south end of lover's key or back over here just real quick so that's dog beach it's so pretty and it started getting kind of busy it's a little bit later in the day all the boaters are coming out and that's why i'm glad that i did all that other kayaking in the morning i found this critter this is a live florida fighting conch you see it's operculum that little thing on the edge there since this critter is alive it's gonna go back in the water and so this was my first kayak jaunt i thought it was awesome i cannot wait to see how you know how far i can go how many other islands i can go visit so believe me in the future we're going to be visiting many more islands and doing much more cooler stuff i'm really really excited about it but let's take a look at the things we found today so today we found a bunch of cool stuff and we're going to talk about the sunray venus clams some of them i might not keep um once they dry up they kind of get a little crusty so i might just recycle those bunch of jingles we have a surf clam a bunch of turkey wings those beat up shells i decided to keep anyway my alphabet shells even though you know they're just clams of some sort the drills the lettered olives all the scallops which were really cool and the lightning milks the nutmegs and then my favorites of the day were the cones especially that alphabet cone and the gorinatica which was really really super cool so i had the best time it was so cool to be out there on the water the way i was and i want to thank you for coming along with me and give a huge special thank you to my patreons who literally support me doing all the things that i do so thank you so much not sure where we're gonna go next week got lots of different options so for now it's gonna be a surprise but i hope you have a great week and i will see you next sunday