seashell display from iLoveShelling Sanibel Shellabaloo

Our Sanibel Shellabaloo shelling adventure this week was fabulous! As I’ve said before… shellers are the nicest folks in the world. This was proved one more time as our spectacular group gathered together on the beachfront of the Island Inn to meet each other to spend 4 days collecting seashells and sharing our lives with each other.

Shellabaloo april 2014 shelling group

Suzi came from England to join us for our exshellent adventure to find beautiful shells and soak up the beautiful sunshine.

suzi with seashells by the seashore

Each day we shelled the beach at Island Inn then tried the other beaches of Sanibel like Gulfside City Park and Lighthouse Beach.

sea shells collected on Sanibel

Carol from Connecticut had the best luck at Gulfside City Beach finding the mini shells.

Carol with seashells at Sanibel Shellabaloo

Malgorzata from New Jersey, Cindy from Michigan (right) and I hit a mini honey hole so we shellebrated by taking a selfie… errrr… or should I say “shellfie”. heehee

selfie shellfie ILoveShelling

John joined us from Tennessee as he charmed our group with his southern style. And btw, he designed that beeeeauteeeful shell display in the first photo. Gorgeous!

John finds seashells on Sanibel Shellabaloo

He found such a variety of shells from a double JEWELBOX to OLIVES to a WHITE CRESTED TELLIN.

seashells from Sanibel's Gulfside City Park

Talking about southern charm… we had three Texas sisters join us. Lisa, Sonnye and Suzanne have been shelling most of their lives and coming to Sanibel for almost 30 years. We loved hearing their history of shelling the island and other places in the world.

shelling sisters on cruise to cayo costa

Of course we took a Captiva Cruise to Cayo Costa!

shells from southwest florida

 

Cindy’s husband Bill took advantage of the crystal clear water to snorkel for shells.

snorkeling lee county

He found a nice size LIGHTNING WHELK!

snorkeling southwest florida gulf coast

Clark went on the trip with us too and found a huge KINGS CROWN… but then realized it had a HERMIT CRAB occupying the shell so put it back in the water.

clark kings crown shell

Some of us were lucky to see a MANATEE leisurely swam by to say hi.

manatee at cayo costa florida

I think the most fun we all had was sharing discoveries with each other…

inspecting mollusk egg shells

I love sharing our meals together but I think my favorite was “FroYo” at Zebra Frozen Yogurt!

Sanibel Zebra Frozen Yogurt

There is still more to come for more shell photos and you’ll get to meet the Shellabalooers a little more on my next post… so stay tuned!

sweet sanibel shells with flowers