Time To Shell

Posted by pam on Jul 31, 2010 in Conch, Cone, Fighting Conch, Florida Cone, Olive, True tulip, Tulip, West Gulf Drive | 3 comments

Florida cone and a watch

If this isn’t a sign, I don’t know what is. We headed down to beach access #7 on West Gulf Drive again this morning and in just a couple of minutes I plucked this FLORIDA CONE out of the surf….. and Clark found me a watch! haha He scooped it up out of the surf only a minute after I found the cone. It’s still working! Long story but my nice “waterproof” watch just died (rusted in the inside-ugh)so now I have a watch for the beach. FYI- It’s not an expensive watch…but if it’s yours, let me know.

Extreme Kayakers

These 2 extreme kayakers Laurens and David were taking a rest on the beach as part of their journey along the west coast. They left Port Charlotte for a 10 day kayak-a-thon to Key West for Lobsterfest. Everything they need is on their kayaks. They have hammocks with mosquito netting to sleep on/in, water, food, GPS, and cell phones tucked securely away in the bow of the boat. That’s crazy, right? We just met them and I’m already so worried about them so I asked them to let us know when they get to Key West. I’ll keep you posted if I hear anything.

True Tulip and Olives

This is just a sampling of some of the other shells we found but that TRUE TULIP Clark found is adorable. We found plenty of those OLIVES and again the FIGHTING CONCHS are plentiful. Some of the shells we found on the beach but most of them were right on the edge of the surf. As you can see in the kayak picture, there is a nice shell line with seaweed intertwined. To me, that’s a great sign of even better shelling to come.  Clark said he would step it up a bit and try to find me a Rolex in the surf next time. ;)

The Crab and The Sunset

Posted by pam on Jul 31, 2010 in Conch, Crabs, Fighting Conch, Ghost Crab, Lightning Whelk, Sanibel, West Gulf Drive, Whelk | 9 comments

The Crab and The Sunset

The larger shells are coming back in around West Gulf Drive…finally! We found plenty of FIGHTING CONCHS, a few LIGHTNING WHELKS and BANDED TULIPS….but how about that crazy CRAB! He was running back and forth in the surf and then stopped to check me out.

All of these were found on the beach off West Gulf Drive around beach access #7.

Lightning Whelk in Gulf surf

Kalex (Tennessee)

Kalex has been coming to Sanibel to shell with his family for the past 3 years. He had a shell bag with lots of OLIVES but was on a mission looking for the mini shells.

Kalex's mini shells

Sunset Fishing

I didn’t see it, but Clark and another guy on the beach said they saw the green flash on this sunset. They said I turned away too quickly…darn! I was messing with my camera, I’m sure. Of all the sunsets I’ve seen, I’ve only seen the green flash about 3 times. When it happens…celebrate!

Seashells Under The Rainbow

Posted by pam on Jul 29, 2010 in Lightning Whelk, Rainbows, Snowy Egret, Whelk | 27 comments

We headed to the beach after a nice, well needed rain shower on Tuesday evening.  When we started walking down the path to the beach, the sky seemed to get a strange yellowish tint …….then the rainbow. But wait…..a double rainbow!

As I took a picture of this live LIGHTNING WHELK (for you Barbara!), a man out of nowhere plops an even bigger live whelk right beside it. It looks like I staged those 2 whelks in the first picture but that’s exactly how he put it down…..perfect! Not 5 seconds later, a sweet little girl came running over to see those 2 whelks. Her grandparents Janice and Ted saw that I was photographing the shells and told her to leave them alone………I felt like I was in slow motion…..snapping away and telling them Kayleigh (from yesterday’s post Cherub Under the Rainbow) was quite alright if it was okay if I photographed her. She is aaaddorrraable! A little seashell cherub has come to inspect the whelks to make sure they are happy and healthy.

This one is MY little seashell cherub under the rainbow…….teehee

Cherub Under The Rainbow

Posted by pam on Jul 28, 2010 in Uncategorized | 13 comments

Shelling Cherub

Colors of the Rainbow

Posted by pam on Jul 26, 2010 in Alphabet Cone, Augers, Sanibel Captiva Conservation Foundation | 11 comments

Sunset over Sanibel homes

We left the beach empty handed tonight but as you see it was beautiful on the east end of Sanibel……although, I heard more than once that last night was even more beautiful. Several people told me that as the sun was setting, the full moon was rising over the water AND at the same time……a rainbow! Really??? We missed it!

Luc Century and Dee Serage Century

Local artist Luc and Dee from Sanibel Captiva Conservation Foundation told me about the sky we missed last night and that they found a live ALPHABET CONE last night too right around the same area we were standing. So lo and behold, as I was wading through the water to catch up with Clark to leave…..I saw a live alphabet cone. It had to be the same one.

Live Alphabet Cone

You can barely see him but I saw his tracks in the shallow water so I knew he was alive. I picked him up (they aren’t poisonous) only long enough to take the picture and show Clark then put him back where we found him. That was like finding a needle in a haystack to find the same cone! It makes me feel a little better about missing the moon and rainbow show last night (just a little).

More auger art

To see more auger art in colors of the rainbow CLICK HERE.