Archive for Little Hickory 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!
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!
Day Trip to Little Hickory
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Kinda looks like Captiva’s Blind Pass, right? Nope. We took a little day trip down to Little Hickory in Bonita springs for a shelling adventure. Our blog buddy Carla told us about the north end of Little Hickory and posted some pictures on the iLoveShelling facebook page which got us antsy to check it out. It’s only about 40 minutes from Sanibel (if that) going through Fort Myers Beach so it was no problem to find it and the parking is easy (just look for the signs) and hang a right when you get on the beach.
Little Hickory beach access
Little Hickory jetties
2 fighting conchs at low tide
Little Hickory seashell collection
We found lots of fighting conchs! We normally don’t pick up or keep FIGHTING CONCHS any more but we collected these for Jesse at The Mucky Duck. We haven’t been finding many shells other than minis (not that there’s anything wrong with that 
)on Sanibel lately and Jesse is low on “stock”. He’ll have plenty for a while and they are absolutely perfect.
Little Hickory low tide
This was obviously low tide, so many shells were just barely covered by sand. It was so much fun seeing a tiny bit of a NUTMEG, TULIP or WORM SHELL peeking out of the sand, digging around it with my toe, seeing it was whole, then reaching down to find a keeper. We found lots of broken CONES but we weren’t lucky enough to find any to bring home but we were still happy with our haul. These were our best finds….
Little Hickory best seashells
From top left to right- SHARK’S EYE, WORM SHELL, NUTMEG, 3 TRUE TULIPS then a JUVENILE HORSE CONCH (candy!), MOON SHELL, the first smaller shell is a baby LACE MUREX (so cute!), baby KINGS’ CROWN, PEAR WHELK, WORM TOP. Then a KING’S CROWN, another MOON then a TOP SHELL. Sorry the picture isn’t that great to see them up close. We only put 2 hours worth of quarters in the meter so our time was running out.
Big Hickory Seafood Grille
We had a really good lunch after working up a big appetite out on the beach. Right across the street from the parking lot is Big Hickory Seafood Grille. Yum!
Thanks, Carla, for giving us this day trip shelling tip. It was well worth the short drive (no traffic this time of year) and we had fun exploring another area.
