The sand dollars...

A lovely relaxed day today...
Spent some time in the sea with some of my American friends looking for dolphins, and we found some! We were right close by them, and although they were only surfacing a little, we could hear the sounds they made. One of the young ones found a whole load of sand dollars, which intrigued me as I had never seen them alive before. I have sand dollar jewellery and have seen images of them, but never the real thing. So here they are... a collection of them. The term sand dollar refers to a species of extremely flattened, burrowing sea urchins belonging to the order of Clypeasteroida. Unlike other orders, their bodies also display secondary back to front symmetry. There are all sorts of religious legends based on the sand dollar, and the shape makes very pretty jewellery!
In the evening we went in search of a sunset but instead found a deserted beach with a solitary heron... delightful!
We then had a lovely meal in a beachside restaurant with live music and dancing...