How far would you go for seashells?

Hello beach friends. Right now I'm on my way to Kais Island, a trip I've made quite a few times over the past few years. But I'm noticing something is changing in me. When I first started doing this YouTube thing, I was thinking about everything. Where should I go? Where are the best shells going to be? How many other people are going to be there? But after a few years of shelling and exploring these islands, I don't have to think so much about that stuff anymore. But when my hands are busy and my feet are wandering, my mind tends to wander too. And I start thinking about life. Where I've been, where I'm going, things I'm learning, things I'm still figuring out. And I've noticed that some of the choices I make out on the islands aren't all that different from the ones we make in life. Like knowing when to keep going. Because whenever I come to an island like this, I start walking and I see what I can find. And after a few hours, I look up and wonder, how much farther should I go? Do I keep walking? Do I turn around? Is there anything worth seeing beyond that next bend? And maybe that's a question we face in life more than we realize. Because it's easy to go as far as we've gone before and stay with what's familiar. But sometimes the only way to discover something new is to go a little farther than you normally would go. And keep going even when you don't know what lies ahead. Not because there's a guarantee something wonderful is going to be waiting for you. But because you've decided you want to find out for yourself. Luckily today, we are going to get to walk all the way from the north end of Kais all the way to the south end. So there's going to be no mysteries. What part of the island is going to be better? We're going to see it all. Truth be told, it's my favorite. I want to rinse this off. It's my favorite way to go to Kais is to do the entire island. So I'm very excited. I'm going to see everything. All right, that looks like a keeper of a sand dollar to me. Lovely. We will start off with a flat urchin. Now typically, there's not a whole lot at the water's edge. I don't know how much that's really changed. Look at, oh, a lettered olive. Yeah, the lettered olive. Not always. Sometimes they will be a little beat up. But there's so many good ones down here. So yep, that is a lettered olive. This spiny jewel box. I love the strategy that this little mollusk uses with all its little spikes. Fantastic. Yep, that's a protection all those little spikes. That's a spiny jewel box. All right, a banded tulip. Well, with any luck, we'll find one that's not quite as I mean, it's it's in very good shape. It's just a little yeah, that apertures. I've seen better apertures, but not to worry. Like I said, we're walking the entire island and I will be scouring high and low to find whatever we possibly can find. Summers are tough, but that doesn't mean that the shells aren't out there. So we'll be checking out low rack lines, high rack lines and everything in between. So if you're ready to see what all is out there for us today on Kais Island, let's go to the beach. I don't know if it's compulsion or just curiosity that makes me check out these big shells. So this one, definitely not a keep, at least not a keeper for me. Perhaps this is a keeper for someone else. So that could be someone else's starter shell, lightning whelk. So I'm going to leave it there. The tide, there's no mystery. The tide will be going out the entire time I'm on the island and it's hot. It's summer in Florida. OK, here is a bay scallop. I don't really get to see as many bay scallops as I would like to. So I really like them. They're not terribly uncommon. I just don't typically find a whole lot of them. So I very much like them. They're just a little bit different. I get lots of the calicos like that one. That's a calico scallop, complete with some additional adornments, also known as barnacles. But yeah, that's a bay scallop and a calico, calico scallop, not a calico, not to be confused with a calico clam or a calico box crab. Somebody really liked that word calico. All right, this does look a little washed out. What do we got? Yeah, that's a pointed venus clam. If this shell sit out in the sun too long. Yeah, all right. That is a gulf oyster drill. Just like anything else, the UV of the sun really kind of bleaches out, weakens them. Oh, a little dusky cone. But if there's a little color, it hasn't been here. A little bit of color, another dusky cone. Because the sun also, it kind of bleaches out minerals and it just makes the shells like a little more dry and fossilized, we kind of call them. And sometimes that just happens by sitting out in the sun for a very long time. All right, there's a couple things, an auger. All right, that looks a little bleached. Yeah, that's okay. All right, a couple of little cones and a little auger. It's hard not to at least peek at this, right? There's a tinted cantherous. I've seen a little bit better days. All right, thus far, I'm thinking it might be a tiny day. Hey, as long as the shells are showing up, I'm a happy camper. Look at this angel wing. Well, notice the pattern goes all the way from one end of the shell to the other end of the shell. There is another shell called a false angel wing. I'll show you that in a little bit. But the waffle pattern kind of peters out at the end. Oh, a Tampa turid. Would you look at that? Not in really great shape, but kind of unusual. So fun, along with a little auger. Yeah, so I got to kind of time it right, because I want to get to the end of the island within a couple of hours. But I don't want to go too fast. I might miss things like this colorful moon snail. It's definitely easier to move quickly when there's not a lot of shells. That's a colorful moon snail. Here's a little marginella. Here's a little marginella trying to get away. Cute little thing. Yeah. So you know what? Honestly, there's always shells here. It's not another Tampa turid. Why? Yes, it is. Huh? Look at that. Two Tampa turids. There's always shells here. It's just a matter of all right, a moth mouth drill. If they're in decent shape. We haven't had another dusky cone. A lot of wave action. So there's been no storms or anything, which is a good thing. But at the end of the day, the shells don't get kind of tousled around. Now that is a false angel wing. You kind of see there's no waffle pattern. See that? Referring back to the other angel wing. Waffle pattern goes end to end. On the false angel wing, it kind of peters out. So that is a false angel wing. Cute. And unlike the real angel wing, the false angel wings only get about two inches big. That's about it. Great day for dusky cones. Or just people don't care and they leave them behind. Oh, a sharp red drill. Oh, it's got a little weird wrinkle in it. Oh, that's cool. I love sharp red drills. Oh, cool. Yeah, I'll grab that little piece of blue garbage. I see a little bruised nasa. Yeah, just kind of like rubble. Sometimes they're just barnacles. A little broken fighting conch. A horse conch? What's this? Yeah, yeah, a little horse conch. Okay, cool. Yeah, the tinies count. They absolutely count. They're just as thrilling. Oh, that's another sharp red drill. Cool. Isn't that fun? Just kind of like an aggressive little shell. All right, a sharp ribbed drill. Another moon snail. Yep, that is a tiny little colorful moon snail. When I think Kais, definitely colorful moon snails. It is the island that I find most of them. And it's like my second favorite shell. Oh, a little pear whelk. Adorable. Yeah, I think a lot of the things we're going to find today are going to be on the small side. So that is a little pear whelk and that works for me. A little drill. What do we got? Yeah, another little moth mouth drill. Super. Actually, even though the shells aren't called or the snails aren't called drills, a lot of them drill. That's another Tampa turid. Oh, that's fun. So shark eyes drill, murix's drill, drill's drill. That is a juvenile dark serif. Cute little thing. Another auger. Yeah. So they're all shaped kind of the same, but we have a serif, a turid, and an auger. There we go. There's another gastropod, a banded tulip. The biggest shell we've found so far, I think. And a little lace murix. Very nice. A moth mouth drill. And they look, you know, I know a lot of these look like almost identical and it drove me bananas for a long time. Moth mouth drill. And it really is, it's not something you can really be taught. You just got to expose yourself to it over and over and over and over. There's a little marginella. So there's something I can try to, again, like explain. This one has a sharp thing and this one has an indentation, but it's really just straight up exposure. What do I see? Are you kidding me? A wentletrap. The front door. I have found them here before, but this is not a shell that I typically find unless I'm looking for it because they're so tiny. Oh, that's awesome. So I got skunked by wentletraps on Sanibel not too long ago, but Kais, you're making up for it. Thank you very, very much. What do we got there? That's another sharp ribbed drill. Oh, that's exciting. This doesn't look like a place where I would find wentletraps. So yeah. All right. Little apple myrix. Yep. It definitely does not look wentletrappy, you know. All right. Another little bruised nasa. And that is a little fighting conch, even though the aperture looks a little broken. And we have another, that's a broken bruised nasa. You know, half the time I just keep it anyway. I'm like, I've already picked it up. I'll just throw up my shell bag. I'll work it out later. That is a pitted myrix. Oh, I love those. I would say they're more rare than even the rose myrix. That's a little pitted myrix. Are you serious right now? So that is another Tampa turid. I've never found so many in the same day ever, ever. I didn't even know there was that many down here. Ooh, now that's kind of cool. That's a striate nasa. All right. That's kind of fun. So it's kind of related to the bruised nasa, just like a little bit more striate. No, it's like a little longer. Oh, that's neat. Another moon snail or colorful moon snail. Yeah. Yeah. It's kind of an average. I do kind of like the ones that have like nice dark markings. There is, yeah, it's an apple myrix. It's got a bunch of stuff and it totally depends on my mood. Sometimes I really want to clean the shell and other times I just can't be bothered and I don't know the that's a lace myrix. It's totally based on my mood. It's just how I roll, I guess. Another marginella. They're so cute. A little drill. Oh my God. A little gulf oyster drill. Yeah. Another little bruised nasa. All right. Half of a mauve mouth drill. Yeah. And sometimes even when they're broken like that, because it's kind of flat on one side, you know, I just tell myself I'm going to do something with it. I put it in a box and then we'll see what happens this winter. All right. That was a bruised nasa. That's another little broken gulf oyster drill. And a little lace myrix. I think that's a lace myrix. It's kind of hard to say. Yeah. A bunch of little tinies, which works for me. I do have a hankering for tinies. And I know there was a little shell on the right that looked, that's another sharp rib drill or like three quarters of a sharp rib drill. The fly speck serifs look a lot like but they're not. All right. Another dusky cone. Cool. Another drill. Yeah. Mauve mouth drill. It's that pink thing. Oh, you know what that is? That's a piece of a rose myrix. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. I'm not going to keep that. Yeah. But I will keep this little drill. I think a little this, little that. Little shark eye. Still legitimate, even if you're finding little ones. Oh, that one's almost like a purple one. Beautiful. And a little colorful moon snail. Two little moon snails of the shark eye and colorful varieties. There's another colorful one. Yeah. Oh dear. Yeah. It's a little pitted. I may pass on that. Wow. Big old lightning whelk, especially for today. Yeah. Yeah. It's kind of cool. All right. We have a sinister fulgor the lightning whelk and the colorful moon snail. Shut the front. It's another Tampa turid and a sharp rib drill. Oh, I like the color on that one. That is cool. Yay. Yeah. Those turids. Yeah. That's crazy. Yeah. Sharp rib drill. A Tampa turid. Kaisa is one of the only islands I can really think of where I don't always shell at the water's edge, which is typically anywhere I go. I'm at the water's edge, but Kaisa, just the shells really aren't there. They kind of get pushed up the island. I don't know why, but boy, this is lovely. And I think it's time that I be quiet and let you have some beach time. Yeah. I don't know if you notice there. There's just nothing really out here. I mean, sand, but from a shell standpoint, all the shells are up there. Isn't that nuts? And all this brown stuff, it's really just old roots of trees that really shouldn't be here. Or they were invasive and then the saltwater killed them. Look at that. That's a rose petal talon. A white of the white variety. Yeah. Very cute. They have a good hinge, those rose petal talons. Those and the Venus clams, they have a really strong hinge too. That is a little melampus. So that is a coffee melampus. I've never seen one that color. I don't know if that's albinistic, but oh, and a little angel wing. So a coffee melampus and an angel wing. Fun. Oh, there's a rose petal talon. Yeah. Those are clearly easier to ID. Now pink isn't completely unusual, but the rose petal talons, so they come in pink, white, sometimes they're white and pink, but normally they're just either pink or white. Tons of quahogs, couple of pen shells, some cockles here, some grit there. Another Tampa turid. That's, oh, that's actually a really good condition. That's cool. All right. There is a good banded tulip. Yeah. That doesn't look all, it's kind of got its minerals and whatnot. Yeah. It looks, it's got its coloration. It looks pretty good. Some fighting conchs, old ponderosaurus. Now this island is not for the faint. If you are unsteady on your feet, I would not recommend Kais Island. Look at that apple myricks. That is awesome. Because if you did happen to lose your footing, you could fall on a broken branch. Like it's, it's kind of perilous out here. So there's something to keep in mind as you collect apple myricks shells. Oh my gosh. Wendel trap number two. Yeah. And I guess the thing that's really kind of like, what? Because normally like the conditions just, you know, there's like coffee grounds and this doesn't, it just doesn't look Wendel trappy to me yet. Yet there was one anyway. Maybe I need to relearn or just learn more. I love them. I'm just not good at finding them. So I just love them. Now this I believe is a juvenile lace myricks, even though the whole shell is kind of pink, it's proto conch, the very top of the shell, it can stay kind of that pink color. Oh, that is neat. So that's just a baby lace myricks. Okay. We're getting there. I'm trying to pace myself. I don't want to go too fast. I definitely don't want to go too slow. And is, do we have a sand dollar number two? It's looking a little discolored. Let's rinse it off. Oh yeah. Yeah. Probably gonna leave that, but all right. Another one of those bay scallops that I like so much. Yep. Definitely is going to need a date with bleach. I think a couple of shells on this trip. I love a good knobless fighting conch. Isn't that cool? Charmin, what do you mean it's knobless? Well, there's a row of knobs that really should have here. Let's look at this one. Yeah. See, see how it kind of gets, it tapers down and then there is a row of knobs. So yeah, the knobless doesn't have that. Oh, I think they're neat. And then we have your regular old fighting conch. So yeah, the knob, it's just one of the attributes. It's sometimes, I mean, the shells come in all different colors. This species comes in all different colors and sometimes they'll have an anomaly like that. Look at all this manatee grass. Yeah. Almost looks like packing material, right? But yeah, that is just dried up manatee grass. There was a lot of it, at least in this section of the Island. And it's a little green over here. I don't get to see the South end of the Island as much as the North. The tours will typically go to the North end. You kind of go like halfway and then back again. That's why today is so cool for me because I'm going to get to go all the way from the North to the South end of the Island. I don't miss anything. Another really nice looking fighting conch. Yeah, it wasn't quite an adult. Yeah. Even though it's big, it's, it's the lip of the shell is not very thick. And then we also have a base scallop. So as the fighting conchs mature, that aperture lip will get much thicker. See what I mean about keis and moon snails? So this Island, for whatever reason, look at all those pen shells in the background. We've got a couple of moon snails. Yeah, I'm going to, I've already picked up a couple of broken shells. Why not include that one too? So yet we have a couple of beautiful, colorful moon snails. Nutmeg. I don't think I've said nutmeg yet today. Adorable. Yeah, they're kind of related to the, uh, cantharis. They look, they do actually look like the tinted cantharis to me. Whoa. Speaking of cantharis, that is trying to get away from me. That is actually a tinted cantharis. Yes. Yes it is. Let me just pop off. Yeah. Pop off that little beach stuff. It kind of does remind me of a nutmeg. They, the shape, like the overall shape. Another bay scallop. I try to look past the slime and green. Yeah. We're just going to pop that in bleach. I bet you'll be awesome. Only one way to find out. Oh, that. Yes. Beautiful. So a couple of bay scallops. Awesome. I do like the, I wish they had more yellow ones. That's it. I almost never find yellow bay scallops and they do come in yellow. This is pretty. There's a lot of shells here too. And so I'm kind of like, Ooh, what could be here? Well, we'll see. I suspect it's going to be a lot of more common shells. Wow. Yeah. It's not easy to get to the water's edge. It's a good thing that most of the shells are up here anyway. All right. There's another bay scallop and tons of, looks like juvenile quahogs, ponderous arcs. Yeah. It looked, it looked enticing. Kind of finding more fun, small shells up, up in the rack line. So we'll go back there. All right. What do we got here? Oh, another one of the murixes. What do we got? I think we're looking at a little, and no, it looks apple murix like, but I actually think that's a lace murix. Yeah. That aperture is a little higher. Cute little thing. Little lace murix. Colorful moon snail. Yeah. You're in great shape. You're not as impressive. I mean, sometimes they can have like these brown rich stripes and stuff. Shoot. Even the mediocre ones are kind of cool, but, Oh, here's a little top snail. I don't think we've said that today either too. Fabulous. Actually. Yeah. Kais can have a lot of the top snails as well. I wouldn't be surprised if we picked up a couple more. Here's a ribbed cantharis. Yeah. It's a little wonky. Like it's ribs are also a little droopy, but yeah, it's a ribbed cantharis. That does not remind me so much of a nutmeg as the tinted one. Yeah. I'm kind of nerding out. Sorry about that. Speaking of tinted cantharis and then grinding sand all over it. Pretty. Yeah. That's lovely. And it's in really good condition. They can be kind of a boring shell, but sometimes they can be quite nice. A lace murix. Yeah, that's definitely very sandy. Yeah. I'm not spending too much time near the water. That's the way, just the way Kais is. Now the spiny jewel box. What I liked about this one is it kind of was like mid spine. So the animal make, it can go up into those spikes. So those spikes are actually hollow. So the animal goes up and creates those spikes as the shell is growing bigger. Yeah. I just, I just find them really neat. I don't know that I'm explaining that correctly, but I do love spiny spiky shells. Another colorful moon snail and a top snail. All right. What do we got here? Cantharis. Yep. Another tinted cantharis. They look so different from the ribbed cantharis. I don't understand how they're even related. All right. That is a little fighting conch. Swell. Another murix. No, that is also a ribbed cantharis. Pretty. My favorite small shells. Yep. Oh dear. And we'll probably pass on you, but that is another top snail. This looks more older shells except for this one. This is practically a beacon compared to the other ones. A turkey wing. Oh, you're in great condition. Very wingy. You're not all beat up and you got some jingle bisses spots in there. Cool. A little turkey wing. So this is the, toward the south end of Kais. It kind of opens up a little bit, just like the north of the island does. And I'm not as familiar with the south end of the island, but I can tell I'm getting close to the bottom. So I better hurry up and find whatever I'm going to find because my tour, my boat will be here soon. And the reason that I get this really cool tour of the island from all the way from the north to the south is because I went with SWFL Shell Guide. Now she had another family with her, but I was by myself. And so she was able to kind of arrange this and drop me off on the north end. And she's going to pick me up on the south end. So I just cannot speak highly enough. If you're going to go go with Allie. Love me a good stained shell. I'm thinking that's a calico scallop. I think this one is definitely a calico, a stained calico. Yeah. The low oxygen sand mixes with a little bit of iron that's in the shell creating iron sulfide, which I think is kind of cool because it kind of has to cook the shells. It's like they're harder to find like that. I don't care for fossilized shells, but I like the black ones. I don't know. It's just the way it is. Now there is a pass here and there's a little island across the way, but my island, I'm pretty much at the end of it at this point. Look at that cool broad rib cardida. Coloring that is neat. There's a little break. That's okay. Today I'm not going to care. It's going to be one of those days. So that's a really neat broad rib cardida. It's another Tampa turid. I was kidding, but it actually is another Tampa turid and a banded tulip. So another turid and a banded tulip are in the water. Lightning whelk. That's actually a very nice lightning whelk. All right. So we got one like big-ish shell today. It's okay. Tons of shells showed up. Yeah, I'm going to pass on you. Sorry. Yeah, maybe you'll be somebody else's starter lightning whelk. Hard to say. Here's a fighting conch. Yeah. Oh, yeah. I kind of look for the bones of the fighting conch and the color. Yep. You're pretty. Beautiful fighting conch. And another. Oh, this one's kind of caramel. See what yeah. And that angel wing actually has a lot of little holes kind of peppered in it. I didn't see it at the time, but that's okay. We do have another angel wing and an adult fighting conch. So what a great day. So happy. Not all the time, but sometimes when I leave, I'm kind of like, uh, what, you know, what's left behind. And I didn't have to do that today because I got to do the whole island. So there's no mystery. I'm so glad. And sometimes it's not about the fact that I found or didn't find anything. It's just the fact that I got to go see, I needed to go scratch that itch. And on my tour, I did have a family with three, three younger girls on it, and they were so excited about the dolphins. Check this out. There's one. I don't know in the background. Wait, one more, one more. Oh, that dolphin gave them such a show. It was so cool. And then, yep. They're a little bit in the wake. What a fabulous way to end a great day. Yep. I Sometimes I think life can be like that. We don't always know when to keep going, change direction or where it will lead. But sometimes we wait for certainty. We want to know we're making the right decision and that it will be worth it. But life doesn't give us that guarantee. Maybe it's about having the curiosity and courage to take the next step without knowing where it will lead. Sometimes the only way to find out what's possible is to be willing to go there. So whatever your next bend is, keep in mind, you don't have to see the whole path. You just have to be willing to take the next step. Now, there was a tiny bit of garbage. I'm always happy to get the garbage off the beach for the critters and everything. So today it ended up being 10.6 ounces. So in total, a little over 97 pounds, almost at that 100 mark. I've also removed some lightning whelks, there was a worm snail, there's pear whelks, angel wings, buttercup leucine, astray nasa, bruised nasas, jingle, broad-ribbed cardida, sand dollars, horse conchs, we have lace murex, sharp-ribbed drills, augers, fighting conchs, spiny jewelboxes, there looks like some ribbed cantherus, tinted cantherus, the turids, the Tampa turids, apple murex, colorful moon snails, some marginellas up there, lettered olives, shark eyes, banded tulips, dusky cones, bubbles, there's a turkey wing, there's calico scallops, and we have rose petal talons, top snails, gulf oyster drills, moth mouth drills, a bunch of the bay scallops that I can't wait to throw into bleach. What else we got? There was a Florida cone. My favorites, I decided, were the wensel traps, the pitted murex, that little pink lace murex, the noblis fighting conch, and then that weird kind of coffee melampus that I thought was kind of cool. So all things considered, I mean the time of year, the island I went to, the weather, the way there's been lack of of really storms or wind or anything to kind of push the shells up onto the beach, that was a fantastic little day of foraging and exploring, and none of it would have been possible without the support from my Patreons. So Patreons, as always, you have my heartfelt thanks, because I would not be able to do this without you. And I do put content over on Patreon, sometimes it's a sneak peek, but I do try to put extra behind the scenes or different content over there, so if you want to join in on the party, the link is in the description box below. Now next week we are headed to opening day of Shell Island. I will explain why it's closed, we will see everything that's there, and until then I hope you have a wonderful week, and I'll see you again next Sunday.