March in November . . .

I'm recently back from a four-week trip to my hometown in No. Calif.; I managed to be gone from NE Florida before, during, and after Hurricane Matthew tore through here! Our county was one of the hardest hit in Florida, but since we live west of I-95, our home (and my hubby) stood strong in the Category 3 winds, and the only damage was the loss of two smaller trees in our backyard and a fairly new microwave (and the power for 4-5 days). . .

So, here I sit, almost a week back home and aching to see "my" beach after both a long absence and after the storm tore up much of the coastline in the area . . . I do believe my beach fared well, considering . . . I'll get there this week, but in the meantime will continue my attempt of "catch up" with my photos from March . . .

This lovely knobbed whelk was buried in "muck" (sand submerged in shallow water) near the spot where I placed it after pulling it out and rinsing it off . . .

A wentletrap! I now have two of these gastropod shells . . . this is the larger of the two at 7/8". Yep, not even an inch long! They only reach 1" max., too.

From what I've seen on Facebook, in groups for seashell / beach lovers, finding and collecting heart shapes is kind of a thing . . . I have very few; they aren't easy to find! This one looks nearly perfect, made from an oyster shell.

Sunrise over the Atlantic . . . cannot wait to see one again!

Speaking of oyster shells... here's a cluster of striped acorn barnacles on an oyster shell . . .

Another small beauty, the thick-lipped drill. . . a not-so-pretty name. They reach 1.5" max. This pinkish tone is their natural color.

Another baby's ear . . .

And another lettered olive . . .

An angelwing . . .

. . . A small lightning whelk . . .

And a very nicely "carved" whelk piece.

Sea Treasure Finds...

When I decided to make the effort to get beach therapy on a weekly basis (as much as humanly possible)…I started out visiting N. Peninsula Beach, which is just south of Flagler Beach. It's a nice enough beach, esp. since almost no one goes there, but the bounty from beach-combing isn't the greatest. The best seashells are on the W. coast of Florida, but I still manage to find plenty of interesting, attractive shells and other neat sea treasures….

Sunrise at N. Peninsula Beach…by the light of the silvery…sun…

I always head for the beach around sunrise...

Nature creates plenty of lovely shell pendants…

esp. ark shells in my beachy part of the world…

in white, orange, brown, and black...

The ocean breeze can leave these pretty ripples in the coquina sand...

…A sanderling taking a morning bath…

I'd never witnessed this before…

They're usually busy fishing for breakfast...

 Not good photos, but you can see that this is a Florida scrub jay…

They live in the sandy, scrubby terrain of N. Peninsula State Park…

Which lies between the Atlantic Ocean and the Intracoastal Waterway.

 Ghost crabs are plentiful along our beaches…

I had two startle me while I was busy scanning the high tide wrack…

The cannonball jellyfish wash ashore by the dozens in late winter…

…An angelwing shell…

There are a lot of feathers washed ashore…

This was the first raptor feather I've seen…

No clue if it's an osprey's but they fish the Atlantic

daily and can be seen most visits to the beach...

I've seen a couple of these spider crabs…

Thank goodness they're small! Yeesh!

I also made a visit to the beach at Marineland, south of St. Augustine…

the area has the interesting coquina limestone formations…

…A couple laughing gulls chillin' in the morning light…

…I didn't find any exciting shells, but did find this brown sea cucumber…
I highly recommend not touching one if you see it…eeeek!