The Essential Beachcomber

The first tropical storm of the 2012 storm season -Debby - blew in, hovered over Florida for 3 days, then blew out leaving many SWFL beaches rearranged. The southern end of Manasota Key was dredged 2 years ago to open up Stump Pass and deepen the channel to allow boats to travel through without getting beached on the shoals building up by the constantly shifting sands.  The dredging was a success but thanks to the storm the pass has become shallow again.  Further north on Manasota Key, Blind Pass Beach (not Sanibel-Captiva) has a swath of new sandbars cut into the beach. Good news to sharks tooth hunters.  It hardly seems a week ago we were all hunkered down with tornado warnings, rain squalls, & flooding.  But the sun is shining again and SWFL is back to normal.   Lest we all forget there was a storm, Here's a video I took last Monday.  I donned my slicker and hiked the mile out to the end of Stump Pass to see if my junonia had washed in yet. ...

Pen shells are a sure sign of a recent storm.  Under the tangle of flotsam & pen shells are lots of shells treasures. Whenever a tropical depression or storm rolls through SWFL it is inevitable that shells will follow - not your normal traverse arks and cockle shells but lightning whelks, scotch bonnets, & hopefully a junonia or two. The where & the when can be elusive. The first shells usually show up on the low tide following a storm.  Depending on which way the wind was blowing determines the probability of which beach.  TS Debby was spinning counter-clockwise and the winds were blowing SW.  On Sanibel more than likely the Lighthouse Beach on the southern-end of the island is where the storm bounty will roll in.   But one still must attend to the daily duties of life.  When the word gets out the shells have arrived the window of opportunity is small.  In a few short hours the masses have arrived at the beach looking for shel...

(Credit:  www.fox10tv.com) One of the earliest tropical storms of a summer on record, Debby has been swirling around in the Gulf of Mexico and hovering over the panhandle since Saturday June 23. The shelling vigil had begun. Every shell fanatic from Sanibel to Englewood & north to Honeymoon Island are watching the beaches for the first shells to start rolling in. This is junonia prime time folks. With Tropical Storm Debby hanging over the panhandle, SWFL is still experiencing high surf advisories & a fair amount of flooding.  Just when the sun comes out shining and it looks like a normal weather day; the wind starts gusting, the sky darkens again and another rain squall blows through. A tropical depression or storm usually blows right through and the beaches are full of shells the next morning low tide.  TS Debby has been hovering over us for 4 days now. SWFL is in shell limbo. There are eyes & ears out there watching the beaches via facebook , webcams , ...

Every SWFL surfer lives for stormy days & high surf advisories. Just another day in paradise.  Tropical Storm Debby is rolling through SWFL bringing tornado warnings & high surf advisories.  Warnings like that are Beach Boy music to the ears of every beach comber & surfer in the vicinity. It's still a little too rough for the shells to roll in.  Low tide was at 11:11am & the storm surge had pushed the tide line past the turtle nests and up to the sand dune embankment.  The south  winds were gusting to about 30 mph with the waves reaching the 6-10 foot range. One of my shell sistahs calls these tropical storms "shell showers". I'll keep you posted. Just another day in paradise - welcome Tropical Storm Debby. Blind Pass Beach on Manasota Key was packed  with surfers and their entourages. No life guard - No board - no problem.  There's always body surfing. This turtle nest will hopefully hold on.

As I was looking out the window this morning watching the rain fall and mentally scrounging for something blog-worthy to share, my mind kept traveling backwards over the last year.  Life as I knew it came to a screeching halt last July when my dear hubby had his first heart attack.  I had recently left my job of six years with the plan of pursuing a change of career.  In April  hubby had a second heart attack followed by my mom (who lives with me) having a stroke ten days later.  My new career (it seems) is home health care.  My days are now full of pill bottles, doctors appointments, & making edible food for people that can't eat salt, sugar, or red meat. Just when I think I have nothing else to give the Lord quietly reminds me - I'll be with you.   My questions has changed from "Why" to "Who".  God, who do you want to be for me right now that you couldn't be any other time? When I have needed strength - Heavenly Father has grab...

If you hear voices and they tell you to "go to Sanibel" - listen to them. The best time to go shelling (if you are not concerned as to whether you find any good shells or not) is "whenever you feel the urge'.  Now, I have to watch my shelling urges as they they break out at some really inconvenient times. Many times I have left work on my lunch break only to return an hour later with soggy squeaking shoes from an impromptu trip to the local beach. More than once my hubby has awoken to a note on his beside table explaining my whereabouts (or lack of) due to a full moon and  an extra low 3am tide.  From my home base in Englewood, Florida, I can easily get to the beaches of Manasota Key, Boca Grande, & Sarasota in 20 minutes.  Sanibel - not so much. It is an hour (depending on traffic and highway construction) south on I-75 to Exit 121 and then another 30 minutes to the toll booth that leads across the causeway to the shelling mother ship.  The shellin...

Here in the south (SWFL to be exact) we have long had a secret for well being that is just now starting to leak out across the rest of the globe. With health conscious companies marketing homeopathic-this and all-natural-that all promising to improve your health and give you a sense of well-being we southerners have had the cure for hundreds of years. Are you having one of "those" days?  You know the kind of day.  It feels like you are slogging through jello.  You are just in a funk with no creative energy or forward inertia. Stuff happens and it is happening to you.  The southern elixir that puts a drawl in your speech and pep in your step is Sweet Tea or just tea as we call it.  The sugar is just a given. Case in point - my niece Pookie.  After a crappy day at work facing all the drama that a typical 25 yo woman has to face in an 8 hour time span she heads for some solace at my house where the washer and dryer are free and the sympathy regarding lif...