I'm not sure John Lloyd Park is a secret since it's been discussed
on this list. But here's an update from a recent trip when I had
a free afternoon for a return visit.  Beach shells on the S. FL east
coast ? Never, except here...

So I went north along the beach, checking out the sand ridge high on
shore, looking for little shiny protuberances and poking with a stick
every now and then.  And soon the tiny  treasures began to pour
forth. Several perfectly fine oliva sayana were the only larger shells.

I finally got to the end of the beach where the canal from Port
Everglades runs out into the ocean.  Leaving the sand ridge,
I went to the shore line where little puddles of grit larger than the sand
offered promise.  Even more treasures.

While I was bent over searching this, and standing up every now and
then to put my finds in the little baggie, a young woman approached
me and handed me a half of a bivalve  on a piece of rope. When I turned
it over, there was an American flag painted there using some kind
of glowing material that added texture.  She told me that she was giving
them out to people.  I thanked her, put the necklace around my neck,
and, warmed and smiling, continued my shelling.

Finishing, I stalked back up the beach to pick up my beach bag
with towel, shorts, hardcover novel that I never sat down to read,
goggles, and other items. I finally realized that it was gone.
 "Who would want my beach bag" I grumbled, my warm feeling about the shells
 and the gift giving way  to annoyance and anxiety.  I continued to search
for it, distracted a bit by an almost perfect 2 1/2 inch pair of rosy
 pinna carnea in the seaweed.

Finally I gave up and started back to the car. Then I got an idea.  Perhaps
someone had fished through my bag and then thrown it in the garbage.
I peered in every garbage can. No bag and no shells either. Then I
spotted a big dumpster. I climbed up the side so I could peer in
and I couldn't believe it.  There, just out of reach, was my bag,
intact ! I climbed down, back up with a stick and fished out the bag.
At the car, I took another look at the American Flag on a shell.
I could tell that it was a glycmeris undata underneath.

Bearing in mind that all shells I found  were small (except for the olives
and the pen shell) and  that some were faded, what did I find on this little
adventure? There were: terebra dislocata, cerithium eburneum, cerithium
lutosum, turritella exoleta, favartia cellulosus (I'm pretty sure I got
this right), columbella mercatoria, fasciolaria tulipa, busycon caricum,
murex recurvirostrus rubidus ( OK, so the "rubidus" was gone but the
shape unmistakable!), marginella guttata, dentalium species, natica
species, conus species, cyphoma gibbosum, trivia pediculus, strombus
alatus (juvenile), melampus coffeus,  olivella mutica ( really nice, shiny
and colorful), olivella floralia, bulla striata, mitra nodulosum ( rather
un-nodulose, to be honest), turrid species (ostrearum ?) rissoina
decussata, nassarius vibex, among others. I left the pretty crabbed nerita
versacolors. I'd swear there's a  colubraria lanceolata ( in very poor
condition but recongizable). Other intriguing looking species I can't ID at all.

Anyway...just another South Florida afternoon.


Karen

PS - In case anybody has made it this far - I must stand up to be
counted - I like the humor on the list.