Treasures from the Ocean

We are on Little Gasparilla Island in Florida which is on the Gulf of Mexico, and we are continually amazed by the variety of life here!  With each ebb and flow of the ocean, thousands of shells are deposited on the shore. Shellfish are the "insects of the ocean" in terms of how plentiful they are (and the fact that they are both invertebrates).  It doesn't seem to matter how many times we can get to the ocean, we are always amazed by the variety and plenty we see here.  It speaks to us of the endless creativity and goodness of God!  There is an on-going explosion of life that flows from Him and is unleashed on the earth each day and we have the pleasure of discovering and enjoying it.

As well as being bird lovers (see my post here) we are also novice shellers.  Collecting shells is addicting as there are so many wonderful shells, with new ones relentlessly washing ashore.

Here are some photos of our collections:

These are jingle shells - they are delicate, and come in many colours.

So far, sand dollars have been rare, but one good storm could change all of that for us.

There are many partially broken lightening whelks, so finding whole ones is a real treasure!

 We have been keeping the shells in our porch, and everyone is busy sorting, grouping and organizing their personal collections:

Tim found this live conch while we were shelling.  I took some photos of it and then he put it back in the ocean, hoping it will survive. Look at how cute its little face is!

Tim found this heart-shaped shell piece ... I put it in my collection.  :)

We have so many shells already ... and we still have a trip planned to go to Sanibel Island - one of Florida's top shelling locations due to its location and orientation ... can't wait to see what we find there!

Silvia
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