collecting seashells captiva seashore

We were shellebrating the season on the beach at Blind Pass Captiva today! We must have been on Santa’s “Good” list this year because he gave us the best gifts of all… gifts from the sea. Seashells!

true tulip seashell surf

Lots of seashells!

seashelling captiva

But wait… let me back up because the shells weren’t there all day so let me show you how quickly Mother Nature (maybe Santa too?) can do her/his magic.I arrived at Blind Pass this morning at 8 a.m. bundled in layers of clothes to ward of the 46 degree cold northwest winds. BRRRRR! That’s cold for us! I found a few scattered COCKLES, FLIGHTING CONCHS and PEN SHELLS along the high tide line and pocketed three beautiful shells… a KNOBLESS FIGHTING CONCH, GIANT BITTERSWEET and a funky orange CALICO SCALLOP…

KNOBLESS fighting conch bittersweet

There was nothing to speak of along the jetty rocks so I thought I’d amuse myself by waving to say hello to the camera since my shadow was the only thing in the picture (I know, I’m a dweeb). See? No real shells to write home about…

blind pass december morning

So I left around 9 a.m. (played tennis) and came back around 12:45 to find all of these shells piled up! In that short time span, thousands of shells rolled up along side those jetty rocks!

blind Pass december afternoon

Probably only an hour after I left, Lucky lady Glenda from England plucked the king of shells, a JUNONIA, right out of all those shells! And you won’t believe it… her husband Richard found a rare QUEEN HELMET!

queen helmet zigzag scallop junonia florida

So you know what that means… the “KING” and “QUEEN” will find their way back to England soon. LOL Congratshellations, to the royal couple!

junonia queen helmet england visitors

As soon as I walked onto that shell pile, Dawn snagged an ALPHABET CONE out of an incoming wave…

dawn alphie bp captiva

Then she showed me 3 HORSE CONCHS she just collected as well. Candy!!!

dawn horse conchs abc cone

Michelle and Eric were on Santa’s Good list too!

michelle eric shellers florida

I took this photo when I first saw them and I know they bucketed a few more ALPHIES, HORSIES and BITTERSWEETS but take a look at her JUNONIA (“cob”), part of a LION’S PAW and that gorgeous FLAT SCALLOP (lots of those found today!)…

junonia cob cones lions paw flat

 I don’t think there is anything more fun than witnessing a pile of seashells being formed on the beach. It is mind boggling that within 4 hours, thousands of treasures can be washed up by the waves of the Gulf Of Mexico. More photos coming soon!

seashellers captiva florida