Sanibel Captiva shells found April

ALPHABET CONES, GAUDY NATICAS, HORSE CONCHS, NUTMEG shells and more were washing up at Captiva’s Blind Pass around the jetty rocks on Sunday morning. Yahoo!

rocks collecting shells

I met some awesome families shelling together in all the shellmania. Brooklyn, Nequoia, Avilyn, Kelli, Kamrie, Adam, Boston and Hunter from Utah were having a great time pacing back and forth watching the shells come and go with the waves.

seashell collecting family

They picked out some gorgeous shells like in the top photo and these…Ā 

seashells in blue sifter

But hold on… did you see the GAUDY NATICA? Here’s a closer view because the color (you can probably see the color best in the top photo) just seemed extraordinary. The colors were dark but it almost looked like a PAUL NEWMAN’S SHARK EYE with the hint of blue in the swirl. Love that.

dark color gaudy natica colorful moon shell

This FLORIDA CONE was pretty extraordinary too. The colors… wow!

dark florida cone

So Kelli let me hold it so I could take a look at the lip … that was perfect too. The lip of FLORIDA CONES are so thin that most of the time the lip edge is a bit ragged and fragile but this one was so nice. While I was holding it -Ut Oh- He was still alive! We rarely see live CONES wash up here so this was a surprise to all of us so I took a photo and Kelli gently returned it to the water. Live on, beautiful CONE. Hopefully you will make lots of beautiful children.

florida cone alive

Another awesome family (with lots of beautiful children) Nick, Joe, Will, Nicole and Steve from Michigan found treasures of their own.

family with seashells

I see the Sanibel Six in there- WHELK, MUREX, OLIVE, CONCH, TULIP and CONE. Cool!

Sanibel Captiva shells collected April

As fast as the shells came in, the tide changed and the powerful waves started bringing tons of sand to start covering them up.

beach combers collecting shells in surf

That didn’t stop Fontaine, Alason, Mary Benton and Gail from Texas from plopping right down to sift through the sand to search for newly buried gifts from the sea. It was so much fun to talk shelling with y’all!

sister sheller family]

Yesterday I decided to walk the beach atĀ Gulfside City Park since the conditions had changed so much at Blind Pass. My morning walk led me to meet Jayne and Daisy from Montana who are very impressive on their shell knowledge as they have been shelling all their lives. They told me about some of their shells they found on a recent trip to New Zealand – hmmm… another place to put on my shell bucket list. Thank you for the walk, girls!

Jayne Daisy with shells

I few of their faves from the morning. :)

sea urchin horse conch

It was such a fun time shell talking and walking because as quickly as the shells can come in, the shells can either be covered up or taken back out with the powerful strength of the Gulf Of Mexico. It amazes me … every … single … day.

shell collection in yellow

high tide seashells

Pam-rambo-sanibel-shell-trips