I absolutely love shark teeth

I have been one slacker sheller... And I dont even have a real good reason except maybe the weather hadnt really been as  warm as it could of been.. but even when it was warmer I couldnt motivate to go... but finally a few days ago I got my butt in gear and went.. and boy was I glad I did. It was just what I needed, a nice little reminder of why I love to beach comb so much! As I've said before, I never really find shark teeth on Wrightsville beach which is weird because I find them much more frequently on surrounding beaches.. but I found a few decent ones and it made my day! It was weird, I thought to myself how I wanted to find some shark teeth and then decided to actually bend over and get a closer look and then poof there was this guy:

But then it only got better because I found an even nicer one!

Nothing quite brings me the joy that finding nice shark teeth does..Shark tooth hunting is how I even got into shelling! I hunted for shark teeth every summer at the beach for my entire life and only in the last couple years really started paying attention to all the other awesome beach stuff out there! But still, the rush I get from finding a nice sharks tooth.. well, its immeasurable! Best feeling in the world! So my second favorite thing to find is  probably baby sand dollars.. I mean really, how could anyone not love small sand dollars?! So I found my second littlest sand dollar ever! Its not perfect but its good enough for such a little guy! He is so freaking cute I can hardly stand it. Here he is where I found him..

What a great day it was. Really got me back into the shelling spirit! Heres everything from that day.. not a whole lot but with shark teeth and a baby sand dollar, its fine by me!

I just love this little fellow so much!

Also found an olive with a tiny little shell stuck in it and I cant get it out and its driving me mad! I want that little shell!

But wait... I still have one last thing to show you! This is from a seperate trip to the beach a couple days ago.. I was saving the best for last... So I'm strolling down the beach.. the tide is almost high and Im not finding much.. but then I come across this...:

I about peed my pants.. I havent found a sharks tooth this nice on a regular ole populated beach since I was like 9. I could not believe it. I kept telling myself it was a Christmas miracle!! Heres a better look

Shes a beauty.. and I love her so very much.. and I cant stop looking at and messing with it.. Im pretty sure I want to turn this into a necklace or something so I can carry it with me always! I have bigger and better shark teeth than this guy but for some reason this one is super special to me.. maybe because I found him somewhere that I least expected..I think that is it, finding something super awesome when I absolutely least expect it.. best feeling ever!!!!

So thats what I've been up to.. I hope to get out there again soon and find some more neat stuff! I hope whoever reads this has a very merry holiday and a happy new year!!

Its been a good few days!

I have been a busy little bee at the beach! I've been going on some pretty cold, windy and foggy days.. and no one is out there then, its wonderful. So very peaceful. Heres a summary of my last few outings.

It was all gray but then the clouds started opening up and the lighting made everything extra beautiful.

And I saw this..

Not a bad sand dollar if I do say so myself!

Also saw some dead stuff.. A dead puffer fish..

And this poor guy..

And lastly a dead bird

And another sand dollar!

Overall its been a grand few days.. Heres my spread:

I really like bones and have been finding a decent amount of bird bones lately so here they are:

Some other highlights include this small pen shell that is mostly in tact

A flat scallop.. I only have one other of these..

This super cute, in tact kittens paw

And lastly the fossilized vertebrae.. I believe its from a shark

And thats all I have for today! Until the next time!

I love sand dollars

I've been on the hunt for sand dollars lately! Yesterday I found three! I was rather pleased. I have to say one of my favorite things is when you are walking on the beach and you see the flower on the sand dollar peaking through the sand like this..

I love it!! That always gets me excited. Heres another picture of a different sand dollar.. I just cant resist.

And here my dollars from the past two days

One of those sand dollars seems to be irregular or something.. it only had 4 petals on the flower! I thought that was really cool. Heres a closer look

Ok, moving on from the sand dollars.. Its been absolutely beautiful and warm and I couldnt ask for better shelling weather! Here is my beach! I like how this seagull flew all up in my picture.. and then proceeded to follow me around and creep me out.

I love when the sand gets like this.. its such a neat pattern

And one last picture of my favorite place.. its heavenly

Thats all for now. I think Im gearing up to go back at it here shortly! Happy shelling!

What a great day!

Today was AWESOME! Started off as any other day at the beach.. a little colder than it has been but still beautiful! Took me awhile to start finding some good stuff. First of all, I find whelks all the time.. but they are mostly old weathered, black ones.. never nice pretty ones. But today there was a tiny little tide pool in the middle of the beach that had this in it!

I was quite excited.. how no one found this before me I do not know. There were lots of people out on the beach and as you can see it didnt just wash up, it had been there for awhile. Isnt it pretty though?! 

After that my day was already made! But then shortly after that don't you know I found another perfect sand dollar! 

Again my day had been made! I also found a tusk shell which Ive never found before.. it really does look like a little tusk, its pretty cute!

The one last thing that made my day was a starfish that had gotten beached.. I was hoping to rescue him but he was already a goner.. although that makes me sad, I am glad I get to keep him! I rarely find them dead.

What a grand day. Heres a gander at everything I found.

Not bad for North Carolina shelling! I just want to show a couple other favorites from today.. my favorite scallop:

I also really enjoy shells or anything that has coral attached to it..

And last but not least, my pretty sand dollar.. right next to one that is covered in gunk.. I kind of like it that way and may just leave it as is

So all in all, it was a very satisfying excursion!! I hope to go back out tomorrow!

Four days of shelling!

I have been on fire lately! I have gone to the beach for the past four days in a row and it has been awesome. Its been jellyfish central though.. thousands washed up on the beach. If I never have to step on and slip and slide on another jellyfish again.. that would be grand. Its the most ickiest feeling, but you gotta do what you gotta do in order to satisfy your shelling needs! For a month or two now, every time I have gone to the beach all I want to find is a sand dollar.. I feel like its been too long! So dont you know I found a perfect one my first day.. and then one my second day I found another one.. and the same on the third day. By the time I was on my fourth day I stopped wishing for it because I felt like that was pushing my luck.. but sure enough I found one last  perfect one!

Here's all four of them!

I love them so. Moving on.. I didn't find anything unusual really.. Plenty of scallops, whelks, olives and augers.. I did save a little starfish from death.. also found like six bones and found a decent sized busted shark tooth chunk. I just want to say that my pictures are pretty lame! I should have lots but alas, my camera stopped working correctly a couple months ago.. it got sand in it from bringing it to the beach too much.. Its very frustrating not having my little camera to whip out and take pics of whatever I want.. I try to use my phone camera, but it just cant compare.. And I tried sneaking my boyfriends big fancy camera to the beach.. but I was so paranoid that I would get sand in it and then I would be in big trouble! So I'm doing the best I can with what I got! Heres a picture of my lovely beach.. I took this with my phone hoping it would show the sparkles of the all the dead jellies up and down the beach.. but it did not. Still pretty though!

Here is my shark tooth chunk.. I rarely find teeth here so I was quite excited.. every time I'm shelling, Im always convinced this is going to be the time I'm going to find my one big giant shark tooth to make up for all the ones that I dont find.. this has yet to happen.. but someday it will!!

Thats really all I have to share. Its been a great four days and I hope to keep this momentum up!!

Shells make the world go round

I went to the beach last Thursday. I have been meaning to write this post but have been busy preparing for my favorite holiday, Halloween! It was a warm, absolutely beautiful yet windy day on Wrightsville Beach. I love the view from the top of the entrance..

I rushed down to the water as I usually do and to my surprise there was a whelk just sitting there waiting for me! 

I just knew that meant I was going to find oodles of shells... not so much.. but thats okay, when I finally got to the tide pools I saw a stunning swirly sticking out of the sand I just knew it was going to be a pretty one..

I love when they are half buried.. its so exciting because you never know what the other half is going to look like.. but luckily this guy turned out to be beautiful.

So here is a look at everything I found, which isn't much.. but I will take what I can get until the next time..

I love this black scallop.. I find them occasionally and they look older than most of the scallops I find.. its like they are slightly off.. slightly crooked or something.. I dont know what it is but I like it!

And heres a looksy at the whelk I found

Thats all, folks! As of today its officially free parking at the beach and I plan on taking advantage of that as much as possible! Hopefully I will have more sea treasures to share soon!