An island of seashells to explore. The cold front brought the goods!

Hello Beach Friends! So a pretty big cold front has moved through Florida, but the gulf isn't quite finished settling yet. Today is my third day of shelling in a row since that cold front arrived. Look at that pretty colorful moon snail! But today we're headed away from the crowds of Sanibel that I've been exploring for the last two days to somewhere a little quieter. Kais Island is part of Florida's 10,000 Islands, a stretch of wild barrier islands south of Marco Island. You do need a boat to get there and unlike the last two weeks on Sanibel, since Kais is only accessible by boat, it changes the experience completely. Now these barrier islands act like gentle catcher's mitts. They collect with the gulf releases. I like to shell at low tide, but with Kais Island I really feel like I can come here at high tide or low tide and you're gonna probably find some pretty great specimens. Now I'm going to wrap around the island. I want to get to the front of the gulf facing part of the island and see what all is there. That's where the majority of the shells are going to be. Not that you wouldn't find things as soon as you get off the boat, but I think my plan today is to get to kind of the middle of the island. So it's hard because I know there may be shells here and I don't want to go too quickly because I can miss things, but I don't want to go too slow because that means I'm not going to get to the middle of the island. So I'm just going to kind of try to time it okay so I cover as much as I can. Oh yeah it's a rookie shell, but nice. Abandoned Tulip, the Centura Hunteria. That is a swell find. Not altogether unsurprising. Relatively common. Hopefully there'll be one or two uncommon things here. I haven't been to Kais in quite a while. That's terrific. That's another Abandoned Tulip. Because it hasn't really been producing shells, but today I was really hoping to find a nice variety of the colorful, smooth, textured treasures today. And boy did Kais deliver, including some less common seashells as well as something I've never been able to collect before and a surprise or two. So if you're ready to see what all is out there for us today, let's go to the beach. Okay Kais, what do we got? Look at this nutmeg. Look at how dark that is. Oh that's pretty. That's a common nutmeg. Actually I think the top of it might be like discolored dark. I don't care. I think it's really pretty. Oh okay. So this is the way Kais, I feel like it used to look like this. And then we kind of hit that dry patch for, I don't know, a year or so. So this looks awesome. This kind of reminds me of the old Kais. Oh it's going to be a good day. Another nutmeg, yeah? Okay. So again, this is day three. This is Tuesday, February one, two, third. And I'm here out in the Ten Thousand Islands. I've already been to Sanibel for two days and then this is the third day. So I'm trying to really just capitalize and maximize getting out there when the shells are good. Nice nutmeg. So I did go three days in a row. Again, just to, if it's the shelling's good man, make hay while the sun is shining, right? So better shell. So that's a pear whelk. I think we'll learn the scientific name of that shell next. The next time I find a whole bunch of them. That's an apple myrix. That one is really pretty. It's got all its angles on it. All right. Oh dear. All right. That's a lace myrix, but there is a creature still inside of it. Okay. Let's find a puddle. Perfect. There you go. Okay. Let's find somebody that's empty. Oh, perfect. A colorful moon snail. Yep. That's great. I do hope to find a lot of those. I love those shells. Oh dear. So that's a pear whelk. It's a little broken. Okay. Letter Nope. Colorful moon snail. Awesome. So yeah, I was hoping if I'm going to wash out that olive, just to make extra sure those creatures, especially after storms. Yeah. You know that the mollusks get pretty beat up. And so it's possible they could, you know, maybe they would have expired and be in the shell. So I'm going to try to be real careful. I wish we had met sooner. Colorful moon snail. Yep. I'm going to probably pass on you, but I'll console myself with this adorable little fighting conch and another nutmeg while I'm here. Yeah. It's going to be one of those days and that works for me. So here we have a top snail that's alive. Huh? Yeah. That doesn't happen often, but after storms and events like cold fronts and stuff, you will see more things that we don't normally see. So there are a couple of things today that I've never been able to kind of experience and we'll, we'll get to that. Yes. Another godinotica or colorful moon snail. Some of these shells have two names. Do I do? I just love that. I wish they were called like tiger shells or something. They just remind me of a beautiful like tiger pattern. Oh, hello, lightning whelk. You are just terrific as well. Okay. That looks like a big old apple myrix. Let's get a better look. I'm glad there was a little puddle there. Oh, that's terrific. Oh, that's awesome. It's in really good shape and it's pretty big. I don't know if you can kind of tell. That is a honking apple myrix. Oh, see, that's the kind of thing I was really alive. Yeah. So the really kind of unusual the really nice specimens. Okay, banded tulip. That works. Tons of these pen shells here. I'll show you another shot where there's a lot of pen shells. So here's case. Yeah, looking like it's weird to have this island. What am I looking at? Okay, yeah, it's kind of hiding in plain sight this horse conch here and my heart is hammering. And it's alive. And I really I should have known that with other people on the island, but it was hiding in plain sight. I have missed horse conchs exactly like that. Just sitting right there just totally missed it. It happens. It happens. Dad is gorgeous. Orange fighting conch. Yeah, that is great. So that's like a sub adult. The adults will have a very thick lip on it. Here's another lightning wolf, a sinister Folger Sinistrum. Excellent. Nice dark color on that with its nice little lightning markings. Another top snail. Are you empty? No, you are not. Alright, so that is also not a keeper. Pretty, pretty animal. Kind of like kind of looks like the lettered olive almost. Alright, this one's empty. Yeah, there we go. Alright, so we'll leave one behind. But that's lovely. Another jujubee top snail. Lightning walk. Lightning walks are kind of common. So it's not surprising that I end up with kind of a few of them after these trips, but I still think they're quite lovely. Oh, look at that a mangrove periwinkle. So those little creatures are the ones we'll see in the splash zone. So it's not really a land snail. It's not really a sea snail. It's kind of like a hybrid. Lovely. Okay, is that a lace? Yes, it is. A lace myrix. Oh, I do like the little frills on the edge. I think they're so pretty. The top snail. Yep. So much like the other shelling mornings I've had, there's going to be old stuff kind of mixed in with the new stuff. Oh, another gaudy nautica. Awesome. Beautiful. Yeah, long as that's shiny and not broken. That's great. So yeah, at any minute, anything can show up. Looking for any of those pen shells horse conchs. They do look similar. All right, another gaudy. Oh, look at how white that one is. That has like more white undertones. Oh, they're so pretty. Okay, so and this kind of sometimes my subconscious kind of takes over. Like I've been doing this so often that I'm just kind of sweeping my eyes and I'm letting like shapes, colors, things kind of pop out. Another beautiful, colorful moon snail. I see the fighting conchs, ponderous arcs. Some things like the ponderous, I don't even see them anymore. So it's a little bit older. I probably probably will pass on that one. Okay, so just kind of sweeping. See if something kind of sticks out. It's kind of like a puzzle and a game at this. Oh, it's so fun. You are beautiful. You're a little chipped, but that's okay. You'll look great on a mirror. Yeah. Yep. Awesome. Well, hello, lettered olive. All right. So yeah, we have a nice lettered olive there. Oh, another gaudy. So Kais does have them that I do remember one time coming here. There was all gaudies and lace myricks. And it was so great. You keep finding like a shell that you really like anyway. Oh, it's awesome. They're so pretty. And they have a very distinct like aperture. Yeah, that's cool. So we're just going to spend a couple of minutes here just so I don't torture you the entire video. So this is the gaudy Nautica section of the island. Let's see what this one looks like. Let's see. All right, you're pretty. You kind of look like the other ones. That's a standard, nice looking one. We're going to cheat in the middle. Why? Yes, yes, we are because this is a rose myricks. So that's bucket list is shell for me. I have a couple. They're still very rare to find. It's not. I shouldn't say it's not in great shape. I can't really tell. I'm going to bleach that. We'll see how that turns out. Now, are we back to the gaudies? Yes, yes, we are. Okay. So all right, you'll get some bleach, but you're kind of nice. Let's see you. Oh, yeah, you're nice, too. Yeah, yeah, you're great. Oh, see, that one kind of has that veramoon snail. So it's like a little bit lighter in color, which I do like. I don't know enough. Yeah, that's really pretty. Yeah, that one, too. The stripes on it looks tiger like to me. I like tiger. Yep, that one, too. So they're all just all the shells are a little bit different. No, two are exactly the same. This one might be my favorite one. It's a little bit bigger, nice, dark, rich coloring on it. Oh, that's so pretty. Now, these guys, it's called a colorful moon snail because the actual animal is very, very colorful. I've only seen like a glimpse of one or two once in a while, but love those seashells. Now, we're moving out of the gaudy nautica section into the pen shell section. This is just nuts. So the tide is coming in, but I haven't really been down by the water's edge anyway at this point. Like I kind of mentioned, sometimes it matters, sometimes it doesn't. Oh, oh, oh, those are dry like a cracker. Oh, so those are brittle stars. Oh, yeah, they likely got washed up here and just stranded. And that's it. Yeah. So that's the first time I'm going to be able to collect a sea star. Now, this I saw the color. I'm like, oh, my gosh, that is gorgeous. And then I'm like, oh, man, it's probably alive. Let's see. Empty. Isn't that beautiful? So this is a rosemary with fantastic coloring on it. Oh, that is beautiful. And it's funny because like the morph of some shells, you know how chestnut turbans and the ribbed cantharis kind of have that bright orange color? It looks just like that. Beautiful. There's a dusky cone, not to be confused with any of the other cones. So we only really got the Florida cone, the alphabet cone, dusky cone, although there is a Susan's cone. All right. There's a couple of cones. That is a horse conch. Fantastic. Empty, dry. Yeah, looks good to me. It's the Florida state shell. I love that the little ones are orange. And then there's that pear whelk. So this is a fulgaropsis pyroloides. Yeah, I know that's quite a mouthful. We're going to learn that over the coming weeks. Oh, I see it. You see the spots? I like one at a time because then I'm able to make it stick. That's how habits work. Just little, little tiny things. All right. Yeah. So I'm going to be real careful because I don't want to break the aperture of the shell. I don't mind breaking the shells inside the apple, the apple, the alphabet cone, but I don't want to break the lip. That is beautiful. Oh, it's so. Yeah. A little bit of bleach and that is going to be absolutely gorgeous. So that is an alphabet cone. Oh, I see a true tulip. Yep. Also nice. Now that has a little bit of a calcium carbonate. So they look like dry. It's just a coating. Calcium carbonate. Yeah. Water, acid, mineral oil will kind of remove that. I mean, obviously, once it dries, it'll kind of come back. Very pretty. Very pretty. True tulip. OK, come on, buddy. You still are you're kind of pliable. Whether or not this animal is unalive, I don't know. But just I like to err on the side of caution. And if there were a lot of them, I would just throw my hands up. I mean, I can't. Well, I guess I could put thousands of sea stars back in the ocean, but since it was only one, I felt that that was the right thing to do. Oh, cool. Another little horse conch. I wish they. I mean, sometimes they do and they get bigger. They turned a paler or white color, but. Oh, Osprey. Hey, Osprey is having a morning. It's having his breakfast or brunch, however you want to call it. Love hearing them. You can kind of hear them chirp almost all the time. You can almost hear them just kind of chirping in the background. Oh, dear. OK, that yeah, that is also like a cracker, like it's light. I can just tell I've never been able to collect a sea star before. I had just been discussing this with a couple of different subscribers, you guys. And yeah, I had never been able to collect one because they were just weird misshapen. But I mean, it's because it's so sad, but I can collect it at least. So, yeah, I am going to keep that. And this lace. Yep. So there's something in it, but it's only a barnacle. So that is also safe to keep. Very nice little lace murex with a little bit of laciness to it. Like my home away from home. All right. What's here? OK, just sitting there for me, just waiting. Another rose murex was literally just popped on top of that. Now that I want to pop in bleach, all that other stuff will get loosened up, probably a little bit of a dental pick action. I can clean that up yet. No problem. Real pretty rose murex. Awesome. Lace murex. OK, yeah, these shells, they really are pretty hardy. Beautiful. Yep, that is terrific. So another lace murex. Alphabet cone. Yeah. You know, when I'm out there, I do in my head. I see the shell and I say the name. It's yeah, I guess something I've just kind of I just what I do. Oh, it'd be kind of fun to show somewhere where I had no clue what I was finding. OK, it's a clam. It's a scallop. That alphabet cone. Awesome. A little bit of bleach. That'll clean up great. No way. Another rose murex. Oh, it's got those little spikes on it and everything. Oh, that's terrific. Oh, man, that is awesome. Oh, beautiful. Nice shape. Now, the only thing that would make this more perfect is if there was an alphabet cone here. That is just great. Huh. Look at that alphabet cone. Now, I didn't say a perfect alphabet cone. I just said alphabet cone. So I did get an alphabet cone and it's a little rough. I still think it's kind of fun. I might hold on to that. Yeah, I might. OK, so the shell seemed to be kind of concentrated in the higher rack line. Oh, another cone. Cool. Yeah. And when they're buried and they have black on them, I always like to give them like an extra, extra check. Yep. Oh, that's real pretty. Well, it will be pretty. It just needs a little bit of bleach and that's going to clean up really, really nice. All right, let's go down here. Let's go down into the muck. I did wear my boots so I can be dry all the way up to my knees. Yeah. And this is kind of like, it's kind of like mud. It's very, very organic kind of matter. It's kind of mushy, kind of squishy. I do like to just check it. You know what? Yep. I think so, too. I think it is the perfect time for me to be quiet and let you have some beach time. So, yeah, whatever kind of trees and stuff used to be here really kind of locked down the organic matter and really what I like to call the cone zone. But I'm going to move up more. Oh, look, a cone. Let's make sure there's nothing. It's a seashell, so it's probably empty. Let's find a puddle. Yeah, yeah, yeah. Yep. That's great. Another cone. That one's really nice. There's none of those like pitting on it. A very nice alphabet cone. Oh, yeah, we got a cracker sea star here. OK. Yeah, it's kind of like when I found the seahorses, like it's kind of this, you know, like I'm excited about collecting the sea star, but I do realize it needs to be dead in order for me to collect it. So it is what it is. I am going to grab because I've never, ever been able to do it before. So I am going to grab a couple of these sea stars. And I was not the only one. I did talk to a couple other people who also experienced the same thing. They were able to get or collect some of these sea stars. Oh, and they're real pretty. Look at this guy. Yep. Dry, dry, dry. I've never seen them like this. So I guess I just wasn't in the right place at the right time during these storms or this was just a particularly, I don't know, violent kind of storm for these guys. But there is another sea star. Yep. Oh, wow. Yeah, normally I'm plopping these guys back into the water. This one's a little squishier. I think it had a yeah, it was kind of like tumbled with obviously shells and whatnot when it when it was drying. So it's just a little bit different. Hmm. Yep. So that's so their bodies are made of calcium carbonate. That's a nine iron sea star that. Yeah, I was checking to see if I should plop it back in the water. I am not going to keep that, but I am going to keep this five arm one. Pretty. OK, nutmeg. Real nice and pointy top on that one. What's this yellow? Oh, it is a very, very well behaved Florida cone. I think I saw that aperture. It looked pretty good. So just try to like try not to sweep the camera too quickly. Excellent. All right. We have a straggler here. One of those gaudies made it out of the colorful moon section of the beach. Here's a shark eye. Terrific. All right. There's another cone. This one looks like a little fossilized to me, like it's really been here a long time. And then a little fighting conch. Oh, there is a critter in there. OK, but you're going to need to go in the water. I don't know whether you're viable, but either way, you're going in the water. Oh, and an alphabet cone trying to hide with its periostracum. Now, try as you might alphabet cone. I got my eye on you. Any other gaudies there? What is that? Is that a tulip? Oh, an old sand dollar. Yeah, it's five. I could collect that. I'm not going to just because it's got still has like those little hairs and stuff on it. All right. We'll snag that banded tulip. Why not? OK, now I do want to find a puddle. I do want to get that fighting conch in. Excellent. That one looks great. I'll deposit it in there. All right. Here we have a pointed Venus clam. I feel like I only find those on Fort Myers Beach. Interesting here on Kite. So that is a pointed Venus clam. And at this point, I've made it just about mid island. So I am going to turn around at this point and see what I possibly have missed. Sometimes if I go like on the lower rack line on the way back, I'll go on the higher rack line. Here is another one of those mangrove periwinkle shells. That's a pretty big one, too. Now, something like that, I would not put an acid. They're pretty delicate. So that I would only put like mineral oil on. An angel wing. Very nice. That waffle pattern throughout the entire thing. And toward the end there on the left, that's it uses those little pieces on the outside of the shell to rock itself into substrate. It's really interesting. This is a fabulous shell. I love these. This is a ribbed cantharis. Happens to be that orange morph. So it's not quite as vibrant as a rosemary, but boy, is it pretty. The ribbed cantharis. Oh, here's another orange shell. All right. A Florida cone. Now I get asked a lot if I'm afraid of Florida cones and I'm not because the ones in Florida eat worms. So they do have a poison, but it's not super strong compared to cones in other parts of the world. So I would encourage you to not handle live cones at all. But if you do, you're probably okay. Unless of course you're allergic to bees, in which case you might have a problem. So just, just be really careful. Be real careful. All right. That is a Florida horse conch. Lovely. And they stay orange, you know, they stay, I guess it depends. Like sometimes they lose their color. They're all different. So they're always orange, almost always orange, but sometimes they're yellow. So this is another one of those Lace Myricks shells. Lovely. Oh, okay. We have olive. Yeah. Yeah. Lettered olive and Lace Myricks. Oh, isn't that pretty. And I really hope it's not. Okay. Yeah. Empty. Okay. Well, I mean, there's a shell in there, but that's fine. I can collect that. Really pretty fighting conch. Very nice. Now this looks a little misleading. I did spend a, well, hold on. There's a shell here. I need to grab. And there it is. Okay. Yep. That's a nice looking moon snout. No, it's a little broken, but that's okay. Yep. I'm going to absolutely make an exception. So other than that though, I know it looks like there might be a lot of like really great stuff here, but, but there's not, it looks like there is. I spent a couple of minutes here. Yeah. I'd seen it. What I thought was a really nice lightning wilk in the water. And I just, I stood there a while. I couldn't get it. Here's a, all right. There's a lightning wilk. Yeah. I can pass on that. And that. Yep. Quick, quick, quick, quick. So that's lightning wilk. Sunray. I mean, you know, there are shells. I could spend some time here, but look for the good stuff. That's a true tulip. A little pitted. I'll probably pass on that. Yeah. All right. I finally settled on that. I decided I didn't want to deal with bleach with the other shells. I honestly, I don't know. Sometimes I keep stuff. Sometimes I leave it. It just kind of depends on my mood. Oh, you're alive. You should. Yeah. Let's put you right there. There you go. Friend. The tide's coming in. We know that. Yep. We'll head off this way. Oh, wait a minute. Wait a minute. I see somebody who needs a little assistance. All right. Come on friend. If you've made it and I kind of did see a couple of dried up mollusks, there were some creatures that did not make it back into the water, but let's give this little creature a little help. But yeah, I wanted to put it in something more like a tide pool than a washing machine. There you go. Cause yeah, I wouldn't want to get stuck in there. Nope. So yeah, this is where I spent a little bit of time. I thought I saw a real nice lightning welk and you know, yeah, nope, no. So I was not successful. I did get this banded tulip. So it's not like I walked away empty handed, but it was a little bit frustrating. And plus not that it's wasting time, but like how long am I going to stand there looking for one shell when I can kind of wander around finding a bunch of different things. So I guess we all just kind of do it a little bit differently. I'm looking for variety. That is gorgeous shark eye. I guess everyone's looking for variety, aren't they? But that is a great shark eye. Although at this point I will say it's not like I come here and expect a big horse conch. If I find one great, but I'm not going to, that is real pretty calico scallop. I'm not going to spend too, too much time cause it just, it, you can't really look for much else. So that is a lovely nutmeg. Got a couple of those nice pointy top on those. Oh, a ribbed cantharis. I do like these. Oh, that's got a little bit of sea lace on it. That's kind of fun. So a little bit of sea lace on that ribbed cantharis. I probably will remove it. Something like that. I wouldn't try to necessarily keep on there. Oh, so that one looks a little bit more like that Vera's moon snail I alluded to earlier. So it looks like a gaudy, like from a structural standpoint, but the color is just a little different. Well, hi, spiny jewel box. Awesome. I'm going to keep that. Another. Okay. Apple murix. That's nice. That has really nice. Oh, and you're alive. You're nice too, but I'm not going to keep you. Let's find a little puddle. There you go. All right. We'll take that apple murix. That is just wonderful. And you know what else is wonderful? My Patreons. And as I'm walking here today, I just wanted to take a moment and say thank you to those of you who support the channel. Being able to come out to places like this and explore these beaches and share them with you. I cannot put into words what that means to me. So your support helps make these trips possible. And it means the world to me. So whether you're able to support in that way, or you're simply here walking the beach next to me, I'm really glad you're here and that you're part of this little seashell community. And we know it's not just about the shells. The critters, I love them too. Here is a fighting conch and a lettered olive and another gaudy nautica. All right. That also is out of the section where you're supposed to be, but that's okay. Wow. Wow. That's buttery. Buttercup lucine. Yeah. Something that bright is definitely going to its way home with me. Beautiful. Oh, so this is a Florida prickly cockle, but it's albinistic. Oh, would you? Oh, it's just so pretty. So it's like in between, it's not albino, it's not full flavor. Oh, it's beautiful. So that is a Florida prickly cockle. And that's going to be the last seashell I pick up today. So this was everything I wanted it to be. Thank you so much, especially after those two days on Sanibel. I had a feeling Kais was going to be pretty good. And anytime I come to the 10,000 islands, I always come down with SWFL shell guide. You can find her information in the description box below. So I love picking up garbage, especially the plastic, but for whatever reason, I can't seem to get it together on the same scale. So I'm going to add that 0.9 to this 5.8, which gives us 6.7 ounces today. But overall that means I'm getting there almost a hundred pounds, a little over 89 pounds of garbage from the beach. Now today I removed sea stars for the first time, including some brittle stars. There are some alternate talons there. That is a angel wing. There's Florida horse conks, the mangrove periwinkles, the Florida prickly cockles. And then down below that we have lightning whelks. Most of the pretty good ones, nice size too. Some pointed Venus clams, some nutmegs on the bottom, some Florida cones and a couple of alphabet cones, which was super duper fun. So there's also lace murrocks, some apple murrocks, some top snails on the bottom there. There are calico scallops. There is a buttercup lucine, as well as a bunch of those lettered olives, some banded tulips, some fighting conks, pear whelks. And then there's, let's see, where am I going to go? All right. Yeah. The god, the colorful moon snails. We know that I picked up a couple of those. So we have some spiny jewel boxes, moon snails. There is that tinted cantherous, or ribbed cantherous rather, some cones. There is a little marginella there. It looks like a drill, sun ray, Venus clam. My favorites I decided was going to be that big apple murrocks, the spiky, spiky jewel box, that one dark nutmeg, the two true tulips, and then the rose murrocks and that orange ribbed cantherous. So what a special day. That was so fun. That is the way winter shelling is supposed to be. Now next week, we're headed back to Sanibel. So until then, I hope you have yourself a great week, and I'll see you again next Sunday.