Archive for Lace Murex
Junonia Schmanonia
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Blind Pass from Captiva looking towards Sanibel
Yesterday evening at around 6:30 pm was a nice negative low tide at Blind Pass of -0.2 . Look at all the people shelling on the sand bars all the way across the pass. Of course since Clark has found 2 JUNONIAS in the last couple of weeks (mind you, they aren’t perfect by far- I’m not complaining, just stating facts- ……I sound jealous, don’t I? grrrr- but if you really want to see them click HERE and HERE) I figured there’s no way I’d find one too but there’s always something else interesting to find out there.
No, I didn’t find one of those little JUNONIA buggers (I’m still sounding jealous, aren’t I.) but I was happy to find this sweet FLORIDA CONE right off the bat. I was especially happy when I found this cute family from North Carolina who found over 25 SAND DOLLARS! Lisa Marie called them the SAND DOLLAR whisperers.
Kim, Hannah and Abby with sand dollars
Abby's sand dollars
Speaking of shelling sistah Lisa Marie, here she is with her son Jeff having a great time filling their shell bags with all sorts of goodies…
Jeff and Lisa Marie (NJ)
Jeff found the prettiest LACE MUREX I’ve seen in a long time….
I met a family from Brasil so excited to see live OLIVES and CONCHS but even happier to find empty shells to pluck in their shell bags.
Marisol, Renan and Enzo
Okay, I guess I have to fess up now……. YES! I am a little jealous of Clark’s JUNONIA finding ability. The man’s got the pattern down to find those stupid stinkin’ elusive SCHMANONIAS (yes, I made that word up). Would you believe me if I told you he found another one last night? I probably wouldn’t if I didn’t see it with my own eyes. But, he did. He found it on the Sanibel side down on the edge of the surf way passed the sand bar that sticks out almost to that huge house on the beach. And it’s in so much better shape than last week’s shell.
Really, I still can’t believe it and it’s just getting weird now. LOL Like Julie commented last weekend “Ok, now he’s just showing off! But we love him anyway.” Ha! Look at his face in this picture, he even looks a little embarrassed- like he’s hoping nobody will “booo” him.
Alright, I was green with envy but I can’t help but be happy for him now that I’ve gotten the jealousy off my chest. Another congrats to you Clark! This will only make it sweeter when I find my perfect VOLUTE.
Easter Colors Sanibel Style
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Everywhere I looked last night, I saw the colors of Easter… in seashells.
…..and in the sky
…..and around the palm trees.
As we “hopped” around to the lighthouse beach filling up our Easter shell basket, I ran into sisters Carol and Gail finding goodies for their basket (errr, shell bag 
).
It was their last night on Sanibel and Carol finally found her first WENTLETRAP at the lighthouse beach. Yippee! Congrats!
I found sweet little LACE MUREX.
And I found this cute little DUSKY CONE on a piece of SEA PORK. It looks like an Easter egg broke and the yoke spilled everywhere, doesn’t it?
Then we hopped on over to the beach off Middle Gulf Dr. and met Aimee (too shy to have her picture taken) where she found three of these FIGHTING CONCHS so I added the one furthest down in her palm. Look at how cool it is since it has a “freak” growth pattern.
Even the BANDED TULIPS had a hint of pink for Easter.
Happy Easter! Good wishes for you all to shellebrate the day.
It’s Raining Dosinias
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Earlier this week the DOSINIAS were everywhere at the lighthouse. Doesn’t it look like Mr Greenjeans just dropped all of his ping pong balls all over the beach? I know, I’m showing my age.
There has been a variety of shells washing up at the lighthouse beach this week. The MUREXES, SHARK’S EYE, TURBAN and FIGHTING CONCH that are resting inside a double DOSINIA CLAM were some of the treasures in Dennis and Terri’s (WA) shell bag.
A shelling sister!….With her tee shirt to prove it!
This is a view of the outside of a DOSINIA. You’ve probably seen one of these before if you’ve come for a visit to Sanibel or Captiva.
I placed their shells in the DOSINIA in the first photo because I saw this live APPLE MUREX looking so cute hanging upside down in this one.
That’s a huge WENTLETRAP in Terri’s hand! The smaller one is the size we are used to finding.
Ha! Clark hates to be out-shelled (remember the day I found my first SCOTCH BONNET? Clark found one the same day.) So of course he found a monster WENTLETRAP too.
This was a live BRITTLE STAR that got caught in the receding tide so we picked him up (they won’t hurt you) and placed in back into the gulf.
Here are a few pictures I took this week. I just didn’t get a chance to post them yet so the beach may have changed (as it does every day).
Judy and Robin
More Sanibel Stooping.
Don’t worry, it’s a DOLPHIN not a SHARK.
A pink SEA ANEMONE.
Blind Pass update: I took the photo above and the one below Sunday at Blind Pass on the Sanibel side. The sand is filling in between the shore and the sand bar so I wonder if there is any water that separates it now. I didn’t see anybody collecting too much there but I’ll check it out tomorrow too.
Sani-Belles Love Sanibel And Captiva
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Captiva Crouch
They’re baaack. We’ve been waiting all week for those west winds to push the shells up on the beach…. and now we got our wish. Shells were washing up at Blind Pass this afternoon but not on the new sand bar. They were piling up all along the beach at our old fave spot on the right side of the jetty rocks on Captiva.
Sani-Belles Val, Suzie, Ella (Mom), Ellene
My favorite finds yesterday were…. The Sani-Belles!! Girls know how to have fun in this family and they do it in their iLoveShelling tee shirts and named themselves Sani-Belles for their love of the islands! Shelling sister Sani-Belle Val from New Mexico (Every day I cherish that ornament she made me) brought her sisters Sani-Belle Suzie and Sani-Belle Ellene and their mom Sani-Belle Ella (California) out to Blind Pass at the perfect time of day laughing and giggling every moment with every scoop of shells they found.
Sani-belle Suzie's shell bag
Sani-belle Suzie has a pretty darn good shelling eye.
Sani-Belle suzie's Juvenile Southern Quahog
Look at the pattern on this JUVENILE SOUTHERN QUAHOG. I had a little difficulty identifying this shell because the pattern is so similar to the LADY-IN-WAITING VENUS clam. MurexKen came to the rescue again to help correctly identify it. I would have never thought something named a QUAHOG could be mixed up with a LADY-IN-WAITING (only perhaps in Shrek). Thanks MK!
Sani-Belle Suzie's tiny flat scallop
We also saw ALPHABET CONES, FLORIDA CONES, a LACE MUREX, HORSE CONCHS, WHELKS, colorful SCALLOPS and too many LETTERED OLIVED to count.
Lace Murex in shells
I couldn’t believe my eyes! I found a MERMAID resting on the jetty rocks!
Mermaid Ella
It was crazy how many OLIVES were rolling in. We also found those huge (relatively speaking…. they are only 2 inches long ) AUGERS Every time the waves hit the shore, it seemed to bring AUGERS and OLIVES. Here’s a look at what we experienced yesterday. Enjoy the video.
Shells of a Different Color
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Color wheel of True Tulip Shells
After I left the beach at Blind Pass Sunday morning, I just knew there should have been more shell piles coming in from the strong north west winds from Saturday. Unfortunately, I had to run out of town for a few days so I left before the shells got stirred up enough to reach the beach. I heard Sunday afternoon (right after I left) was the best shelling day all week with oodles of LIGHTNING WHELKS and TULIPS washing up on Sanibel around Middle gulf Drive. I’m so happy for the lucky shellers (Sunny and Cshells!) who hit that Sunday seashell jackpot. Although I would have loved to see the Sunday shelling madness, I still haven’t gotten over our finds (my SCOTCH BONNET!) from last Thursday, so here are more photos of our colorful beauties from that awesome day.
Lace Murex aperture
I’m always overwhelmed by how beautiful a LACE MUREX can be.
Spiney Jewel Box
I’ve never found such a colorful SPINEY JEWEL BOX like this before last week and both sides were still together. Gorgeous.
Top Shells
Who knew TOP SHELLS came in so many different colors?
Sand Dollars
These were the best of about ten SAND DOLLARS but not all of them made it back in one piece. I also heard that people are finding SAND DOLLARS off Middle Gulf Drive the past few days. All three of these TRUE TULIPS (2 to 3 inches) below were found by Super Sheller Clark. The middle one looks like it was made of dark chocolate… talk about rich color!
True Tulips
We had high south winds today and are expecting high north west winds tomorrow so I will be checking Middle Gulf Drive beaches and Blind Pass the next few days. Stir it up, baby!
Shell Seekers at Day Break
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Extreme early morning low tides means break out the flash lights before day break.
My buddy Ellen and I were out on the beach and in the cold water by 6:30.
The birds were shellebrating a new day.
And so were we.
I saw Kay on the beach with her shell bags overflowing. She wouldn’t let me take her picture but she wasn’t shy about letting me take a picture of her shell bag. I guess not- Look at that haul!
It doesn’t look like Ellen got a lot of goodies….. but she sure did. She found some candy! Little HORSE CONCHS and all sorts of miniatures were all that she had her eyes set on and she found what she wanted.
That baby LACE MUREX (top middle) in the photo above is de-gorgeous!
She sent this photo to me of even more minis she found.
I found a few goodies today but I forgot to take pictures of mine. The sunrise was so magnificent, I couldn’t help but enjoy every part of witnessing such beauty on the beach and hanging out with my good friend. A good day.
