Shelling on Sanibel Island. Lighthouse Beach had so many jellyfish!

hello beach friends today we're visiting sanibel and we're going to explore the iconic lighthouse beach during low tide i got here nice and early and i'm hoping the low tide will help my chances of finding some goodies i honestly do not normally have very good luck here but so many other people have told me what great shells they found and i was also told that snorkeling might help so i have arrived with a good attitude a shell bag and a snorkel mask it is a gorgeous beach and we'll have plenty of beautiful scenery and we're going to say hi to a couple critters including a jellyfish that i have never seen before so if you're ready to check out lighthouse beach with me let's go to the beach [Music] [Applause] [Music] so the first thing i typically do when i get to the beach is head straight for the water just to kind of check out and see what the conditions look like in anticipation of what kind of day i might have so the water is very very clear which is awesome see if we can find anything up all right it is sanibel and that means scallops and that is a calico scallop oh cool we have ourselves a short spined sea star and i typically pick these up kind of check them out but i figured this time i'm going to put my camera underwater now this is a different one that i found another one that i decided not to pick up and i want to put the camera in oh there's a fish okay they hang out just to kind of see what what happens what do they look like turns out it's not that interesting most of the stuff going on with this critter is underneath its legs its mouth and everything else so all right lesson learned not terribly interesting but i'll keep trying keep trying to find these cool critters and see what i can find oh speaking of things to find here's a lettered olive it's got its top and everything it's kind of cool i spy something else all right that is a juvenile florida fighting conch nice little shell so just to give you an idea where at the lighthouse i am there there's the lay house i'm just kind of creeping my way around checking out the water i did come here today specifically for low tide and let's for a minute we're going to talk about the low tides so here we have the times of the day and then here this wave is when you see the height of the ocean so it's going to be low tide and these areas high tide here and then sometimes in the winter you can even get a negative low tide and so the tide will be all the way down here which is super fun can't wait for that this app is called tides this is what it looks like on the apple store i don't know about android because i have an iphone but that is how i check the tides and here i found a little tulip and i was gonna pick it up so this is a live banded tulip and i changed my mind and decided let's go underneath let's go check out what this critter is doing because typically when you pick them up they really just kind of recede into their shell so this little fella or gal is kind of cruising along but when i reposition the camera i think it kind of noticed me it's always fun to see the fish in the background so it stopped really kind of moving and i was bummed because i like i like to see them kind of doing their thing and they're in their natural environment so i think it detected i was there i don't know if it's peeking out from under its shell but it's not going to do so much too much more so we're just gonna keep it moving all right awesome a terribly beat up florida fighting conch not keeping that all sorts of covered with stuff oh here we have a shark eye complete with another drill hole somebody drilled a hole in that another critter did and an apple murax okay nice color it's intact all right that's a pretty good find all right i spy something else another lettered olive all right this is pretty typical how you find him missing its top little beat up but a letter to olive nonetheless and then here looks like i found myself a florida cone it is a little beat up it's not real pointy it's a little bit chipped but it's a cone so i'm gonna keep it oh another critter that is another live banded tulip so see if i can be a little more careful with this one you can see he or she i'm cruising around down there that little piece that little black thing sticking all the way out of the front of the shell that's called a proboscis and it kind of acts like a trunk as it's foraging now banded tulips are carnivores they will eat each other they will eat other tulips and they'll also eat things like clams so it looks like this little critter is on the hunt glad i was able to see it kind of move around what else we got here okay a paper fig i do tend to find these over at lighthouse beach for some reason and that's in you know pretty good shape relatively thin and delicate so probably put that in my little delicate box but that is a paper fig and a piece of abandoned tulip just a piece all right another calico scallop although it's a little beat up yeah it's got some holes and whatnot cinderella if you like scallops definitely head over to sanibel never leave sanibel without finding a scallop or two okay this is a top of a lightening whelk a little discolored interesting too bad it wasn't whole so that's kind of stuff i'm finding here and again where i am in position to the lighthouse so i'm kind of like right off the point at this part point i'm off the point at this point and the water is relatively i mean the water is very clear i know it looks kind of looks a little green and all those white things are just beat up shelves the stuff you kind of find on the beach so looks like the water isn't giving me quite the goodies i was hoping there are some other people here do have to share lighthouse beach it is very popular this is another calico scallop and here we have an yellow prickly cockle right so we're finding something it's not like ice i'll tell you that and other people have told me they have really great luck here okay here we have a common nutmeg it is not in perfect condition but if you have something that kind of looks like that a little bit of brown with that whirl on the other side that is a common nutmeg and another banded tulip yeah aperture is broken they usually are but that's okay it's got its point nice banded tulip and another oh dang it all right that one's a little bit more chipped but i'm trying to can i kind of hide it maybe maybe if i just hold it a certain way i think i found a lettered olive oh it's gorgeous gorgeous let it olive nice and big beautiful markings on it oh looks like i'm picking up a couple things okay yup the water sure makes it look a lot better so that beat up lightning welcome i'm going to leave but i'm going to go ahead and keep that i'm going to keep that little lightening walk cool and that it almost looked like it was an albino under the water i'm telling you the water definitely changes the way it looks it looks perfect until you pick it up now these guys were so funny so there were some people snorkeling here and we'll talk about that in a minute and here we have a snowy egret and they're just kind of hanging out looking for a fish and whatnot and this this one guy he was just kind of bullying everybody around he wasn't happy where anybody was another guy just kind of gave up so this is something i saw over here now this is an atlantic sea nettle jellyfish these can be found all the way up from cape cod down into the caribbean into the gulf of mexico they sting their prey they are poisonous so i'm trying to videotape it and keep away from those tentacles because there are thousands of microscopic venom-filled little things in there that sting their prey so that is poisonous and the crazy thing where you find most of those is in the chesapeake bay go figure but i do think it's beautiful as long as you don't get stinged take a peek and keep moving so i kept finding jellyfish and so i decided i'm probably gonna keep my snorkel mask in my backpack because i just really didn't want to get stung i do have vinegar in my trunk just in case but you know i'll keep walking around we'll walk and hunt and search that's another piece of a tulip you can see the current the current the water is rushing out all right we got here an apple murex and there is a little critter in there so you do have to be very careful when you're shelling in the water because it is possible that there will be somebody home so there you can see just the little claws of a long wristed hermit crab all tucked up in there they can really really hide so just make sure you're careful we're going to leave that guy where we found him they go okay there's a keeper moon snail shark eye oh that's a paul newman one the ones that are blue that have at the very center of the spiral they call that a paul newman shark eye oh so pretty all right you can see the current tide is still going out at this point i'm not alone lighthouse beach is very very popular i think you pretty much have to come here at three in the morning to get the place to yourself and that's fine but there are other people here doing the same thing i'm doing hunting for seashells all right this is a channeled duck clam also has a couple names a sailor's ear an elephant ear it's kind of a fun shell and i'm bummed this was an area i was told might be good for snorkeling i already kind of took that off the table so i'm thinking maybe hey people have found rental traps over here but it's just not looking good for that either for me so i have to at least check it out show you what's up on the beach pieces little pieces of shells not piles just little this little that but nothing we're really going to spend a lot of time with and go through oh found a crab he wanted no he or she wanted no part of me so we'll just say hey and keep it moving now this shell i didn't realize there was a critter in it and it startled me a very feisty little long-wristed hermit crab so this is the same hermit crab that we picked up in the other apple muric's but this one's quite annoyed at me not hiding desperately wants me to put him down or her and i will just want to say hi put you back where he found you and check this out he just takes off air off and running so i'm over by the pier at lighthouse beach and again it's beautiful not a whole lot on the beach but let's just take a look exactly where i am so here is the island of sanibel now i'm at lighthouse beach which is here now if we zoom into that this is this is the beach lots of green you'll see so it does feel very tropical very lush and i'm in this area right here is the pier but this is the area that i'm really going to be walking around and hunting for goodies arrows speaking of goodies got a beat up banded tulip not a keeper but there is stuff here there's a lot of people here oh and these guys now again i'm not a fish expert but i think those are little sheep's head which have the creepiest teeth ever and since i was doing so much underwater filming i just wanted to see let's see what that looked like from underneath the water and frankly it looks like they're having fun so and look at that current i mean it is ripping and it's interesting that all the way on the bottom where that tulip was we saw earlier it wasn't as fast but as you go at the top of the water was there was quite a current so it looks like these guys are just i don't know having fun trying not to get eaten i guess okay this is a hinged disc dosenia if you're going to find a hinge shell i'm betting it's going to be a dystocina you find them hinged all the time and they have a cool like record pattern texture to them so that is a hinged disc doosania all right i think i found a couple of things yup some scallops we have some calico scallops way quite lovely i don't know that i'm going to keep that one on the bottom it's a little bit chipped but there are a couple of goodies here another lightning whelk i'm going to tell those are probably the most common after the florida fighting conks i just recently noticed i mean i pick every single time i go to the beach i find a lightning walk so even though they're really really cool they're really really common speaking of common that is a slipper shell and those drive me bananas because they look like so many other like really great shells and you pick it up and it's a slipper okay here we have another banded tulip the aperture is not broken but it's missing its top i'm still going to keep it though banded tulip all right and here again is a whole bunch of common stuff oh i see something with a little bit of color another calico scallop let's take a look oh it's kind of pretty if i do say so myself i'm scanning water's nice and clear nice and shallow so actually there's really no reason at least at this point to put that snorkel mask on and brave the waters there were actually a lot of jellyfish we're gonna see a couple more pretty day and there's the lighthouse so i'm still kind of at the point just about time though to do a little exploring oh here we have another calico scallop and yeah let's let's go for a little walk so i've kind of relocated i'm heading up the beach at this point and here we have a juvenile florida fighting conch i was rewarded for walking a little bit up the beach and then here we have look at that on the bottom is a little tiny apple muric's and then on top we have some sort of drill shell but that's not what's interesting me it's the weird little critter that's in it i don't know what that is it it i i got i tried to look it up it looks really strange i mean the feet are in the back there and it maybe it's a baby hermit crab and those those front claws grow but i really don't know it was weird so i just wanted to videotape it and share it with you here we have a caligo scallop yet again another caligo scallop so i'm walking up the beach at this point just to give you any indication i've been walking a bit and i found maybe two or three shells so it is a little bit slower today but it sure is pretty probably spent all that time walking in the water figure let's just take a peek what is going on up at the beach here other than a coconut all right we got some seaweed we got some you know stuff kind of smattered all over probably your commons yep you're going to find those guaranteed that is a cross-barred venus so is that one that one's a little bit worn down that is a ponderous arc so there are certain shells guaranteed you absolutely will find them but we're looking for things that are just a little bit more interesting i mean they're fine they're very interesting but there's the coconut confirm some gastropods or uh oh no it looks okay looks like a little bit of weather coming in okay here we go so i'm talking about a spiny jewel box although it's just a little bit lumpy doesn't really have any spines but they're here depending on what you're looking for and that is another jellyfish and i do tend to see those a lot that is a moon jelly and i did happen to spy one in the water so of course we're gonna take a look and see what that looks like so there you see it the moon jelly i don't normally find them in the water normally i honestly find them washed up on the beach so this is the first time i've ever seen one really kind of swimming around they are not poisonous venomous they they do sting their prey but humans don't really have to worry about these their stingers aren't strong enough to get to really bother our skin so we don't have to worry about them it's actually kind of pretty it's too bad the lighting isn't better but they are rather pretty so that is a moon jellyfish it's about the size of a plate i mean they're on the bigger side and jellyfish are 95 water they have no brain blood or heart they just kind of do their jellyfish thing and then this one this is yet another jellyfish this one i could not figure out what kind it was it was a little more compact it was almost like a little bubble so it didn't have those long pretty tentacles and again since i don't know i want to get close enough to get a good look but not that close so i'm still walking north at this point beautiful giant clouds we get those in the summer a lot because it can rain pretty much at any at any time but in the winter you'll notice stick with me if you you see as the winter comes the clouds disappear they're gone and it doesn't rain for months it's it's actually really nice so we are walking north see what else cover more beach try to increase my chances of finding stuff all right here's something here's a giant atlantic cockle very cool and because it's a little bit of a slow day i'm gonna keep it so back up on the beach there's little stuff let's see you know your ponderous orcs okay there's a couple scallops just they're discolored they all right that one's broken probably a discolored calico scalp oh that one's a little broken too and a ponderous ark maybe that's a cut rib dark actually it's an arc of some sort and a piece of a kitten paw uh a piece of a slipper snail a little cross-barred venus so you know again depending on what you're looking for i tend to look for the things that are a little bit bigger i'm not going to go tiny hunting today maybe another time in the future and this frankly i was really quick to say i thought this was a calico scallop but i really don't think it is to me that's kind of a mystery scallop i'm not really sure what kind that is and an olive just rolling around in the water awesome lettered olive very cool all right looks like some weather is coming in that's to the south of me but that's what's going on in the north so it's hard because i'm always got my head down and i try to peek up just in case there's a dolphin or something but the weather can sneak up on you a little bit so it's always a good idea to kind of know what to expect here is another calico scallop and here's the beach i walked up pretty not not too far i don't know maybe a mile up the beach and let's check out what it looks like here again lots of the common stuff the arks i see a kitten paw so there are like i said there are shells here and then look at this another jellyfish i don't know what kind that is i wonder if that's one of those that can kind of inflate themselves and kind of float i don't know but they really were everywhere here is a chestnut turban someone was asking me recently about these and i don't find them very often i don't think that they're necessarily rare but i don't really find them that often look at this gorgeous lightning milk it's alive i did not find it someone else did i was chatting with her and she let me shoot this beautiful lightning milk she found she was just hanging out in a bucket so she's going to return it back to the water to let it do its thing and this is odd because that is a land snail that is a cuban lance now wait a brown cuban brown snail that's what that guy is that shouldn't be here but i'm gonna keep it anyway and that beautiful like leopard printed little critter that is a calico box crab and i was kind of thinking i was going to try to pick it up but it was a little bit more active and feisty than some of the other ones i've encountered so i kind of got behind yeah and it was like you know not picking me up isn't it pretty gorgeous so that is a little calico box crab doing it box crab thing and at this point just about time to to leave the beach it looks like some weather might be coming in anyway so just as well my time here is done oh what's so pretty and look at the height of those clouds i don't know how you guys feel about the weather but it fascinates me too i love thunderstorms i love lightning storms as long as i'm not out in the weather with the lightning these clouds were gorgeous these beautiful big white puffy clouds beautiful day at the beach here is a little calico clam just a wee little one and it's a slipper steel slipper snail they usually drive me a little bananas but i thought that one was kind of pretty so that is a spotted slipper snail now if you remember from the view from on top it is a very lush lots of greenery here at this particular beach so it's very it's beautiful it's just peaceful there are not a lot of trails but you can definitely walk around a little bit there's some exploring to do and what i want to check out is that the trailhead looking sign up there because i don't know that i've ever seen that before so if you happen to come here and you want to quickly reference and check what you might have found there is this cool seashell poster or display of sorts so this is what i found i was going to say hall it's not exactly a haul we did find a bunch of scallops the chestnut turbine the spotted slipper snail the olives the paper fig the banded tulips the apple muric some shark eyes the lightning welks florida fighting cox the land snail the atlantic cockle and the distosinia and the channel duck clam so guys that's lighthouse beach i'm telling you i don't know if it doesn't like me i hope whoever goes there continues to have wonderful luck my luck was okay well we're just i'm just gonna leave it at that i will go back we'll try snorkeling maybe another time when there wasn't jellyfish all over the place so thank you thank you patreons thank everybody for viewing thank you for the love thank you for your tips your tricks send it my way because i love sharing next week we're going low tide fort myers beach can't wait lots of cool stuff i'll see you then have a great week

Channel: SWF Beach Life

Views: 12,123

Keywords: Shelling on sanibel island, shelling on sanibel island 2021, shelling on sanibel, sanibel shelling, shelling sanibel, sanibel sea shells, sanibel seashells, seashells, florida shelling, looking for seashells in florida, sanibel island florida, sanibel lighthouse beach, sanibel lighthouse, shelling sanibel lighthouse, sanibel lighthouse shelling, looking for seashells, swfbeachlife, swf beach life, florida beach walk, florida beachcombing

Id: bYcsF1eDstE

Length: 27min 22sec (1642 seconds)

Published: Sun Oct 17 2021