The Whitneys are very fond of beach life. We are at home next to a big body of water. Our favorite beach to spend time at is in Florida called St. Joseph’s Peninsula. It is a little off the beaten path which makes it better in my opinion. Although, this last visit, I noticed that the peninsula has developed quite a bit more. Looks like the word is out that St. Joe’s is the BEST! stjoe7

St. Joe’s has many things to offer. On one side of the Peninsula there is the bay (or tide pool as we call it) which is where we spent our time this trip. It is clear and calm. You can kayak or snorkel around to see all of the sea life. Sometimes the tide is so low that you can only walk around to see all the creatures. It is amazing just how many things live in the grassy bottom.

This is the most unique sand dollar. It looks like a turtle shell. stjoe6Jack is holding a sea snail.stjoe8Chad is holding the biggest sand dollar we found. stjoe11These things!!! Geeze! This is the reason we wear shoes in the bay. The sea urchins were everywhere.stjoe2

Maggie was in search sand dollars. She found so many! Most of them were still alive, but on occasion she would find a dead one that she was able to keep. Only a few of them were whole though.stjoe3

WHAT IS THIS?!?!
This spiral tube thing was stuck in the sand. Here is just a small piece of one. It looks boney, but was a little soft. stjoe4
Jack found a big clump of squishy stuff. It looked like spiral pasta stuck together. I don’t think that shell on top was part of the creature, but I’m no expert.stjoe9
If you know what these two things are, please let us know! We are so curious.

I forgot to take a picture of the horse shoe crab shell when we found it. This is a rare find out there, usually the tail is missing. As you can see we found one of each. stjoe12

Being able to get a camping spot at St. Joseph’s Peninsula is like finding a rainbow unicorn. You should look hard and often.  Unfortunately for us, we were only able to spend the day there this time. Anytime we get to spend here is great though.stjoe1

SEE Y’ALL SOON!