Archive for Bonita Beach
Little Hickory Sunset Seashells
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On our way back to Sanibel from a day in Naples, we couldn’t resist stopping to see sunset at Little Hickory Beach in Bonita Beach.
Oooooh I’m so glad we did! Not only did we see a gorgeous sunset, but we spotted a shell or two.
Then another!
The further I walked the more I saw!
That’s when I met locals Michael (North Ft Myers) and Cheri (Lehigh) who were collecting some of these gorgeous shells.
Then Michael plucked this awesome ALPHABET CONE out of his shell bag!
Wait! The sun was going down too quickly! We wanted to shell some more after seeing that CONE! Hmmmmm… but low tide would be in the morning. Ha! Yes, you guessed it. Clark and I went back at low tide and found a treasure trove of shells. Weeeee! But I’m so sorry! I’ll have to show you those tomorrow since there is so much to do to get ready for Thanksgiving holiday. FYI- If you are in the area and not having much luck finding shells, it’s only a 40 minute drive from Sanibel (if you don’t get caught up in the traffic on Ft Myers Beach). There’s a gazillion FIGHTING CONCHS! For more info on Little Hickory, check out my other posts HERE.
Shelling Day Trip From Sanibel To Bonita Beach
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This past weekend we drove 35 minutes from Sanibel to Little Hickory Beach in Bonita Springs, Florida in search of seashells.
Walking north to the pass from the public parking lot (a bargain price of $2 for 2 hours) only took about 15 minutes to find loads of FIGHTING CONCHS.
After a few minutes more, Clark found a SAND DOLLAR…
I couldn’t get over how many MOSSY ARKS were washed up on the beach mixed in with a few pieces of CORAL and my fave of all faves… WORM SHELLS! They were only tips of WORMIES but any piece is a good piece in my book.
I don’t think I have ever seen so many MOSSY ARKS in one place on any beach before so I gathered a few together to show you exactly what they look like.
I know, I know…. not the prettiest of shells but I don’t see them all that often on Sanibel so I was intrigued with them.
Did I read your mind and know that it reminds you of another shell? It looks like the TURKEY WING! The TURKEY WING and the MOSSY are both ARK shells so they are very similar but unfortunately, I think the MOSSY ARK got the short end of the stick when it comes to looks. ;( Here’s a comparison so you can see them side by side. The TURKEY WING is on the left…
Oops! I switched them in this next exterior photo, the MOSSY ARK is now on the left in this photo. You can now see how similar they are!
We had a wonderful day walking the beach and seeing different shells and the beautiful SANDWICH TERNS and BLACK SKIMMERS…
Along with the SAND DOLLAR, sweet Clark gave me a yellow DAISY that he found on the beach…
We weren’t the only ones who enjoyed the beautiful day in Little Hickory…
Okay, while we are on the subject of Bonita Beach, I have to show you an article about iLoveShelling.com that was published in Coastal Life magazine of the News Press. Weehoo! Click on the logo to read it!
Barefootin’ With Shelling Sistas
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It sure was a roller coaster weekend… literally. Hurricane Irene was rolling along the coast wreaking havoc and causing lots of trouble. My family and friends in Virginia Beach are fine (some with no power still, but fine) and I hope you and yours that were in Irene’s path are okay as well. I spent most of my time glued to the weather channel wrenching my hands so I took a 45 minute drive to Bonita Springs on Saturday to meet my Shelling Sistas Carla and Kelly at Barefoot Beach for some well needed shelling time. The welcome wagon was there to greet us in the form of a GOPHER TORTOISE…
He was even so friendly to hang out with Kelly for a bit. How cute are they!
The tide was pretty high when we started our treasure hunt but there’s always something fun to find on the beach.
Carla spotted a couple of SHARK’S TEETH and fossil piece of a mouth plate to a PUFFER FISH….
I only found one little SHARK’S TOOTH but was happy to find any!
Carla came across this PEN SHELL with such a colorful EGG CASING attached to it. It looks like a beautiful flower blossom!
I am a little confused which egg sacs these are because of the color but I think this maybe a TRUE TULIP EGG CASE that just was formed. Take a look and see what you think. I’d love a positive I.D. so if you can help, please help us learn what it is. Here’s a closer look at this beauty….
Carla walks this beach probably as much as I walk the Sanibel beaches so she has a keen eye to find the goodies like the SHARK’S TEETH, EGG CASES and this perfect empty LACE MUREX …
Did you notice her necklace? Yes! She found that big honkin tooth and made a necklace out of it like she did for the oh-so-cool piece of sea glass she gave me. I love it Carla!
Kelly was soaking in the beauty of the day every second….
I was thrilled when she brought seashells she found from Puerto Penasco, Mexico (aka- Rocky Point) to share. Thank you Kelly! Now remember, these are shells from Mexico NOT Florida…
Seashells from Rocky Point (Puerto Penasco, Mexico)
I didn’t get a picture of all her treasures our day on Barefoot so she sent a photo of her shells from the day…
I know these don’t look like great shells to most, but these were my favorite finds on Saturday- CORAL, WORMIE, SHARKS TOOTH, a piece of a LION’S PAW (!), a tiny OLIVE with beautiful color and pattern and a SEA PEARL.
Since I was so distracted by Hurricane Irene, I didn’t get to show you another shelling sista I met last week on the beach in Sanibel. It was so nice to meet you, Desiree! I love your hat!
She said she bought a cheapy hat and embellished it using hot glue with shells she found on Sanibel. She said it was a snap to make since the ribbon was already there to glue the shells to. It’s the simple things that make life fun, isn’t it?
I have some pictures of Blind Pass from yesterday evening at low tide that I won’t probably get to post until tomorrow but it’s just an FYI…. there are shells there. You have to look in the water right at the edge of the small drop off. Good luck! In the mean time, enjoy a few more pics of Barefoot Beach…
A Barefoot Beach Morning
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Coral from Barefoot Beach
I’ve been wanting to run down to Barefoot Beach in Bonita Springs (45 minute drive) to meet shelling sister Carla Barone for quite some time. Today I got to meet her and she was everything I thought… shell crazy and sweet as pie. As soon as we hit the beach, I found all of these pieces of CORAL as we walked south to get down to the jetty at Wiggins Pass.
Fossils found by Carla
Carla loves looking for not only shells but fossils and different beach treasures. She picked up these pieces then told me the fossils in her hand clockwise from top left…. a SHARK’S TOOTH, a piece of turtle shell called a “SKOOT”, and …okay… are you ready for this one? … the mouth plate of a PUFFER FISH. Wow. I’d like you to meet Carla…
Me with super collector Carla
She loves to talk to everyone on the beach about all the fun things to collect.
Carla showing fossils to Kathy and her friend
We found out that Kathy was a first time sheller and she found this…
Kathy with alphabet cone
A perfect ALPHABET CONE! I saw the colors through her shell bag and commented on her find but she didn’t know what I was talking about. She didn’t realize what she had… until now. Then we ran into Carla’s good friend Jen who taught her about most of the fossils she has found.
Fossil collector Jen
Today she was collecting as sorts of shells and goodies.
Jen’s shell bag
Another one of Carla’s friends (she’s very popular on this beach!) Ella found this awesome SHARK’S EYE. What a cutie!
Ella with sharks eye
Then I found this huge WORM SHELL. I still can’t believe how big it is.
Wormie!
And some of his grand wormies…
Bunch of worm shells
On the way back, we saw several ssslloooooww GOPHER TORTOISES.
Gopher tortoise
So this is where Carla finds a lot of her shells.
Barefoot Beach entrance sign
So she can make beautiful whelk sculptures like this…
Whelk Sculpture by Carla Barone
Thanks for everything, Carla. It was a great shelling morning!
Beachcombing Blogger-Palooza
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Low Tide shelling at Little Hickory
Shelling Bloggers Unite!
Blogger Karen from The Essential Beachcomber organized a low tide shelling expedition at Little Hickory for bloggers Rhonda from Shellbelle’s Tiki Hut, Debbie from Love of the Sea and ME! What a blast!
Bloggers Karen, Rhonda and Debbie
We met at Little Hickory beach in Bonita Springs at 7 am (yep, another early morning) yesterday for low tide shelling…. and gabbing.
Live sand dollar
Rhonda found this live SAND DOLLAR, then another and another. Lots of very healthy ones so even though we didn’t find any to take home, it’s always good to see them happy and healthy.
Bonita Springs Fighting Conchs
On the other hand, there are still hundreds of FIGHTING CONCHS fighting for their lives at low tide and many dead. I posted an article about this last week (Fighting Conchs on Bonita Beach) but haven’t heard an update as to why they think they are dying. As you can see, there are still tons of them.
Debbie's true tulip
Debbie found this gorgeous TRUE TULIP about 4 inches long. I think that was the best find of the day!
Crucifix bone
Another beachcomber, Carol, at Little Hickory found a CRUCIFIX SHELL. It’s actually the head bone of gafftopsail catfish and it is said to bring good luck to the finder. I sure hope that’s true because……
My Crucifix shell from catfish
I found one too! Mine isn’t as perfect as Carol’s but I didn’t read anywhere that it had to be perfect to bring good luck. Woohoo!
Little Hickory beach
I’m already lucky to live in paradise but I feel lucky too for getting to spend such a fun day with 3 other beach bloggers! See? It’s working!
Karen The Essential Beachcomber
Thank you Karen for getting our Beachcombing Blogger-Palooza together!
PS- I now have Google Friend Connect. If you are a member, please join me!
Conch Shell Invasion
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Live Fighting conch photo by Carla Barone
Just in time for Halloween…. The Invasion of the Fighting Conchs! Ooooh. Scary!
I didn’t make it down to Bonita Beach to see the beached FIGHTING CONCH phenomenon that I posted about yesterday (click HERE to go to that post) but our blog buddy Carla took great photos of the beach littered with these seashells. We still don’t know why there are so many dying but they are testing the water so when/if we find out, I’ll keep you posted. I’m hoping the answer is what Dr. Jose Leal quoted in the article yesterday “It could be mating”.
Conchs at Little Hickory photo by Carla Barone
Pile of fighting conchs photo by Carla Barone
Shellers wait for great days when there are piles of shells on the beach… but maybe not like this. It seems so sad. Carla said “They were piled up at the jetty’s today~100′s of them. I have seen days when they were stranded before but not piled up like that~sad…and stinky too.”
Little Hickory conchs photo by Carla Barone
Thank you Carla for showing us your photos. I’m just happy we didn’t have to smell them- no “scratch ‘n sniff” thank goodness.
Fighting conchs photo by Carla Barone
I checked out the beach to see if there was anything like it on Captiva today at Blind Pass. Nothing like Carla saw but there are some shells rolling in and the water is fabulous!
Captiva's Blind Pass sand bar showing
Betsy (Unionville, PA) not disappointed in the shelling
Shelling at Blind Pass
