Sunrise and Sea Beans

We've had some beautiful sunrises and sunsets from our hiding spot in the sea grass. They are hard to capture with the point and shot camera but I will keep trying. As we walk the beaches at low tide, I am pleased to see how many Sea Beans were available. I recall hours of searching the beaches while sailing with our friends Kathy and Stan in the Exumas to find one our two beans on a good day. As you can see from the photo, this is a few hours effort along a relatively small beach. If you are wondering, "what's the big deal with the beans", the joy is in the finding, but when sanded, they shine up nicely, are often made into jewelery and the hard surface last for a long time. Some of the beans, like the Nickerbean are from local waters. In fact I found the plant that the Nickerbean grows on. But many, like the Sea Heart, Sea Purse, Star Nut Palm and Hamburger can ride the ocean tides up from the West Indies, some as far as South America. Once caught in the oceans currents, the sea beans drift for many months and eventually end up on the beaches along our shores and as far north as Greenland. Some of the beans, like the Golf Ball have an edible meat (if they haven't been floating for months)and some like the Poison Apple, as the name suggests, you would be wise not eat. But for the most part, they are fun to find and very pretty to look at.