sand dollars in the surf ft myers beach

Yep. I did it again. I got up at the crack of dawn to catch low tide… but this time I went to my fave beach on Fort Myers Beach. I found SAND DOLLARS galore!

sand dollars and shells in a blue bucket

And I wasn’t the only one finding them. I saw Ft Myers Beach local sheller Debbie (from our April iLoveShelling Cruise) with her hands full of SAND DOLLARS too.

shades colors of sand dollars

But hold on… I’ve got to tell you the coolest story. Being obsessed with shelling reunited these friends after 20 years!

Back in February, Heidi (who follows iLoveShelling!) had signed up for our May Shellabaloo 2  and commented on the iLoveShelling Facebook page … “We did it!! We signed up for Shellabaloo 2! These two Kansas girls will be there with “shells” on!! Obsessed!!!”. Debbie saw her post and recognized her name and wrote her a message. Yes! It was the same Heidi she knew years ago when their kids grew up as best friends. Ha! Moms reunited!  But unfortunately it turned out that Heidi had to cancel her Shellabaloo trip due to a health problem in the family. That’s when Debbie stepped in and told her when the health issues were resolved, Heidi had to come visit her in Fort Myers Beach to shell to her hearts content. She did.. And they found shells! They are two kindred spirits brought together again by the love of shelling. Here are Shelling Sistahs Heidi and Debbie…

heidi debbie shell sand dollars fort myers beach

Don’t ya just love that story? So it gets better… When Heidi showed up, Debbie told her that the only shell that she really wanted to find while she was there- was an ANGEL WING. It was their last shelling day together when I saw them and low and behold… que the Angelic choir in the background…. Debbie found the biggest ANGEL WING she could have ever imagined. LOL

angel wing sea shells

We all found lots of other fun goodies too… like double SUNRAY VENUS CLAMS.

sunray venus clam shell ft myers beach florida

THIS Really spiny SPINY JEWLBOX…

spiny jewel box sea shell

Woop! There is it. A FLORIDA CONE.

florida cone fort myers beach

These were all within 4 feet of each other just laying on the beach.

sea shells fort myers beach florida

To make the morning even better, I saw Loree and Roy too! I met them for the first time on the June iLoveShelling cruise so it felt like it was old home week on Ft Myers Beach. So much fun to see you both!

loree fort myers beach florida shells

Loree showed me that she found a pair of FALSE ANGEL WINGS and also a pair of SUNRAY VENUS too. It was interesting to me that she pulled them both out to show me so I asked her to take a look at their shapes of both the shells… don’t they look similar in shape other than their size? That’s because they are in the same family- Veneridae. The FALSE ANGEL WING is in the VENUS family instead of the “true” ANGEL WING family. Cool, huh?

false angel wing sunray venus Veneridae

I’m so happy I made it out for the Sunday morning low tide to catch the full moon over the horizon.  If you want to catch a low tide any where near Fort Myers Beach, Sanibel and Captiva I would suggest shelling at least one hour before through at least one hour after the lowest tide of the day. Wanna check for the next low tides?  Check out the Tide Charts HERE. 

sunrise fort myers beach florida full moon

Meet other obsessed shellers or hang out with us to learn more tips to finding shells. Join us for a Shelling Adventure!

shelling adventures trips by pam