Tuesday's Wind and Waves at Sanibel

First things first: I had to edit my yesterday's post. I learned I had made a mistake in identifying the blooming trees I photographed. Someone pointed out on a message board that a friend of mine had made this same mistake. I went back today to look at the trees up close, and they aren't Crepe Myrtles after all. The trees are Bauhinia Purpurea, more commonly called Purple Orchid or Butterfly tree. When I looked at the blooms closely, they looked very similar to orchids. Just goes to show, you can learn something new everyday! :-) I realize now, they are even more beautiful than I had thought.



After looking at trees up close and personal, we checked out beach conditions at Resident Access #2, West Gulf Drive. There were large waves, strong NW wind and blowing sand. There were some shells (mostly arks)left at the high tide line, along with sea urchins. There was nothing I wanted to take home. There didn't seem to be much coming in with the waves, unless shells were just being covered with sand. I was a little disappointed and went home to warm up.









Later, at Lighthouse Beach, this was the scene. Once again, not many shells.









Around 5:30 PM, this is how it looked at Resident Access #6 on West Gulf Drive. There were a couple of areas, above the high tide line, where there were shells. But, it looked as though they had been there for quite some time. Hopefully the waves are stirring up the shells and they will wash up on the beach soon.