Archive for Nutmeg
Sanibel 6 At Blind Pass
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We finally got down to Blind Pass last night just in time to catch the -0.1 low tide. As usual, the beach has changed since a week ago when we were there last and the sand bars have shifted. The best thing was… more shells! And I met Shelling Sistah Lisa (a Virginia Beach girl too!) with her blue shell bag filling up with The Sanibel Six and more like a TURKEY WING and some sweet KITTEN’S PAWS.
Lisa’s husband Eric (they are both teachers- love those teachers!) was doing just as well…
Eric told me he found something “a little different” ….. he found a beautiful NUTMEG!
I also met Denise and PC from Savannah, GA with…. yep, the Sanibel Six along with TURBANS and more plus a WORMIE!! I was surprised to see there were a few WORM SHELLS out there too 
.
Then the sky started turning dark and the storm was getting closer. I know, look at all those larger shells on the beach! They were mostly PEN SHELLS, cracked FIGHTING CONCHS and DOSINIAS.
And look what the backhoe pulled up in one scoop! An ALPHABET CONE and a TRUE TULIP! That was the last hurrah. We headed off the beach before the storm got any closer.
Most of you probably don’t use Twitter but I sometimes enjoy a small tweet or two….. especially yesterday when I got this tweet from @Lifesabeach that said “What we found at Blind Pass yesterday”. This photo was attached ( you can click on it to go to her photo page)…..Yowza!
photo by Lifesabeach
Okay I have one more thing….. I need to be serious just for a second. It’s about the strong currents and rip tides that occur often at Blind Pass…. especially with the tidal changes. It can be very dangerous! Really! Think about it….the same water that can sweep all of those shells to the shore in a matter of minutes can sweep a person out into danger. Just please be smart and careful(even if you are a strong swimmer!) if you feel a strong current, undertow or rip tides- go shell on the beach or just she shallow water. Okay, I want to leave you on a good note so go back and look at all of Lisa’s shells in the first photo so you can smile again!
My Shelling Family
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John (Florida)
We had more 15 mph cold winds blowing from the north west all day yesterday. That means shelling at Blind Pass should be pretty good. So that’s why Clark and I headed there this morning at 8 a.m……. which was a little too late to snag this huge LIGHTNING WHELK John found. He got there at 6 a.m.!
John's Scotch bonnet
Geez…. AND he found a SCOTCH BONNET! This shell is pretty rare to find here so to find a whole one is shellicious. He and his wife come to Sanibel or Captiva to do a little shelling on the weekends from the middle of Florida.
John's Scotch Bonnet aperture
I always get the warm and fuzzies when I meet someone who reads my blog. Look who else I ran into!
Christine with live horse conch
It’s Christine Kieffer! She’s one of our shelling sisters who leaves fun comments and adds lots of joy to this blog.
Christine and Rick
Here she is in the picture above with her husband Rick who helped her get that live HORSE CONCH back safely in the water.
Julie, Conner, Katie, Brenden and Kevan
Do shelling families get any cuter than this? I hit the jackpot this morning running into my blog friends. Julie is a shelling sister too and brought her whole family out to gather the shell goodies.
Conner's nutmeg
Right away her son Conner found this huge colorful NUTMEG.
Katie's flat scallop
Her daughter Katie found one of my faves…. a baby FLAT ZIGZAG SCALLOP.
Shells on Blind Pass beach
Yep! There’s Joan that I introduced to you 2 weeks ago (on my post As The Seashells Turn) looking for her treasures in that shell pile right next to the jetty. 
It was so much fun to run into so many shelling sisters and shelling brother John (shelling brother just doesn’t have the same ring to it, does it. Maybe “sheller bro”… er…. uhhh… nah)…. I’ll just go with” my little shelling family”. So nice to see yall.
Our Christmas weekend fave finds
I’m getting waaarrmmer…..
I found this piece of Junonia
Let The Shelling Season Begin!
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Seashells and waves
Shells! They’re back! I felt like a kid in a candy store today at Blind Pass on Captiva Island…. speaking of candy….
My candy
This was my first find.. a bright orange baby HORSE CONCH…. my candy. Right next to it was a broken FLAT SCALLOP.
Seashell Collecting at Blind Pass, Captiva
I haven’t seen lots of shells at Blind Pass lately so I felt so giddy. The temperature dropped and the wind picked up from the north…. signs for good shelling at the pass. Take a look at the mound forming. Yippeee!
Blind Pass Shell mound
Fighting conch with other shells
Apple murex in shell pile
I met a couple from Chicago who couldn’t get enough of this good shelling day.
Lorna and David (Chicago)
This is David a few minutes later. I told you, he couldn’t get enough so he had to get fully shellified.
Adventures of shelling
Lettered Olive and other shells
I saw lots of MUREXES, TULIPS, WHELKS, OLIVES, CONCHS, COCKLES and pieces of CONES. I took video but I was very shaky (from my excitement!) and my lens was very spotted from the spray. I’ll try to salvage what I can and get that up soon for all of you virtual shellers. Shellebrate!
Shell collecting
Seashell In My Pocket
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Nutmeg in Nancy's pocket
“I always have a seashell in my pocket.”
This is what Nancy from Minnesota told me yesterday after she pulled this NUTMEG out of her pocket and told me it was so much better than a “worry stone”. She has been vacationing on Sanibel and Captiva for 20 years with the same foursome… she and her husband Dayton and their best shelling buddies Nancy and Gary.
Dayton's moon snail from his pocket
Then Dayton pulled out a COLORFUL MOON SNAIL from his pocket.
Sandy's Lettered Olive from her pocket
This is Sandy’s LETTERED OLIVE from her pocket. So smooth and shiny!
Gary's bright, beautiful pocket collection
Look at all that CANDY! I’m not sure Gary carries all of these orange beauties in his pocket all the time but those candy corn horsie conchs and that true tulip are worth showing off !
Gary, Sandy, Nancy, Dayton (Minnesota)
PS- How do you think that I knew they were crazy shellers? LOL They say that they all suffer from “shell sickness”. Me too!
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Day Trip to Little Hickory
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Little Hickory jetty rocks
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).
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.
Evening Shelling
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Nice nutmeg
It’s been really beautiful on the beach about an hour before sunset because of the low tide this whole week. We found this NUTMEG and a cutie HORSE CONCH last night (or…early evening) on the beach by Gulf Side City Park.
Candy corn horse conch
Clark and I met John and Julie who were celebrating their first time back to the islands after getting married 3 years ago on Captiva. Julie said she is already getting hooked on shelling and can’t wait to find more this weekend. Have a great time!
John and Julie (Leesburg, FL)
