I always pick up plastic toys and occasional litter that washes up on our beaches to help keep the beaches clean and safe. Fortunately, we have very clean beaches with minimal litter but some times junk happens. That’s why when I picked up this little LEGO toy, I put it in my shell bag to throw away when I got home. Along my walk, I also saw a few of these little seeds on the beach…
I got curious about what plant produces this seed so when I got home I looked in “The Little Book of Sea-Beans and other Beach Treasures” to make sure I had the identification correct for my Beach Bling page. It turns out it’s a COIN VINE SEED. And this is a WHITE MANGROVE SEED…..
While I was thumbing through the book, I found a story about lost LEGO toys. How ironic! In 1997, cargo ship Tokio Express lost close to five million LEGO pieces in the Atlantic ocean. I found this LEGO piece and it just so happens, the same day I ran across a story about lost LEGOs that have been found all along coastal shores. Again…How ironic! So I spent hours surfing the web to find my LEGO identification in hopes that it would be part of the lost cargo. Nahhhh. Some little kid must have lost this new LEGO guy on the beach in Sanibel recently because this toy was made in 2011. Oh well, at least there is one less piece of litter on the beach. I decided to keep this cute LEGO toy to start to my own kicks and giggles jar like Dick and Mary have.
I also pick up toys and other assorted junk I find while walking the beach. I’ve found sand buckets, shovels, sand molds, trinkets and toys and keep them in my garage for my little granddaughter to use. Best find was a $20 bill mixed in with a bunch of pen shells!
Cool story!
Even if Mr. Lego wasn’t from the cargo ship, it’s still another di-di-di-di, di-di-di-di story. Isn’t life strange? Now go have your hubbie sing that Moody Blues Song to you! :)
Pam,
It looks like it could be a Jedi Lego!! Darth Vader and the crew may be out there too!! I think that would be a good name for you! Pam the Shelling Jedi!! :)
I keep interesting stuff that I find in geocaches and put them in a glass jar. Best thing I ever found was a working, looks like new, $ 180.00 mans watch while hiking to a cache in the woods. It still works too!
Pam, The Big Thirst, by Charles Fishman, may be a book of interest to you and your readers. His book was inspired by his curiousity about beachcombers’ reports of finding yellow rubber ducks on beaches in widely diverse places. I won’t spoil it by telling too much here. Although it is a non-fiction read, most of us who care about the oceans find the story facinating. Your Lego find was much like the stories he reported.
Last summer my daughter also found a lego man!! She decided he was our mascot of the trip and she was 17!! HAHA I will have to find him and see when he was made. Just gotta have fun, right?!!!
While staying on Sanibel I always carry extra bags for trash. I do a presentatio for kids called “Litter Harms Wildlife”. I am always on the lookout for photos of bird’s nests with fishing line in them, plastic trash bags in hawks nests etc. You can understand how dangerous plastic bags are when the are in the water when you look at large clear jelly fish. Turtles eat the plastic bags thinking they are jelly fish. I found a Sandwich Tern tangled in fishline this year but fortunately he untangled himself as I approached. When I saw all of the line on the beach I chased the flock away from it so I could pick it up before they got tangled.. A little boy came up and asked me why I was being mean to the birds! A great teaching moment.
I used to see an older gentleman walking the Casa Ybel beach with large sacks of what I assumed were “goodies”. One day I approached him and asked if he had found “treasures”. Yes, he replied, lots of trash! I have been walking these beaches so long, I decided to pick trash instead of shells. Great!
I like your little lego man! I love it when I find cute crazy little things like that on beaches. On my favorite California beach I always do a beach cleanup. I picked up a few plastic bottle caps etc on West Gulf Drive on Sanibel, but I was happy to see there was not much beach trash there. Maybe you had been there before me!
We’re staying on West Gulf this week. So far I’ve picked up 4 pieces of glass, 1 plastic fishing lure, 3 or 4 bright orange pieces that look like they came from buoys, a wrapper from Ritz crackers, a plastic newspaper and today–my favorite–a disposable shower cap. Oh, and a bunch of shells, too!
Love the story! I always pick up trash also, but have never found anything as great as a lego man.
Pam, maybe this guy is related to that eight foot Lego that washed ashore in October on Siesta Key!
i found a shovel,sifter,army men,ball,swim ring,pair of ray ban sun glasses,rack,and lost a watch….ill be looking for legos.haha
Shellers care!! Thanks, everyone :D
There’s a book I bought called “Flotsom and Jetsom” (sp?) that has some very interesting facts about what washes up. Can’t give you the author because I left it back in Michigan.
I looked for it online but couldnt find it…but I did find another one called Tracking Trash. I bought it! Thanks Pam
Love the blog- I check in nearly every day!!!! We visited Sanibel in September 2010- and have reservations to arrive late April 29th- counting the days.
Thank you for sharing the beauty of Sanibel with us.
Pam, we found a Fischer Price little person last year and my 6 year old kept it as a “shelling treasure.”
We’re coming down again on Tuesday and I’m so so hoping to finally find a Junonia! Which beaches are best? I guess I’ll hit lighthouse beach based on your last post. :-) Can’t wait to see Sanibel/Captiva again!
I think we told Pam & Clark this story about our beach “bang”, yes, I said bang. A few years ago we were on the Outer Banks, couple of hurricanes had passed in the Atlantic that summer, a lot of beach erosion. My husband and I had a new metal detector and we were in the 4 wheel area of the beach, the detector started beeping and we were excited, the item we found was black. I tried banging on it to remove the black stuff and then we realized what it was, live ammunition. Yep, we closed the beach, the Marines were called in to sweep the beach. Not too many people can say they closed the beach.
Yes- I remember you told us that! So wild. That’s some beach blingity blang Bang! Nope I can’t say I’ve ever been the cause of closing the beach down. When you beach comb, you really dig deep! ‘)
hiya, thanks for your response about my sanibel shelling quest. as you stated we found small shells, not a great variety. but thats ok. oh welllll, we will just have to return . thanks again. love your posts.
Hi! Your coinvine seed is of Dalbergia ecastophyllum. Its red sap bees gather for propolis to protect their hive from air leaks and invaders. It makes a tree on NE Brazil’s coast and is sold as Brazilian red propolis, being researched as effective against numerous bacteria and even some cancer.
beeologo, Thank you so much for sending this information along to us. It is quite fascinating! Everything has its purpose, doesnt it? We just have to be curious enough to find it. Are you a beach comber? Beekeeper? Botanist? Cancer Researcher?