Sanibel sunshine in shells

Sunshine, seashells and friendships were beaming at Gulfisde City park beach this weekend.

Joey and Ashley happy finding seashells on Sanibel Island

I had a blast with my high school girl friends Miyuki and Laura who came to visit Sanibel this weekend with Laura’s daughter Ashley and her friends Josh and Joey. They are so stinkin cute! I was tied up in the morning so they drove up to see Captiva… they loved it of course but they didn’t find many shells so they were extra happy to see lines of shells and scoop them up by the fistfuls when I met them at GSCP. I love to see those smiling faces!  Joey told me his mom does lots of shell craft projects so he was loading up on the little white ARK shells to take back home to her. Sweet!

Miyuki Laura Josh Joey Ashley on Sanibel with shells

The weather was a little hot but it was picture perfect to take a break from shelling under a few shaded palm trees.

Sanibel beach path

I also met Joe and Emilie (a cool blogger at Baby Loving Mama) from MN near Gulfside City Park beach during their very first visit to Sanibel… celebrating their 12 year wedding anniversary. Congratulations!Joe and Emilie celebrating anniversary on the beach

Or should I say… “Congratshellations!”. This was also their very first time collecting shells so it was fun to see them sitting and sifting through a nice shell pile ooohing and aaaahing over beautiful CALICO SCALLOPS, AUGERS, CERITHS and LETTERED OLIVES. (Of course I was a little proud that Joe had clipped the iLoveShelling Seashell Identification card to his belt loop. Yay!)

Collecting shells at Gulfside City Beach on Sanibel Island

To wind down the weekend yesterday afternoon, Clark and I stopped at Lighthouse Beach to see what type of shells had rolled up for low tide. Omigosh! It looked like high season in March on the beach… the parking lot was packed and the beach was loaded with people and umbrellas. Was this a holiday weekend that I missed? Did we miss an invitation to the beach party? Dunno but it seemed unusually busy for what we normally call the “slow season”.

Busy Lighthouse Beach on Sanibel in August

At Lighthouse Beach, Clark and I weren’t finding that many keeper shells… which was just as well since I saw a few pieces of trash that had been left behind by others, so I filled up my bucket with trash and just a few treasures. As with most shellers, we always pick up trash when walking the beach- it’s just what a beach comber does. We are the best stewards of our beaches since we are paying attention to what is washing in and out. We normally see the typical wrappers and papers that get blown out of the open tote bags by the breeze- it just happens. But lots of times a thief gull or black bird raids a beach blanket with totes filled with goodies, then flies away to find a place to open the bag of chips or sandwich but then drops the plastic after the free meal or realizing it was empty or there wasnt food in there after all. I’ve seen this in action hundreds of times- and I’ve chased them away . It’s quite a show to watch!

Since Sanibel really doesn’t have a terrible litter problem like lots of other beaches in the world, we’ll keep on doing what we as shellers do best… fill our shell bags with trash and treasures, stay calm, and shell on!

please keep Sanibel litter free

PS- Lets not turn this “trashiness” into negativity. We all just need to help each other do the right thing, move on and enjoy the sunshine and treasures Mother Nature has gifted us.