Archive for Golden Olive
Hanging Out At The Beach With The Shelling Family
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There’s nothing better than boating to a beautiful island to “hang” out on the beach with aqua waters and seashells surrounding the shores. You can even bring your own hammock to hang out in if you get tired of finding seashells. Ha!
That’s why 48 of us gathered together on the dock of McCarthy’s Marina to catch the iLoveShelling Captiva Cruise to Cayo Costa yesterday.
Before we boarded the boat, I got to hang out with Shelling Sistahs Duska and Natalia. I love bonding with the shelling family!
Then as we boarded the boat , the show began with MANATEES swimming around us…
And more bonding with Shelling Sistah Lisa! Lisa Feds (There are quite a few Lisas so I’m gonna call her Lisa Feds) has been commenting on my blog for over 2 years so I feel like we know each other so I had to take a long-arm-photo of both of us together. It’s so nice to put a face with a name, right?
After a gorgeous 1/2 hour boat ride, we landed on the island of Cayo Costa…
It is so picturesque!
Then we got to shelling…
Super Sheller Clark was giving tips on how to shell in the water with his shelling “backhoe” when rumor spread quickly that he found something cool…
He pulled a live ALBINO FIGHTING CONCH out of the water…
First of all, it is rare to find an ALBINO FIGHTING CONCH so it was so cool to be able show the shell to so many people who had never seen one before. But then to be able to show one that is still alive is pretty cool because you realize that there is no mistaking that it is an albino and not just white because of being beach worn.
You can see the only color that is on this shell is the PERIOSTRACUM which is the brownish skin on the bottom and top. After showing this gorgeous ALBINO to everyone, Clark walked this live mollusk out in the water to keep living a happy healthy but colorless life.
I was tickled to see Debbie from Fort Myers Beach again. She was on the first iLoveShelling cruise in January then came back for the April iLS cruise (when she found a huge 14 inch empty LIGHTNING WHELK) and she came back again on this one! I’m gonna miss you Debbie if you don’t show up on the next iLS cruise in June! Here she is with Capt Brian and her best finds…
She’s got the eye for the BABY’S EARS. It just goes to show you that every day is different on each beach. I can usually spot those BABY’S EARS every time I visit Cayo Costa but didn’t find one this trip… and look at the huge one she found along with the FALSE ANGLE ANGEL WING.
This was the only TUSK SHELL that I saw but it was a big one…
Super Sheller Clark struck again! This is why Karen gave him his “super sheller” name years ago… not only did he find an ALBINO shell, he found rare GOLDEN OLIVE.
A GOLDEN OLIVE is a LETTERED OLIVE with a yellow (citrine) color… and this one is huuuuge!
I have to introduce my favorite sheller of the day. This is Kaylie from Minnesota and she found a whole bag full of seashell goodies to take home and treasure forever. Thank you so much Kaylie for joining us on this shelling adventure to Cayo Costa!
After a fun afternoon on the beach, the adventure continued on the boat as we shared our finds… literally. I saw Terenia, Denise and Laura (who came down from Tampa for the day) with some nice SAND DOLLARS and SUNRAY VENUSES.
Then they told me they didnt actually find them… “a guy out in the water was finding them and gave them all to us”. That is so nice! I had to find out who it was. It turned out to be Ken Figa. I have “met” Ken before online because he has a facebook page called Sea Shell Collecting so we have a lot in common. He said he didn’t find anything unusual so he didn’t need to bring any more SUNRAY VENUS or SAND DOLLARS home with him so he gave them all away. See? That’s why I call this a shelling family. It’s such an amazingly nice community.
Warren from Utah found some treasures to fill his shelling tote to take back to his wife Tami who couldnt make it on the cruise with us since she injured her knee a few days ago. So sorry we missed you Tami! I hope I get to meet you when you are better!
On the boat ride to Cayo Costa, Greg had mentioned that he wanted to find a CONE. He was a man with a mission because he did find one.
Here are Pam, Sarah and Greg’s fave finds and a little BEACH BLING too. Greg’s cone doesnt seem to look too good in this photo but in real life, I swear it looked so much better!
Shelling sistahs Lynn (she’s got on an iLoveShelling cap!) and Kelly found some favorite things too.
Lynn was very happy to have found her first SEA BEAN and when I talked with Kelly, she was just thrilled with everything she found but mostly that Lynn fought her fear of boats by going on this shelling cruise. If I heard Kelly correctly, I think this was Lynn’s very first boat ride. I am so proud of you Lynn and I am so honored that you chose this cruise to be your first with such a gorgeous day with perfectly calm waters. Now that you’ve taken your maiden voyage, I hope it wont be your last.
After we got back to McCarthy’s Marina where Captiva Cruises‘ docks, we had our own little Shell and Tell where some of us did some more hanging out and showing our favorite shells or BLING. Andrea had some fun finds!
She showed a SAND DOLLAR, SUNRAY VENUS, a double FALSE ANGEL WING and she said she ha found the other shells before (CERITHS and FIGHTING CONCHS) but she thought that the SLIPPER SHELL was different because it wasn’t smooth on top. She found a SPINY SLIPPER SHELL. I need to do a whole post on SLIPPER SHELLS because as some may be common, there are 6 different SLIPPERS in SW FLorida. I’m glad she pointed out that this one was different.
Lisa Fed found WORMIES! And she wanted to add the CRAB CLAWS to add a little BLING to her faves too. Love it!
Here are Debbies faves along with that big ole BABY’S EAR I showed you at the beginning of the post. Funny thing is, I have seen those little round pine-cone-ish looking balls on the left side of the next photo but I have no idea what they are from. She added those and the SEA PEARL for her BLING but we’d love to know what they are. Anybody? UPDATE: Thank you all for helping me identify this pine cone bling! They are “CONES’ from the AUSTRALIAN PINE TREES. Thank you as well Eric Milbrandt of Sanibel Captiva Conservation Foundation for giving me the link to “Genus Casuarina“.
Okay and one more….
I had to take one more photo of Clark’s GOLDEN OLIVE today so you could see it a little better… well, and because I just wanted to look at it again and hold the dang thing 
Wow! It’s a beauty!
You can join in on the fun and you can hang out with a boatload of other shellers on the next iLoveShelling Cruise to Cayo Costa June 19, 2013 (Wednesday) – 1pm to 4pm by calling 239-472-5300 to make your reservation. This cruise was sold out (weehoo!) so don’t miss the boat… and if you do miss the next one, don’t worry, CLICK HERE to find more dates.
On a serious note… As Clark and I and the whole shelling family are thinking of those in Oklahoma and Texas effected by the violent storms and terrible tornados, I found some good info to share on how to help through the Red Cross HERE.
Tam Tam Finds A Queen Conch On Sanibel
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A juvenile QUEEN CONCH is a very rare find on Sanibel…. and “our ” Tammy found one!!! If you’ve ever read the comments on any of my posts, her name is “Tam Tam From Michigan” and I finally got to meet her (in real life person!) this weekend on Sanibel and this was the first thing she showed me.
A juvenile QUEEN CONCH! You can find them in the Bahamas and The Florida Keys but it’s not often I hear of anybody finding one here. I’m so happy for her!
Like Donnie, she might be a little shell crazy too. She looooves shells so much, she even named her daughter Shell. This is Shell sittin ‘n siftin on a big pile off West Gulf Drive near Shalimar. Or maybe I should say… this is Shell shelling….
She told me that “Tammy” means “Palm Tree” in another language then showed me her new tattoo…
So of course since her daughter’s name is Shell and her name means Palm Tree…so she looves Sanibel and so do her girlfriends! They all love shelling Sanibel. This is Claudette (FL), Shell, Barb (VA),Tam Tam, Karen, Tracy (FL). You’ve met Claudette and Karen here before CLICK HERE and Karen happens to be Tam Tam’s cousin. The world is getting smaller, isn’t it? How cute are they with their i Love Shelling tee!!!
And the shelling sistahs can phoon too…. LOL…
Here are some of the other fabulous treasures Tam Tam found…
And even more…
Check this out… it’s an imprint (fossil, it apprears) of seashells formed in some sort of rock (Clark thinks it is limestone).
The cousins were having great luck! Karen found this GOLDEN OLIVE…
She and Claudette were finding lots of BITTERSWEETS on the beach too. I have found a few lately and I always feel like I’ve found quite a treasure when I see them. They are just so colorful!
Congrats again Tam Tam! Your QUEEN CONCH is quite the catch and I feel so lucky too to finally get to meet you and Shell. Oh and I want to share a poem again that Tammy (Tam Tam) wrote. I posted My Sweet Sanibel on May 12, 2010. CLICK HERE to enjoy!
Golden Girl Gets Seashell Gold
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When Joanne showed me her CABRIT’S MUREX last weekend, she told me she also had found a GOLDEN OLIVE almost the color of a pumpkin. It is! It’s brilliant! Look at the color on this gem.
Her GOLDEN OLIVE is quite a prize but when she told me she had found a golden LEAFY JEWEL BOX with both sides together as well….. that’s when I got excited. I just had to see it.
Now you might not think this is really pretty right away, but look at the colors and texture on this shell.
I’m not sure I’ve ever seen both sides still together of a LEAFY on the beach before.
I have collected single valves for my own stash but never have shown one to you because it never looked interesting enough or it didn’t photograph well….okay, actually…. I thought you might think I was crazy for picking up what look like a beat up shell. But now you can see for yourself how cool they are. Don’t you think? …. Errrr…..Maybe?
These yellow and orange ROUGH SCALLOPS are fabulous too. That top yellow SCALLOP looks a little different so even if it has a few holes in the middle, that is a fabulous find. Joanne really is the golden girl!
This OLIVE pales against all of these other shells but that’s what makes it special in my book. It looks to be an albino LETTERED OLIVE.
It’s definitely not beach worn with that glossy shine to it so to me, this is a great find too.
Thanks so much, Golden Girl Joanne, for sharing your golden treasures with us.
A Golden Day Boating Around Marco
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Our friends John and Jane strapped a Zodiac dinghy to the top of their car on Saturday and invited us to join them for a boating adventure down to Marco Island. Yes! We are always ready for a shelling expedition.
The whole day was golden…
Literally! Both John and Clark found GOLDEN OLIVES!
When we all got back to the boat, everybody was showing off their best finds and both guys held out their hands holding the GOLDEN OLIVES…
Look at this huuujah ANGEL WING Clark found. It fills my whole hand…
This was the first ALPHABET CONE John found for the day.
These are Jane’s FLORIDA CONES. These are pretty golden too!
Here are the rest of her best finds. Yes! She found a JUNONIA! It’s broken on one side but it’s still a JUNONIA and it might be a good candidate for making a necklace. Congrats Jane!
We boated over to another island (Kice) where I was taking a photo of a nice 10 inch old crusty HORSE CONCH I found on the low tide sand bar…
I heard Clark yell and start waving his arms. Oh no, he di-ant! Another one? He couldn’t have found another you-know-what. I looked to see how far away he was since I was way out on the sand bar. See that little speck? That’s how far he was from me.
Okay,..you might want to avert your eyes if you’ve had a bad day or just can’t stand the thought of Clark finding yet another J….. uh…. I can’t even say it. To show me where he found it, he had it sitting right where it was when he walked up. Here… see for yourself.
Really? How come I didn’t look there first? The man is a shell magnet. Here is a close up of his nearly perfect JUNONIA (just the tip is missing). I want to find one! Not that I’m jealous…. oh, geez. Of course I’m jealous! Oh I’m happy for Jane and “him” too…. I guess. 
It even has a golden color to it too!
You know I’m just kidding about being upset I didn’t find the big J. How could I when I found so many beautiful shells on such an awesome day? Here are some of our other golden treasures…like candy!
TOP SHELLS…
BRUISED NASSAS…
TAMPA TURRIDS…
DUSKY CONES…
and even a cool BRYOZOAN COLONY…
It took us less than 1 1/2 hours drive time to get to our island hopping adventure in Marco aboard “our” little dinghy. Here’s the happy crew…
PS- I popped off some of those crusty barnacles to uncover the shell of that HORSE CONCH I found out the sand bar. It’s beautiful! I found a home for it on my outside steps as a happy welcome to our Shell Shack.
