The Essential Beachcomber

Looking across the Stump Pass channel towards Knight Island to the south.  The channel was dredged in 2010 to make the pass deeper.  The dredged sand was used to build up the south end of Stump Pass State Park. All it takes is one little tropical storm named Debby and 3.76 million dollars worth of sand gets shifted to the west. The sandbar has shifted to the west of it's previous location.  You can see the little spit of sand just past the stumps. The south end of Stump Pass State Park has easily tripled in width since Tropical Storm Debby last July. Prior to the storm the trees were on the edge of the water. Only a mile walk down from the main entrance to the park beachcombers reap the rewards of sharks teeth and shells for their efforts. Australian Pines stand tall against the sky.       (taken with my iPhone) Stump Pass is my happy place.  I walk out to the end a few times each month.  The changes o...

The eagle's nest is located in North Fort Meyers, Florida.  An errand in the area brought me close enough to swing by and see the nest in person. (Credit:  Jamie & April Brooks from Southwest Florida Eagle Cam Facebook Page)    The babies were referred to as E1 and E2 until recently being officially named in a poll taken on the Southwest Florida Eagle Cam Facebook Page. Like the other 8,550 followers of the Southwest Florida Eagle Cam , I find myself checking in on the growing baby eagles several times a day.  The Eagle Cam just passed 8 million views so I'm not alone.  People from all over the globe are watching and connecting by social media as they chat, tweet, & post comments on F acebook concerning the two baby eagles that both hatched around January 1st.  Now named Hope & Honor, the baby eagles are growing about a pound in weight each week.  Webcam viewers are watching the babies learn to eat, preen, and now are sta...

The Florida Fish & Wildlife Conservation Commission webpage gets updated every Friday.    Like a drunken sailor drifting up and down the coast looking for a port to land in - the red tide algae bloom that made it's appearance on Christmas Day is still wandering aimlessly up and down the SWFL coastline.  Manasota Key was hit especially hard.  For 4 weeks now tourists, snowbirds & local beach goers have been hacking, coughing & sneezing all the while stepping over dead fish to try to get in some quality beach time. I ventured out to Blind Pass Beach on Manasota Key hoping the recent NW winds had blown the nasty stuff back out to sea.  The sun was out and the tide was low enough to make it a great day for sharks toof hunting.  The beach was clear of dead fish but there was a definite whiff of red tide in the air.  We stayed for a bit until the winds blew the bloom our way and as the hacking and coughing commenced we quickly exited the b...

The tide was rising at Blind Pass and it was getting a little too crowded for my shelling sensibilities so Jenonia, Pookie, & myself moved south to Lighthouse Beach.  Lighthouse Beach is on the opposite end of Sanibel Island from Blind Pass.  It's about a 15 minute drive.       Jenonia was happy to hold her first sea star or starfish.  Of course, the sea star went back in the water where we found him. After taking my advice to look on the wrack line for what looks like coffee grounds - Jenonia got the eye for Wentletraps immediately.  Lighthouse Beach is loaded with photo opportunities.  We arrived to Little Hickory beach access #10 to find the shoreline littered with fighting conchs left behind by the receding low tide. The fighting conchs were all alive.  They hunker down until the rising tide washes them back to the water. This little spit of sa...

The day breaks revealing a busy morning of shelling at Blind Pass on Sanibel/Captiva. Can you remember being a kid and playing a game of  hide & go seek?  The best hiding place was always a closet.  As you sat in the closet being quiet and trying not to be found did you ever try to see your hand in front of your face?  That is dark.  If you are at Blind Pass on Sanibel/Captiva at 5am it's called "pitch black".  The 5:45am lowest minus tide of 2013 coincided with a new moon which means no moon - no light at all except for the hundred's of thousands of incandescent stars glowing across the sky.  As we stood in the empty parking lot of Turner Beach g earing up for our shelling expedition on the beach below our eyes slow ly became accustomed to the early morning pre-dawn sky and the outlines of shell pil es started coming into view .   My strategy for being the first one on the early morning  beach is to do a quick scan the...

  Sanibel Island is my Disneyland. I feel just like the little girl in the video when I find some time to visit my happiest place on earth. Thanks to planet position and gravitational pull,  I am heading to Sanibel for the lowest tide of 2013. The minus -1.1 low tide won't drain the pass but it will be significantly lower uncovering more beautiful shelling loveliness. Follow me on Instagram or Twitter for real-time updates.  Who knows - I might be jubilati ng like the little girl in the video by finding my first junonia. Me in front of the giant junonia on Bowman's Beach last year at the Shellabration .

Taking beach combing finds and arranging them in to perfect order. The shell line stretched the length of Blind Pass Beach on Manasota Key. Heading north from Blind Pass Beach will eventually bring you to the rocks. At high tide this area is impassable. On Monday this tide was a minus -0.3. Lots & lots of shells hiding behind the rocks.   The looking has to be quick because the tide has turned and the water is rising. The victims of the latest Red Tide outbreak from Christmas Day.  The county clean-up crews have cleared most of the beach but missed some of the more remote areas. Beautiful pink. It's about a mile walk to the rocks from the main Blind Pass Beach.  Head north (or facing the gulf > go to your right)