My weekend shelling report is a little belated so let me apologize for not letting you feast you eyes on all of these terrific shells a little sooner. Did you see the ALPHABET CONE? (mine!) Did you see the FLORIDA CONE and the COLORFUL MOON SHELL? (Clark’s) I’m happy to say that we both can claim the rest of them as well as the candies in the SCALLOP .

We scoured the beaches starting at Sanibel’s Blind Pass where I met Lilly, Lyla and Tyler (Ohio) collecting shells in the wrack line and snorkeling in the water.

This whole family visiting from Wisconsin realized they could feel for shells with their toes then dive down to bring up treasures. From let to right… Kathy, Nick, Alex (holding up a nice WORM SHELL!), Ethan, Kurt  and Sydney.

Then we worked our way to Lighthouse Beach where I saw more snorkelers.

Josh and Eli were thrilled with the BANDED TULIPS and COCKLES they were finding. I was very impressed that Eli knew the names of every shell he had in his bucket.

I’ve talked about doing the “Sit N Sift” in a big shell pile but I think it’s just as fun doing the Sit N Sift in the gulf waters to escape the heat in August like most people were doing this past weekend. Either way, you feel like shouting “Eureka!” when find a good shell like you are panning for gold.

I didn’t see this guy in the next photo on the beach but he was just so darn cute I had to share this photo. We didn’t see many RACCOONS on the island for a couple of years because of a distemper breakout but now they are slowly but surely coming back into sight. Welcome back home, Buddy!

PS- I know RACCOONS are really cute, but please don’t feed the wildlife.