Archive for December, 2010
2010 Top 10 i Love Shelling Posts
Posted by: | CommentsHappy New Year!
2010 has been an amazing year to experience such beauty of our beaches and seashells on these tropical islands of Sanibel, Captiva and our gulf coast. While thinking of the fun adventures we’ve had this year, I started looking back at this years posts and found myself smiling at so many fond memories. I tried to choose just a few of my favorites but I couldn’t make my list any smaller than 10 posts. Starting at #10 and working my way to my #1 fave post…. so here ya go…..Click on each picture or title to see the post to understand why I chose it.
#10 Sunrise Shelling On Sanibel
Sunrise shelling on Sanibel
Angel Wings on the Gulf Coast
On Top of the Shell Mountain
Coquina Red
#6 Seashells Under The Rainbow
Seashells Under The Rainbow
I Found A Big One
Auger Art
Cockle Hop Video
Cownose Ray Video
And Now for the #1 iLoveShelling post of 2010…… Drumroll Please! …..
Wentletrap Trapping Video
Ever Changing Beaches
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All along the Sanibel beaches from Tarpon Bay Road to the Lighthouse beach there are tons of PEN SHELLS, COCKLES, SEAWEED, HEART URCHINS, SEA URCHINS, SEA PORK, BRYOZOAN COLONIES and more PIG’S FEET.
Beach colors
This wrack line was near Gulf Side City Park.
Cockle shells and seaweed
The shelling was much better today on Sanibel at these beaches rather than the sand bar at Blind Pass on Captiva I’ve been raving about lately. Blind Pass seems to be getting picked over and the sand is building over the shells….. but then again, you can sit ‘n sift and probably still find some good stuff.
Changing sand bar
Shellers at sand bar point ("staff" photo by Clark)
In the last couple of weeks I’ve had some issues with my photo downloads so I thought I lost lots of pictures….. but Apple genius Matt recovered my files. These next photos are the people I’ve met in the last couple of weeks that I didn’t get to post but I didn’t want to leave them out. Lost… but not forgotten.
Me with Penny (Jupiter, FL) at Captiva Holiday Village
Terry (Captiva) showing her beautiful shell crafts
Mimi, Bease and Charley
Coast Washes Up Coral, Cones And Conchs (Video)
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High tide seashells
Sunday afternoon we were out in the cold and howling north west winds watching the shells start to pile up on the sand bar at Blind Pass on Captiva. I know I’ve been talking so much about this new sand bar….. but when it’s good, it’s super shellacious! There were too many FIGHTING CONCHS and OLIVES to count with TULIPS, CORAL and CONES mixed in too. My favorite part of the video is when I found the biggest FLAT I’ve ever found and then I saw Melinda ( it was so windy, I hope I heard her name right) find her sa-weeet ALPHABET CONE.
Come along on this shelling trip with me ….without getting cold and wet!
My Shelling Family
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John (Florida)
We had more 15 mph cold winds blowing from the north west all day yesterday. That means shelling at Blind Pass should be pretty good. So that’s why Clark and I headed there this morning at 8 a.m……. which was a little too late to snag this huge LIGHTNING WHELK John found. He got there at 6 a.m.!
John's Scotch bonnet
Geez…. AND he found a SCOTCH BONNET! This shell is pretty rare to find here so to find a whole one is shellicious. He and his wife come to Sanibel or Captiva to do a little shelling on the weekends from the middle of Florida.
John's Scotch Bonnet aperture
I always get the warm and fuzzies when I meet someone who reads my blog. Look who else I ran into!
Christine with live horse conch
It’s Christine Kieffer! She’s one of our shelling sisters who leaves fun comments and adds lots of joy to this blog.
Christine and Rick
Here she is in the picture above with her husband Rick who helped her get that live HORSE CONCH back safely in the water.
Julie, Conner, Katie, Brenden and Kevan
Do shelling families get any cuter than this? I hit the jackpot this morning running into my blog friends. Julie is a shelling sister too and brought her whole family out to gather the shell goodies.
Conner's nutmeg
Right away her son Conner found this huge colorful NUTMEG.
Katie's flat scallop
Her daughter Katie found one of my faves…. a baby FLAT ZIGZAG SCALLOP.
Shells on Blind Pass beach
Yep! There’s Joan that I introduced to you 2 weeks ago (on my post As The Seashells Turn) looking for her treasures in that shell pile right next to the jetty. 
It was so much fun to run into so many shelling sisters and shelling brother John (shelling brother just doesn’t have the same ring to it, does it. Maybe “sheller bro”… er…. uhhh… nah)…. I’ll just go with” my little shelling family”. So nice to see yall.
Our Christmas weekend fave finds
I’m getting waaarrmmer…..
I found this piece of Junonia
I Saw Santa On The Beach
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Ho! Ho !Ho!
And I may have caught him doing a little shelling too…..
Merry Christmas!
Sanibel Christmas Eve Seashell Style
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Seashell Nativity
This is the sweetest nativity scene made with URCHINS, PEN SHELLS, CLAMS and topped with a STARFISH.
Jody Brown Jingle Shells song
I also want to share a really cute Christmas carol written by local sheller Jody Brown. Our neighborhood sang carols together the other night and I learned her new song. Now we can too! Ahem…. Okay, all together now…
Jingle Shells, Jingle Shells ……
Jingle Shells lyrics
Now that you are warmed up, I’ll show you what I found at Blind Pass this morning…. Shelling sisters!
Shelling Sisters
Meet sisters Kelci, Katie and Kara shelling for COCKLES and CONCHS. 
Speaking of CONCHS, I found some candy for Christmas Eve. Merry Christmas!
Horse conch colors
