Part 1 of 2: So Much to See Shelling Jupiter Island

[00:00:14]I absolutely love all the diversity in nature that I get to experience when taking my beach walks, especially this summer as I've been exploring a bit farther than the beach into the intercoastal areas. This beach walk I'm starting out at Coral Cove walking into Blowing Rocks and we'll check out that area as well as their Holey Education Center. Then back to Coral Cove where I sat on a pile of shells and found a bunch of little beauties.

[00:00:42]I'll show you some underwater views at Coral Cove also before I was chased out by a summer storm and then we'll pop across to the river to find some amazing things like live horse conchs, a beautiful live queen conch, manatees, just so awesome. And we'll collect a few shells also. Surprisingly in the river I also found empty and live thrush cowries. They are an invasive species here in Florida and we'll talk a little bit about those. This walk is a compilation of a few walks by myself, with my bestie Shelley and my family that I've put together in a two-part beach walk for you. Welcome to Florida Beach Walks, I'm Roxanne. Let's go shelling.

[00:01:37]So we have been having a lot of seaweed this summer that's been choking out the shells but hey, I see shells on the beach and that is good thing and one gorgeous sunrise.

[00:02:01]>> This seaweed definitely has been something else this summer, but let's see what we can find. And here is a turkey wing. All right, that's not in bad condition. Even the ones that are a little worn out, I really love using these for a base for my different shell projects. And here is an imperial venus and it is really big. A little bit banged up, but it's still got some nice color.

[00:02:27]And this little guy looks like a product of a calico and a rough scallop. I'm pretty sure that's a rough scallop with a worn out texture on it. Oh, and a lion's paw with a hole. The only thing I was like, maybe I can dremel a heart a heart shape in that one.

[00:02:46]This morning is starting off pretty good. Check out this brown bonnet. I love that. Scotch bonnet.

[00:02:56]Yay! The dark ones are just so fine. And I don't you know, I normally find the white ones, the all white ones, but these brown ones are just so cool with their spots on it. Awesome. Up on my space coast when it's really like stormy, you can find a lot of those dark brown bonnets with some really crazy spots.

[00:03:22]And this morning I am decked out in my new fanny pack from SWFL Shell Guide.

[00:03:28]Allie, I absolutely love all her stuff, like all her merchandise, and I bought several things over the years, and this one just has so many pockets. I love it.

[00:03:39]I got my neck gaiter face shield, bandana in there, and like if there's my little tiny's container today. I need to change it to a plastic one. Love all the pockets, and I love having a fanny pack or something besides my backpack. And she has a wonderful shop with tons of little things over the years that she has added to her collection. Here's that five zipper compartment fanny pack and you can wear it across your chest, too.

[00:04:05]It's really cool. I've got those water shoes and there's the Janonia Joy that I bought for little Ella Angele and I love my rash guard. I do have those shoes and that hat is what I was wearing in the intro and I am very happy to be working with Ali now to promote her merchandise.

[00:04:25]So, if you use promo code of Florida Beach Walks, you can get 10% off of anything listed here in her store.

[00:04:33]So, check that out. Support her. She is just so super sweet.

[00:04:37]Let's see. We got a few spectral bittersweet. Yep, always have to pick up the bittersweet.

[00:04:44]They are the reliable shell here in Southeast Florida. Love crafting with them. And here's a flat, a broken flat.

[00:04:53]It is so hard to find whole flats, but I will either collect the broken ones.

[00:04:58]Here's a giant Atlantic cockle. Great craft shell as well. Love collecting these.

[00:05:05]And my favorite bittersweet to find, the giant bittersweet, little juvenile one.

[00:05:12]Here's the base of a giant leafy jewel box.

[00:05:16]It just looks like frosting. Like I found a really flaky one of those in a dredge pile that was just amazing.

[00:05:24]And 11 pectin rough scallop. It is broken, but I don't care. Those yellow ones are hard to find. All right, so I'm towards the end of Coral Cove. That's all I really found, you know, not too many shells out. But there was a lot of shells in this one section and I do want to, you know, head into Blowing Rocks and see what we can find up there, but I am going to come back to this spot. and we're going to sit down and find some spectacular little tidies in this pile.

[00:05:53]Here's a bubble. And when we crossed in the river, I found a live bubble. And it's so cool cuz I've never seen a live bubble. So, I'll show you that when we get across to the Intracoastal side.

[00:06:08]Yep, we got some dinner this note. No, not dinner. We're in breakfast mode.

[00:06:13]Snowy egret has caught its breakfast.

[00:06:19]Lovely pop of orange on this little scaly scallop.

[00:06:25]So, I popped my gator bandana out, and I found a fantastic use for it, a sweat rag.

[00:06:31]I always use my t-shirt, but man, I was like, "Hey, this works out perfect, perfect, perfect." We got a chip of a northern cohog piece and a stunning orange calico scallop. Yep, I find these on the West Coast. But here, this is amazing. The brain-boosting color. And here's another scaly scallop, but I'll chip that broken part off and save the juvenile form of that shell. And here's a shark eye.

[00:07:02]A little Mexican tellin also decked out like the shark eye with a predator hole.

[00:07:09]Let's see.

[00:07:10]We got another jewel box. Another leafy jewel box. This one has some color in it. It's a little bit chewed up, but it's just such a pretty color, and I really I want to do some type of a project, maybe a shell flower with those leafy jewel box at jewel boxes at some point. And here's a buttercup.

[00:07:33]And we got oh, a round side, a round valve of a flat scallop. That's so cool.

[00:07:42]I've these zigzag. Yay!

[00:07:47]And I have no idea what this is.

[00:07:51]It's something something. I don't know. If you know what this is, let me know what it is.

[00:07:59]Cuz I I I don't know. I Like I'm thinking turtle-ish, but maybe not. I I don't know. I don't know what that is.

[00:08:06]So, I walked pretty far into Blowing Rocks here, and you know, I'm not finding too much. So, I did take a break cuz I was walking pretty far, and there was just a lot of seaweed. So, another thing that I absolutely love is this towel from Ali Shop. I absolutely love her pattern, and I just sat myself down and took a chill. And yeah, my Gator became the holder for my umbrella on my camera stand cuz it was so hot.

[00:08:34]So, I made a makeshift sunshade, and I legit took about a 20-minute nap. Put the timer on my phone. But, look at all the seaweed. There's just so much seaweed, and it was not even late in the morning, but it was so hot. So, I had to take a break.

[00:09:59]>> It was so nice to be able to catch the tide and just right when it was really low to be able to walk in front of all the rocks here. Usually it's a little too high of a tide and too rough, but it was very calm and to see all the periwinkles and look this under these rocks was quite something.

[00:10:20]So I was really happy that the water was nice and calm and clear. I didn't make it all the way around. I did have to climb up the rocks at the very edge because there's a really rocky part when it transitions into Coral Cove and I didn't have water shoes on, so I was a little nervous to walk around there. But look how calm and still it was and oh, if I was with Corey or someone it would have been so fun to snorkel out there. And I have seen a sea turtle there once, too. So before we head to that Coral Cove pile, I walked across the street. This is a separate day, but they have on the riverside this Holly Education Center. And look, a display even talks about Nathaniel P. Reed.

[00:11:06]That's the beach park north of Jupiter Island.

[00:11:09]And I just love all these displays that they have here. This is really pretty about the sea turtle nests and the sea grass beds. Run into those on the riverside. They have a lot of the grass beds over there and the coral reef work and the projects that they're doing.

[00:11:26]Coral propagation in this area, which is just so neat to read the displays. And here's an example of coral gardening, with propagating the coral to grow and start new reefs. I think it's it's just amazing in the different formats that they use to make that happen. So, that's really neat. All these little nurseries, coral reef nurseries that they got going on.

[00:11:54]And here's the sea bean display that I had featured in another video when I was looking at those knicker nuts to see what kind of pods they came out. So, it was really neat seeing such a beautiful display of all the local sea beans.

[00:12:09]Here's a close-up again of that great knicker bean. I had this clip in my previous Sebastian video.

[00:12:16]So, all the pretty things here. Look at that paper nautilus is so big and just perfectly beautiful. And the different species found all along Jupiter Island, gorgeous hawkwing. Oh, wait till you see what the one chalet found on the riverside here was just stunning. That will be in part two.

[00:12:36]And that gaudy asaphis in the back there. It's so funny, they didn't have a label. I was like, oh, can name it. That's gaudy asaphis.

[00:12:44]And a northern lion paw, my favorite shell. And I found half of one also in the river. So, that was a little surprising.

[00:12:51]So cool. And I found a lot of these species here on Jupiter Island on the beaches. So, this educational center was so neat. And I never knew it existed.

[00:13:00]All the years I've been here, I've never I've always parked beach side. Not not the riverside. So, it was really fun. And they have lots of trails and walkways.

[00:13:08]And they have a butterfly garden.

[00:13:12]Which which was something pretty special special, too, to see. Here's a zebra longwing butterfly. That's the only species I saw on this particular afternoon when I had stopped by. This was different from the beach walk we just took. Different day.

[00:13:27]and here's a native a plant nursery that they had in the bag.

[00:13:33]So, here we are back to the day that I was walking at Coral Cove and Blowing Rocks, and I sat down, and I found a scotch bonnet and a turkey wing, pretty good size.

[00:13:44]And there was just so many shells once the tide all the water is now receded, so it's super low.

[00:13:49]And here's a rough red scallop, so super cool. Love finding the reds and the yellows.

[00:13:56]Just so dark. Let's see. We got another little baby turkey wing and a turban, lots of those turbans out here, too. All right, the tip is a little busted, but scotch bonnets are fun, and oh, so was a sundial, that's fun, too. Man, down in the Boca dredge.

[00:14:12]And not Boca dredge, Delray dredge piles.

[00:14:16]Was just so cool pulling out all the sundials left and right. Bunch of chestnut turbans. The little ones have such beautiful markings. Yeah, I set up my little sunshade here, too. My makeshift sunshade.

[00:14:30]Check this out. That's a helmet. It's little, it's a queen helmet, and it was just a few inches under the pile, so it I love digging in a shell pile.

[00:14:44]Just from what you can find, and here is an Atlantic distorsio. Yep, a little blunt on the tip, but those are super duper fun. Another chestnut turban.

[00:15:00]Here's a little shark eye predator hole free, it looks like here.

[00:15:04]Let's see, got another scotch bonnet. I I did manage to find a few scotch bonnets in these piles. Here's a bubble and a lace murex.

[00:15:13]A lace murex. I always I I just really like finding them on the East Coast here. And a rock.

[00:15:20]Pretty decent size.

[00:15:22]Rock snail. Hold on to that for crabby homes.

[00:15:26]And let's see, we got a piece of sea glass, but that's a really nice olive color. Like that. So, I found a few shells just digging around and it was hot.

[00:15:37]So, I didn't stay too too long, but long enough to pull out some pretty fantastic shells. Love that double-lip scotch bonnet. And here is a coffee bean trivia.

[00:15:49]Pulled out a few of those. And a Florida nautica. Yeah, these look like the gaudy nauticas, but these are a Florida nautica. And that top, man, too bad that rounded one was busted on top. But here is a common dove dove snail. And a bollingie. Like, what? That was fun.

[00:16:10]It's a little chewed on the lip there.

[00:16:13]But pulling out a bollingie is, I don't care what kind of condition it is, it's nice. And there's a wannabe lemon pectin. It's a little bit more on the orange side from that yellow one that I found earlier. And another gaudy a Florida, but it was busted. But I'm holding on to it. I do like the really nice shells like this that are busted. I sell them in a little shell bag on Etsy for interested. And here's a little one that's perfect. I did use this one on a shell flower recently. Remember this large moon I found on a South Hutchinson Island a couple beach walks ago with the huge hole in it. Thank you for your idea of putting a shell flower on it to cover up the hole and it worked out perfectly.

[00:16:55]That little nautica we just found is the center of this flower here and I just think it turned out so stinking cute.

[00:17:03]And I've been using green sea glass for the leaves lately, which I love how that looks. Now, I don't know what this is.

[00:17:11]It's a little bit I mean, it's some type of drill.

[00:17:14]And a mouse cone, a little, and some more that I've collected. Now, this is the largest button I think I have ever found. It's so fat. Look at the size of my thumb size of my thumbnail.

[00:17:29]That's really nice. That would be a nice project shell.

[00:17:33]See another coffee bean trivia.

[00:17:36]It's so tiny and the four-spot trivia, its little cousin, is even smaller than that and a little pinkish in color.

[00:17:44]Here's another button.

[00:17:57]Making out pretty good with the shark eyes. Not bad. A nice chestnut ladder is there, too. A spectra No.

[00:18:04]Giant bittersweet.

[00:18:06]And I think that was a chestnut turban.

[00:18:09]And this was so cool to find.

[00:18:12]Queen.

[00:18:14]This is a little baby queen conch.

[00:18:19]That was so fun and it was pretty buried in there. I was digging around a little on the deeper side to find that, but that was so cool. So, yeah, just me and a few other showers, we just plopped down and started digging, but we didn't dig too long. Okay, see my little dig pile where I was at the beginning of the rock cuz it was just so hot. Oh, the summer is just so hot here. Even with the shade and here's a nutmeg. Nutmegs are fun to find. A flat, a whole one. Three nice rough scallops, nice and orange, and a juvenile giant bittersweet, and a scotch bonnet. And there's another sundial.

[00:18:53]Yeah, it is chewed up like the last one.

[00:18:56]But let me tell you Shelly and I found two sundials on the riverside. Oh, I can't wait to show you the river.

[00:19:05]And here's another Atlantic distorsio, a little chewed up, and a livid nautica.

[00:19:10]So cool. I found my first one of these down in Boca.

[00:19:13]And I didn't know what it was. And I researched that. Has a little predator hole in it, but I don't care. These are so cool. Just the way that milky swirl is. So, here's what I found my Well, my favorites that I found in the pile. And then that nice Scotch bonnet out on the beach. Now, this is another day. I'm with Corey and Ella, and we're going to go snorkeling for shells in Coral Cove. But yeah, we didn't check the weather.

[00:19:36]Shame on us. But that's all right. We had a little bit of time under here. And these are spot-tail pinfish.

[00:19:43]Saw lots lots of those in that rocky sea right in front is Sabellariid worm reef, also called honeycomb reefs. And they're made by tiny marine bristle worms by cementing sand grains and shell fragments together with a specialized biological glue. And that fish, I believe, is a hairy blenny. It's so cute. And they just like hold on and kind of like just go with the waves.

[00:20:08]They just remind me of little like little frogfish or something.

[00:20:12]And these honeycomb reefs are very prominent here on the East Coast and a little bit sparse on the West Coast.

[00:20:22]It's so cool that all these reefs are just right off the shore as soon as you enter the water. So, you don't have to swim too far out or anything like that.

[00:20:30]And my husband Corey and I had little Ella on a float.

[00:20:34]And she just had a blast hopping the waves. And this method of her like being on the float and we had a rope and stuff. And also worked out pretty good when we went down to the Florida Keys bringing her along. But she did get into the water, too.

[00:20:50]To look at her with her underwater face mask that she had on, too. See, there she is.

[00:20:56]Just floating along with Daddy there.

[00:20:59]It looks like we're far offshore, but it's just the camera. It really wasn't that far.

[00:21:05]And we just did our snorkeling Here and then we're kind of like using this as almost like a little practice.

[00:21:12]There's a sergeant major.

[00:21:14]That's the little bumblebee fish down there. I was looking on the floor. I was like, okay, any helmets around here?

[00:21:21]People have found you know, king helmets, queen helmets at Coral Cove and blowing rocks in the rocks like this. But I did not see any helmets. And a little bit later we'll look for just a few shells that I did find under here. But it's just so I was so happy it was a little bit clear. I mean, we were running against the clock here with the storm. There's another spot tail pinfish.

[00:21:50]And a whole bunch of these little fish. It's so fun to get in a school of fish and just see them all zipping by. I believe these are Atlantic silversides.

[00:22:01]A lot of these fish I had to kind of ID on my own. So if I said anything wrong and you know, just correct me.

[00:22:08]But it's almost like you're I don't know, like a little mermaid.

[00:22:11]When they all just swim by.

[00:22:14]It is just so cool.