bijou horse conch sanibel

After the rain stopped and the warm sunshine filled our weekend, the Sanibel Lighthouse beach was very popular for watching wonderful wildlife like this huge live HORSE CONCH Bijou is showing us in the first photo (with fresh sunscreen protecting that sweet little face!). Bill from Michigan found a different one moments later…

bill mi live horse conch florida

Three young girls look like mermaids calling the dolphins to tell them secrets…mermaid dolphins iLS

 Bruce from Eugene, Oregon was crouching in the sand filling up his University of Oregon cup with hundreds of shells…

bruce collects coquinas

Look at his collection of COQUINAS!

butterfly coquinas florida

Allison from NC found everything from WENTLETRAPS to LEOPARD CRAB shells but wanted to find a pair of ANGEL WINGS to give to friend but couldn’t find them.  So instead, she was collecting COQUINAS since they were like colorful wings.

allison nc seashells sanibel

Not one minute after she told me about the ANGEL WINGS, I looked down to find a pair of tiny ANGEL WINGS practically at our feet. What are the chances! We placed the wings inside one of her double DOSINIAS to keep them in her bag for safe traveling until she got back to her room. Best Wishes Allison!

safe angel wings

Shelling worlds tend to come together and when they do, Sue and Ken tend to be there. Ken was busy collecting the miniature shells as well…

ken collects shells sanibel

He found lots of other shells but he showed me these WENTLETRAPS, a SHARP RIBBED DRILL and a GULF OYSTER DRILL. I realized I don’t have the GULF OYSTER DRILL on my SEASHELL IDENTIFICATION page! This week, I’m going to work on getting that up to date, my friends.

gulf oyster drill wentltrap

You may not think the beach looks pretty in the next photo because it looks a little “dirty” at the surf line… but to me, that looks like a gold mine! That’s where all of the mini shells are hiding.

beach combers sanibel march

 This is just a small assortment of what Clark found the beginning of the weekend. I haven’t had time to sort out our finds yet so I’ll try to get those posted soon too.

clark mini shells lh sanibel

 Just in case you were worried about what happened to those large live HORSE CONCHS…. after I took a photo of Bijou’s HORSE CONCH, she immediately walked it out in the water as far as she could and gently placed it back in the GULF OF MEXICO (without her mom Deanna having to tell her).

bijou returns live shell sanibel

And Bill did the same thing. From all of us, Thank you for being good stewards of the sea.

bill returns live horse conch

Oh, and…. Join us for our iLoveShelling shelling adventure to Cayo Costa Island next Saturday! Click on the next image for more info…

shelling-adventures-pam