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.

Beach-combing Bonanza

Despite the threatening weather, Beach Therapy on this past Friday was really, really good . . . look closely, there's the juvenile reddish egret wading in the foreground . . . look very closely, you can see a flock of brown pelicans heading north just below the horizon (on the left) . . .

It's always thrilling to find a whole whelk shell . . . this small (1.75") Lightning Whelk has very strong dark brown markings . . .

This is the first whole (double-shelled) Atlantic cockle I've ever found; it's small, but it was still an exciting find!

I do have, somewhere in my shoe box sized pile of "misc. clam shells", another one of these Lightning Venus clam shells, but I don't believe the markings are this distinct.

I found two pieces of aqua sea glass; this was the larger piece, approx. 1.25" wide.

Another first  ~  a Jujube Topsnail !

Not a first, but a second . . . a very small Thick-lipped Drill . . .

It was a very good day for finding whelk pieces . . .  my shell bag runneth over!