Irene

Well it certainly has been good shelling ever since Irene came around! My boyfriend and I went to Wrightsville Beach immediately after they allowed people back on again after Irene passed.. it was crazy! It was still pretty insanely windy, so you could barely see or you would get sand in your eyes.. but we stuck it out for about half an hour before we couldnt take it anymore. There were a lot of people on the beach for it being so gusty but we finally understood why when we got to one spot... There were tons of horseshoe crabs, starfish, whelks, other shells and just overall debris. It was craziness! I never see that stuff on the beach! My boyfriend managed to snag one of the dead horseshoe crab shells and he also found a fossil shark vertebrae! I was stuffing whelk shells in my pockets or wherever I could find room!

Everything we found during our half hour on the beach directly after Irene

Look at the horseshoe crab!

A closer look at the shark vertebrae

So with the shelling that good then, we of course had to go back the next day and the next... It was unreal the amound of whelks that got washed up. Most of them older and worn, but still very cool. I now have an abundance of them and am not sure what to do with them! I have already decorated most of my house with them and still have lots left over! Here are a few other highlights from the days after Irene..

This HUGE clam got washed up.. he was still alive so I put him back but I have never seen such a fatty clam before.

I love this guy. Im a big fan of worm shells and this is like a little colony.. it was attached to a rock but once removed it revealed a little world of swirlies. I love it!

Although this angel wing is cracked and has a hole, I still adore it. This is first entire one I have found so I was quite excited! They are so beautiful!

And last but not least, a baby sea turtle skull. I did not know what this was when I found it but am sure glad I kept it. I love finding bones on the beach.

Thats all for now. Lots more stuff was found but it was almost too much to document! So until the next hurricane.. happy shelling!