I'm still here, beach-combing on a weekly basis . . . this morning hubby and I had some beach therapy, he mainly sat in a beach chair and chilled, I did my usual stroll & shell collecting. We made it for a lovely sunrise and a major surprise . . .
Ta da! This big gem was mostly buried in sand muck, a few inches underwater, between a sand bar that appears at low tide, and the actual beach. I saw the striking, unusual black/white pattern and dug up this, my first Florida horse conch! The shell is 11" long; they can reach 19" max.
Now that the weather's cooled down a bit, beach-combing is quite pleasant all around.
It's easy to imagine your excitement in finding the shells, Jann. I recently saw a comment that the highest tides of the year offer good shelling. Good luck on your future hunts. When I've made pre-dawn visits to a local state park here on the Gulf Coast (with an after-hours permit) I always found another visitor already on site combing the beach to get first dibs on the treasures.
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