john and the dingy

Our friends John and Jane strapped a Zodiac dinghy to the top of their car on Saturday and invited us to join them for a boating adventure down to Marco Island. Yes! We are always ready for a shelling expedition.

The whole day was golden…

Jane shelling marco

Literally! Both John and Clark found GOLDEN OLIVES!

Golden Olive Marco

Golden Olive aperture

When we all got back to the boat, everybody was showing off their best finds and both guys held out their hands holding the GOLDEN OLIVES…

two golden olive seashells

Look at this huuujah ANGEL WING Clark found. It fills my whole hand…

Angel wing huge

This was an ALPHABET CONE John found for the day.

John alphabet cone marco

These are Jane’s FLORIDA CONES. These are pretty golden too!

florida cones marco jane

Here are the rest of her best finds.

Janes finds

A nice 10 inch old crusty HORSE CONCH I found on the low tide sand bar…

crusty conch shell marco

I heard Clark yell and start waving his arms. Oh no, he di-ant! Another one? He couldn’t have found another you-know-what. I looked to see how far away he was since I was way out on the sand bar. See that little speck? That’s how far he was from me.

Clark on the beach Marco

Okay,..you might want to avert your eyes if you’ve had a bad day or just can’t stand the thought of Clark finding yet another J….. uh…. I can’t even say it. To show me where he found it, he had it sitting right where it was when he walked up. Here… see for yourself.

junonia on th shore marco

Really? How come I didn’t look there first? The man is a shell magnet. Here is a close up of his nearly perfect JUNONIA (just the tip is missing). I want to find one! Not that I’m jealous…. oh, geez. Of course I’m jealous! Oh I’m happy for Jane and “him” too…. I guess. ;) It even has a golden color to it too!

junonia close up

You know I’m just kidding about being upset I didn’t find the big J. How could I when I found so many beautiful shells on such an awesome day? Here are some of our other golden treasures…like candy!

horsie conchs in angel wing

TOP SHELLS…

Top Shells Marco

BRUISED NASSAS…

Bruised Nassa seashells

TAMPA TURRIDS…

Tampa Turrids

FALSE ANGEL WINGS

False Angel Wings

DUSKY CONES…

Dusky Cones Marco

and even a cool BRYOZOAN COLONY…

Tubular Horn Bryozoan Ectoprocta

PS-  I popped off some of those crusty barnacles to uncover the shell of that HORSE CONCH I found out the sand bar. It’s beautiful! I found a home for it on my outside steps as a happy welcome to our Shell Shack.

10 inch fighting conch on step