Archive for Florida Cone
Buckets of Seashells
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Eddy's shell bucket
I didn’t see shellers with buckets filled to the rim with seashells today, but I did see a few buckets that had nice quality shells that made every other sheller smile when they peeked into the bottom. This is Eddy’s bucket with that big FLAT SCALLOP and so mant color variations and sizes of the FIGHTING CONCHS and other goodies.
Eddy peeking into his shell bucket
I first met Eddy in August with his sister Rachael and they are back in full shelling mode. Look at those CONES Rachael found.
Rachael with 2 Florida cone and an Alphabet
This next bucket could make a grown shelling woman cry… I mean smile too.
A bucket of Crowns
This is very impressive to see all of the KINGS CROWNS together in the bottom of this bucket, isn’t it? Molly found a secret shelling spot digging in some mud flats where she found all of these lovelies completely empty. Jack pot!
Molly and Ella (MI)
This is KING’S CROWN queen Molly and her daughter Ella with their other best finds of the week…. SEA URCHINS, 8″ HORSE CONCH, ALPHABET CONES, SHARK’S EYES, ANGEL WINGS and a NUT MEG. Ella told me that shelling was her most favorite thing to do. Then a close second was rock climbing.
Cuties Ella and Manny
Ella and her little brother Manny are excited to show off a few more shells.. a SUNRAY VENUS CLAM and a JUVENILE FIGHTING CONCH.
Limpet, seaglass, tusk and shark's tooth
The picture above are treasures that shellers Melody and Bill found on a day trip to Venice yesterday. Clockwise from the left … a KEY HOLE LIMPET, SEA GLASS, SHARK’S TOOTH FOSSIL and a TUSK shell all placed on top of a seagrape leaf. Nice finds!
Melody and Bill (Greenville, SC)
Happy Anniversary Melody and Bill! What a nice way to “Shellebrate”!
Sanibel Blind Pass Sand bar
There are still shells on the Sanibel side but the rip tide picked up a little this afternoon in between the shore and the sand bar… so be VERY CAREFUL if you are shelling around there. I’ve finally found all you crazy shellers like us so I don’t want to lose any of you!
Finally, A Recipe For Finding A Junonia
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Kathy with junonia recipe
I’m done with the good luck charms, four leafed clovers, the rabbits foot and all that to find my JUNONIA. Today at Blind Pass Sanibel, Kathy gave me the best advice for mixing up a special adult brew to give us all good luck in finding our own JUNONIA. A recipe for a Junonia Cocktail. Woohoo! (Click on it to enlarge)
Kathy's junonia recipe
Oooooh. Sounds so yummy and I guess the trick is…. even if you don’t find one, you can’t help but be happy after having one of these. teehee. I like her style. Here she is with her family..
Kathy, Brianna and Joe (CO)
I was so tickled she had on her iLoveshelling cap! Cute!
Young sheller Brianna
Brianna is on her way to finding a JUNONIA since she found this piece today. Kathy will have to celebrate for her with the cocktail since Brianna has quite a few years to go before she can have one.
Okay before I show this next photo, I want to make sure you know that Kathy did NOT find this shell on the beach. She said she found it at Harns Marsh in Lehigh Acres.
Apple Snail Land Shell (not found on the beach)
She brought this APPLE SNAIL shell to the beach to show it to me. Okay, again, just to make sure you know….. It was NOT found on the beach. It’s cool, though isn’t it? This is a land snail which is the diet of the endangered SNAIL KITE bird. It’s huge!
Kathy's cones and moon
She did find this ALPHABET CONE, FLORIDA CONE and COLORFUL MOON on the beach today.
The fog started rolling in but that didn’t stop the shellers. I ran into Patty who was thrilled she found a piece of SEA GLASS. I was thrilled for her since it isn’t easy to find that on Sanibel.
Patty (MI) with sea glass
Even with fog, it was a beautiful day on Sanibel.
The Sanibel Foggy Stoop
Thanks for the recipe, Kathy. Let me know if any of you try the Junonia Cocktail!
Shelling Marco Sand Bars
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Lightning whelk
I’m still exhausted from boating yesterday. Clark, friend Mary Jo and I “adventured” to take our boat down to the sand bars off Marco to do some shelling. The gulf was calm and flat for our hour and a half boat ride down (if only it had stayed that way). We pulled up to our first sand bar where I found this beautiful LIGHTING WHELK.
Marco sand bar
There was a nice shell wrack that looked very picked over but there were too many SUNRAY VENUS CLAMS to count. They are always so pretty when they are together.
Sunray venus clams
Then I thought I hit the jack pot….
Junonia piece
Only half of a JUNONIA but it was still fun to find it. Maybe I’ll make a necklace like Kathy.
Half of a junonia
I found a very nice size MOON SNAIL or NATICA which Mary Jo calls them.
Marco Moon snail
Mary Jo found a TUSK SHELL which is very tiny so you can see it would blend in with just about everything in the sand. I’ve only ever found one … I don’t have any eye for them yet.
Tusk shell
I found just one WENTLETRAP in what looks like coffee ground camo. There were a few RICE OLIVES in there too…. but wait! I just looked closer at this photo and there is a TUSK SHELL in this photo I didn’t even see.
wentletrap in sand
My best find of the day was this very different FLORIDA CONE. Look at the colors and stripes- wow!
Florida Cone marco
I met Ron from Marco out on this sand bar and he told me that he has found numerous JUNONIAS in the very same spot at daybreak. He has slept on his boat to get there first. He said he goes out there to fish but if the fish aren’t biting, he shells.
Ron (Marco)
You can see how narrow this bar is….
Mary Jo shelling
I won’t even tell you how many times we almost got stuck on the shallow flats. It’s not easy boating down there if you don’t know the waters (which we don’t). Then the boat ride back was 2 and a half hours back to the dock ….. the gulf was very choppy which makes the ride very intense (ugh). It was a beautiful day in Marco but I’m sure glad to be back on Sanibel. To be able to walk out on the beach to find incredible shells by the handful…. priceless.
Leopard Crab shell
Mary Jo and Clark in Marco
Day Trip To Marco Island
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Scotch Bonnet
Looky what I found!! A gorgeous 2 1/4 inch SCOTCH BONNET! Woot! Woot! I’ve only found pieces of these delicate shells before so this was a biggy find for me. Yippee! It was so exciting.
Scotch Bonnet aperture
Clark and I had never shelled around Marco Island, Florida (about 90 minutes south of Sanibel) before so when we were invited to go on a friend’s boat around the island we jumped at the chance. There were plenty of sand bars exposed because of the extremely low tide so we anchored out and waded in to a couple of different islands (just glad we made it back). This is what this SCOTCH BONNET looked like when I found it….
Scotch Bonnet as I found it
That SEA ANEMONE popped right off and didn’t damage the shell. I tried to submerge the SEA ANEMONE to get it to “flower” and come back to life but I think he had been out of the water too long. Maybe he was the one that helped keep the shell from breaking apart on it’s way to shore. If so, thanks Mr. Anemone, I’ll take good care of it from here on.
As is
I was so excited to show Clark my find then witnessed his face turn green with envy. Fifteen minutes later, I heard him howl with laughter. What? What could he have found that could beat this? His own SCOTCH BONNET!
Clark's scotch bonnet on the left and mine on the right
The same thing happened with the ROSE MUREX yesterday… I was so excited to find an uncommon shell and minutes later, he finds one to match it. We both laughed in amazement.
Florida Cones
Clark found the deep orange FLORIDA CONE and I found the other one. Notice the pronounced colorful tips on both of these shells.
Juvenile horse conchs
I found me some candies too! Love, love ‘em. Always a good day finding a handful of my “candy corn”.
Alphabet cones
Ta Da! We even found these ALPHABET CONES.
Lori with horse conch
This is our friend blogger Lori from SnailsRock.org with a huge empty HORSE CONCH. It’s a beauty!
The shell pile
This pile is where I found most of my baby HORSE CONCHS and a FLORIDA CONE, ALPHABET CONE, LACE MUREX and a bunch of TOP SHELLS (I’ll show pictures tomorrow… whew- I’m still tired from that big, long day).
Amy Tripp holding a tulip
I was also thrilled to meet photographer and shell enthusiast Amy Tripp from Marco. I have seen lots of her photographs from the Bailey-Matthews Shell Museum website and heard so many good things about her seashell education.
Our Marco Boating Gang
Boating at sunrise
Shellebrate Blind Pass
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Blind Pass closing up
I went back to Blind Pass this morning and found an even bigger sand bar but not as many shells as last week.
Captiva crouch
I found only a few doing the Captiva Crouch.
Cyber Shelling
Last week was so insane it’s hard to compare the shelling so I don’t mean there weren’t many shells… don’t get me wrong. I snapped this picture above so you could do a little cyber shelling (click on it to enlarge) and see how many FIGHTING CONCHS were mixed in the sand in the shallow water. There were OLIVES and WHELKS mixed in here and there too.
Florida Cone in hand
And a sweet FLORIDA CONE! I haven’t found one lately so I was tickled.
Mary (Ft Myers, FL)
Mary was so happy that she just moved to Ft Myers from Rochester, NY (where her friends are shoveling snow) and found an ALPHABET CONE and LIGHTNING WHELK
Mona (Wyoming)
Mona told me one of her favorite shelling spots is Blind Pass (me too!) and her fave shell was the FLAT ZIGZAG SCALLOP (me too! … well one of them). She found 2 perfect FLATS and had her bag filling up quickly with lots of other beauties.
From Blind Pass bridge Dec 21
I took this picture from the Blind Pass bridge so you can see just how big the sand bar is now. To compare from last week you can go to my December 14 post Shelling Night And Day . Oh No! It looks like it is closing up the pass.
Captiva sand bar shelling
Who knows though, Mother Nature (or Santa) brought in all this sand and shells and can take it away just as quickly. So we might as well just enjoy it while it’s here and …… Shellebrate the Season!
Blind Pass Dec 21
Carrier Shell Collecting Seashells
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Lee and Bill's best finds (Carrier shell in the middle)
I was thrilled to see a CARRIER SHELL (click for more info) found by blog friend Lee and her husband Bill yesterday at South Seas Island Resort. I just haven’t developed the eye for them since they aren’t really the prettiest of seashells. I take that back, I’ve seen pictures of them in books with wentletraps attached and they are stunning! Their other best finds (pictured) were FLATS, NUTMEGS, TURBANS, WORM SHELLS (wormies), JUVENILE HORSE CONCH (candy!), the CARRIER SHELL (right smack in the middle of all of the other shells), an ALPHABET CONE, a FLORIDA CONE and a SHARK’S EYE.
Carrier Shell side view
Lee and Bill found this Carrier Shell around the jetty by Redfish Pass on Captiva.
Carrier shell tilted
Carrier shell bottom
Carrier Shell side
I just had to show you every angle because I think it is so unusual… and it collects other shells just like we do! I had a wonderful time hanging out with Lee and Bill doing a little shelling and sharing our best shelling adventures with each other. They have been coming to the islands to shell for over 30 years so I was tickled to hear their stories. It was such a pleasure!
Lee and Bill (Michigan)
Lee and Bill's shell finds
Doesn’t this piece of CORAL below look like a dog… or horse… or maybe a lion. Funny!
Bill's coral
