Category Archives: Lighthouse Beach

The Lively Lighthouse

ThThunder

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It was a lively and active Lighthouse Beach last evening. The tide was super low, which brought out a number of creatures, both in and out of the water.

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We were on the hunt for whatever last night. Nothing in particular, really. We’ve just returned from a wedding in Indiana, so we were beyond anxious to get back to what makes us comfortable – the beach, the sand, the shells….the sea.

Ahhhhhhhh….

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The mini shells were out in full force – Horse Conchs, Wentletraps, Drills, Cantharuses, tiny tiny Fighting Conchs and Bubbles. LOTS of Bubbles.

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…and the number of live shells out and about were astounding. Little crabs were in just about every pull of the scoop. Live Coquinas were burrowing anywhere they could find a piece of wet sand, and there was a lot of that….and a lot of burrow spots.

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These were Olive burrows, I believe. I’m not positive, but the reason I’m assuming is, they were everywhere – live Olives, that is. I must have counted forty-plus live Olives, struggling to make their ways back into the sand.

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o1wmGoing….


o2wmGoing…..

o3wmGoing….

o4wmUmmm, still going.

o5wmaaaand, almost gone….see the burrowing Coquina just below?

I stumbled upon this guy, also trying to get away from whatever took a couple of his arms.

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The Cormorants were out too, drying off their wings.

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COME AT ME, BRO

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….and what has become an unfortunately common occurrence here in Southwest Florida, a hooked Pelican.

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These little guys just don’t realize how painful a hook in the mouth can be, so with reckless abandon they grab fish from a fisherman and get hooked.

He struggled to get free, only to get himself more tangled in the line.

5-9-2wmBut this fisherman knew what to do and slowly and cautiously  help release the guy from the line.

5-9-1wmUnfortunately, he couldn’t remove the hook because the Pelican was chomping at him, but he was able to free him from the line and let him loose. The Pelican flew a short distance away and acted like nothing was wrong. Matter of fact, he stayed close to the pier, no doubt waiting for another fish to get caught.

Like I said, it was pretty lively at the Lighthouse.

A Night Out at the Lighthouse

ThThunder

Last night’s Thunder took us out to Lighthouse Beach, where the water was rough, the wind was blowing and the wild life (both human and non-human) was out enjoying the higher temperatures and surprisingly warm(er) water.

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Many of our trips take us out to Blind Pass (since it’s our favorite), but we realized that we had been neglecting some of the other beautiful beaches that Sanibel has to offer….and they do have many! Although Lighthouse Beach is not my personal favorite, last night’s finds may change that.

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The wind was certainly whipping and in turn that caused quite a rough surf to come rolling in. But as we all know, when the waters are tumbling, so are the shells.

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Lighthouse Beach is pretty well known for Horse Conchs, Mini shells and Lightning Whelks. Apart from the Horse Conchs, we had no problem finding many of the other two.

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And much to our surprise, the water itself felt warmer….that’s because it was. NOAA reported a water temp of 74 degrees last night. I guess that’s due to the high 80′s we’ve been experiencing the last couple of weeks. Now to me personally, that’s snorkeling water, not “no shirt” swimming water. But, to the many visitors we saw, it did mean swimming water, as many of them were having a grand ol’ time.

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and I’m gettin’ stoked. I cannot wait until the waters are back to warm. I miss getting out there and enjoying that warm water while I snorkel for keepers.

Now as I mentioned, Lighthouse Beach is not my personal favorite. Reason being is that the water is normally not as clear as the beaches on the other side – BP, Bowman, Captiva North End and on up. I like to see what’s in the water so I don’t step on it….like this guy:

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He was still alive, although missing a couple of limbs. We turned him over and his little yellow tentacles were wiggling like crazy. So we gently put him back in the water. We found another one further up the beach, alive as well. Looked as though a beach visitor didn’t realize he was still alive and left him out on the beach to bake in the sun. We put him back in the water as well. Poor guy. Hopefully he made it.

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The crabs were out as well. The Queen stopped to take a picture of this little guy, who treated her like the paparazzi and gave her the “leave me alone!” look . Then he flipped her the middle claw.

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“I’m outta here, dude.”

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This guy was playing hide and hide in a Dosinia shell.

…and speaking of shells, they were certainly out! The Coquinas were everywhere. How many can you see in this pic?

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Walking along in the water with my rake, I was able to snag a handful of some keepers. We found another Colorful Moon Shell/Gaudy Nautica. I know that crab shell isn’t a “shell” per se, but I think it’s pretty cool.

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So yeah, the water was warm, sun was shining and the shells were rollin’. What else did we find? Hmmmm, let’s see. We found several Coquinas and Lightning Whelks, a broken (but still cool) Ladder Horn shell (I forgot to snap a pic, sorry), a few Ribbed Cantharuses, Bubbles, Nassas, Tusks, Jasper Cones, Apple Murexes, a small-ish Sunray Venus….and the Queen found a perfectly flawless Paper Fig Shell.

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Maybe after last night, we should give Lighthouse Beach another chance to become one of our favorites?