Archive for Oyster
Beach Bling Clinging To Wing Oyster
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I found more shells clinging to SEA WHIPS! This time I found quite a few ATLANTIC WING OYSTERS hitch hiking on those beautiful SEA WHIPS I talked about on my last post.
Notice how pearlescent the inside is! I didn’t want to break the two valves apart but you can peek in to see the beauty.
I found quite a few of these attached to the SEA WHIPS I found in the BEACH BLING last month.
I know, this WING OYSTER doesn’t look that pretty hanging on to this gorgeous purple WHIP but he would definitely clean up nicely if I chose to untangle him.
I’m just always amazed at what I’ve overlooked before.
I didn’t find all of these on the beach in the last month. I looked through some of my other SEA WHIPS I collected through the years and low and behold… I didn’t even realized I had perfect specimens of ATLANTIC WING OYSTERS wrapped up in my WHIPS.
I can’t believe I can’t find the photo (sorry!) …. but at the 75th Sanibel Shell Fair and Show this year there was a display of an ATLANTIC WING OYSTER still attached to a SEA WHIP. I kind of laughed to myself because at first it looked like a dirty purple SEA FAN with some junk not washed off. Then I put on my cheater glasses to look at the display. Cool! A WING OYSTER treasure! I love it- I learn something new every day.
After looking closely at the larger double shells, you’ll be able to see that both the sides don’t match. The two valves are completely different sizes and even the shape is different too.
You might not think these shells are pretty enough to toss in your shell bag, but at least when you see those SEA WHIPS, you might be able to find a little hidden treasure that most other people would pass right by and never see.
Seashells Sighting While Fish Are Biting
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So Exciting! When I arrived at Blind Pass Captiva yesterday morning, I saw that guy catch a fish while everybody else was wallowing in the joy of the big shell pile. Happiness.
Chris (Calgary, Canada) found this very big WENTLETRAP right there! I was thinking the same thing as you are right now….. a WENTLETRAP at Blind Pass? I don’t see many people find them right there so that was a really good find in my book.
His daughter Kyla found a piece of JUNONIA. Any piece is a good piece!
My friends Courtney and Eileen (Sanibel) were having a blast soaking in this gorgeous day with the bonus of a huge shell pile…
Eileen found this very colorful FLAT SCALLOP … but hold on… I know you will notice that tattoo just like I did so I’ll tell you what it “says”. It’s her mother’s signature. Is she cool, or what? She is definitely a piece of art work!
Courtney found my favorite shell of the day.
I hope yall dont think I’m crazy but it’s an awesome ATLANTIC WING OYSTER with both sides still attached.
Look at the inside of this shell…it’s like opening up a beautiful pearl!
I found lots of The Sanibel Six shells but only one ALPHABET CONE. It has this crazy pointy hat on top! I know it’s old and worn but I still really like it.
Barbara was doing an excellent job of the Sit ‘n Sift filling up her kitchen strainer. So smart! One less step when she gets home to clean them. 
There were lots of CHESTNUT TURBANS mixed in with WHELKS and FIGHTING CONCHS…
A pretty BITTERSWEET CLAM!
And CORAL…
I think there was only about 5 shellers when I got the “mound” but within an hour, it was a ShellFest!
I’ve got several videos so I here’s the first one. Happy Weekend!
Ordinary Oysters Turn Extraordinary
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Isn’t it amazing that something this beautiful can be made from a shell that is so ordinary and well, let’s be honest… an OYSTER SHELL isn’t that pretty.
But arrange them all together like this, you get this absolutely gorgeous mirror that I saw on a visit to Virginia Beach. This has been stuck in my head for the past few weeks as well as the pair of OYSTER SHELL candlesticks sitting on a mantel a few few steps away.
I was reminded of these pieces of art after seeing oodles of EASTERN OYSTER shells at Barefoot Beach the day I hung out shelling with Carla and Kelly. Here’s what I found that day…
I’ve been seeing more of them this week on Sanibel on the West Gulf Drive beaches as well but not nearly as many as on Barefoot.
Maybe we’ll all look at these shells a little closer at our next oyster roast we go to, right? They come in all sorts of shapes and sizes for whatever project you might think of doing…
MMM…. Mullosks!
Posted by: | CommentsThe Bailey-Matthews Shell Museum should be very happy with the turnout for the First Annual Edible Mullosk Festival at Timbers Restaurant & Fish Market . It was so much fun! There was an oyster eating contest, mullet tossing contest, dunk tank, face painting and shell crafting for the kids, shell displays and lots of oysters to eat and drink. Yep- I had one of those oyster shooters too and it really was mmmm good!
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- Roger and Mary Jo from the Shell Museum
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- Dr. Jose Leal- Director of the Bailey-Matthews Shell Museum
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- Edible Mullosks’ shells
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- Timber’s owner Matt Asen shows a HUGE oyster
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- Raw edible shellfish
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- Crowd at 1st annual Edible Mullosk Festival
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- 1st Annual Edible Mullosks Tee shirt
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- The whole gang of oyster eating competitors
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- John from Sanibel Rotary in Oyster eating contest
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- Dr Jose Leal competing
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- Gretchen from Traders
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- Oyster eating contest
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- David Joffe from She Sells Seashells
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- More oyster eating
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- Yeah!
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- Judges and sponsors
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- Shell museum display
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- Shell queen of the day
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- Doc Ford’s shell king and queen
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- Mullet toss
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- kids shell crafting
Ps- Didn’t find many shells on Captiva or off West Gulf Drive today. The best were off Middle Gulf around Fulgur Street access….nothing fantastic but still fun shelling. We didn’t make it to the lighthouse.
