Archive for Gulf Side City Beach (Algier’s)
Tattoo Shell Crazy
Posted by: | Comments
Do you love shelling? Ashley loves shelling so much she wants to always be able to look down at her feet to see shells any time of day … wherever she is. So she has seashells tattooed on her foot. I love that! I especially love that because she is the daughter of one of my long time friends from high school, Laura. Laura, Miyuki, Ashley and Ashley’s bestie Ashlyn came to Sanibel for a visit. So of course, we went shelling. There’s nothing better than catching up with friends from the old neighborhood in Virginia while walking the beach in Florida.
They couldn’t get over all of the live and empty shells at GulfSide City Park (for a map CLICK HERE) that are still there.
Not only did they find shells, Ashlyn and Ashley found so many cool pieces of DRIFTWOOD. Ashley’s looks like a dragon head, right?
I know yall are gonna think I’m crazy but I was thrilled when Ashlyn picked up this cool dried out fish head (Gar, maybe?) with all of his teeth in tact then gave it to me. haha I love the weird BEACH BLING! Thanks Ash!
Just like I showed you in February, Miyuki is still taking photos…
Thank you Laura and Miyuki for the blast from the past!
Okay, I’ve got to change the subject just for a sec…. because….
The new 2013 iLoveShelling Calendar is here!!
Waahhooo!!
It’s chock full of your favorite photos and memories of shelling on Sanibel so each day you can see and reminisce about your favorite beach. It even has a QR code on each calendar month so you can scan it with a smart phone to take you to the iLoveShelling post to read the story about the photo. Don’t know about QR codes? If you have a smart phone or iPad, go to the app store and download a QR code reader (I use RedLaser) for free. Then scan away! It’s so much fun!
It’s just in time for Holiday gift giving! To see and buy… CLICK HERE
Collecting Seashells With Sweet Swedish Anna
Posted by: | Comments
It was a seashell wonderland for 17 year old Swedish exchange student Anna on the beach of Sanibel’s Gulf Side City Park yesterday. She couldn’t believe there were so many beautiful shells scattered in every direction and that each one offered different patterns and colors to tell its own story.
Even if she picked up a shell then saw that there was a live mollusk inside, she would marvel at the beauty then put it safely down in the sand where she found it. Together, we both were in awe of the deep purple color inside this FIGHTING CONCH…
Then she ran over to me to share the gorgeous detailed architecture of this FIGHTING CONCH. It looks like you are looking down at a spiral staircase with a string of pearls lining the top!
Don’t you just love to see someone for the first time so excited to see the beauty in shells like we do? LOL So I asked her what her favorite empty shells were that she had collected since her shell bag was busting at the seams. She knew immediately so she dumped them right out and sifted through them looking for these shells…
Clark is involved with Rotary Youth Exchange through his Rotary club along with club member Cyndi Doragh… so that’s how I met Anna from Sweden!
As soon as I heard she was from Sweden, I showed her the Swedish TV segment so she couldn’t wait to find shells on Sanibel too!
I don’t talk a lot about the other half of the life that Clark and I live other than our shelling life (albeit, a huge chunk of our life!) but I want to share a bit of our our Rotary life with you. When I say “our” Rotary, I really mean Clark because he is President of Rotary Club of Fort Myers South this 2012/2013 year. I am very proud of him because it is an amazing service club and they do such good work for our community and for world peace (really, I know that sounds crazy “world peace” but it is very true!).
Here is Sweet Swedish Anna with Clark (ahem… Rotarian President Rambo -heehee), and sponsors Cyndi and Pete Doragh…
We all had a fabulous day! Cyndi found a FLORIDA CONE and a KINGS CROWN!
Thank you Anna for coming to Sanibel to shell with Clark and me!
So now you know why Clark hasn’t been living up to his name “Super Sheller Clark” lately… because he’s been very busy trying to volunteering his time to Rotary. He’s such a good man!
Remember our trip to Thailand? Since I really never explained this, we went there to join 35,000 other Rotarians from all around the world to gather in Bangkok for the 2012 Rotary International Convention to find ways to better our world and find ways to support people in need. It was the most inspirational conference we’ve ever experienced. This next video really isn’t a shelling video although it does have some shells we found (of course!) in Thailand, it’s really about how small our world is and how we all came together in Thailand for peace. We, as shellers, know all about this stuff! I made this video for Clark to show to his club but I thought you might enjoy it too.
If you want to help Clark and his Rotary Club with funding to provide this awesome exchange student program and so many more programs like Shelterbox to help and support others in need Clark and I would be grateful for anything.
PS- I hear there are people finding WENTLETRAPS at lighthouse beach!
The Gulf That Keeps On Giving
Posted by: | Comments
Michelle from New Hampshire got a gorgeous gift from the gulf….. a JUNONIA! She said “I still can’t believe I found one! I was just walking along in ankle deep water that had already be searched by lots of shellers. My children were having fun exploring the tidal pools and there it was!“. Wowee! It’s huge!
There were shells scattered everywhere on Gulf Side City Park beach where Michelle found her JUNONIA…
Most of the shells were live FIGHTING CONCHS but Cheryl (Ohio) was having a great time filling up her pink shell bag with empty shells…
She found all sorts of great shells!
Her favorites were these two KINGS CROWNS…
These two cutie shellers Matilda and her brother Anton came to Sanibel all the way from Sweden to fill their buckets with goodies. Matilda is holding a beautiful ALPHABET CONE and Anton is showing off a nice bright orange HORSE CONCH.
Bob (who found a LIONS PAW last year) and Dee (Ft Myers) were finding SEA WHIPS and BEACH BLING…
And a fabulous FLORIDA CONE along with a fantastic assortment of all types of seashells…
And they found dried out MILLIPEDE STARFISH.
The Gulf Of Mexico just keeps on giving us gifts of the sea.
Sanibel Beaches After Hurricane Sandy
Posted by: | Comments
Hurricane Sandy is still wreaking havoc all along the east coast of the United States so I feel so bad getting excited about some of the shells that we are finding along our shores of Sanibel because of Sandy’s northwest winds. But… we all need a little good news too in times like this… right? So if you still have power in your home, I hope we can spread a little Florida sunshine and share our treasures with you to hopefully make you smile at least once today.
As I picked up this SHARK’S EYE in the next photo, I realized I snagged it up so quickly because it was in such great condition then realized it would be a good idea to let you know what it looked like when I spotted it so you would know what to look for if it was upside down like it was when I found it.
See? It is so different looking if it is laying in the sand with the aperture side up.
There are still oodles of PEN SHELLS lining the beach but I only found a few other shells hiding among them. Down by the water at low tide, there were FIGHTING CONCHS were everywhere!
I met Eric from Ft Lauderdale scoping out the best spot on the beach scooping up handfuls of shells. Happy birthday Eric! You got plenty of gifts from the sea!
I found other fabulous treasures besides seashells at Gulf Side City Park as well… like Shelling Sister Judy from PA!
She immediately showed me some of the goodies she had found around the same spot…
Then Cheryl showed me this big honkin LIGHTHING WHELK she had found!
After I talked with Cheryl about her LIGHTNING WHELK, she told me that I had taken a photo of the backs of her with her sister at Blind Pass watching sunset in June 2011. I remembered that photo! They looked so cute sitting on the beach because all I could see was their backs and matching straw hats while they watched the sun setting right in front of them. It’s the 15th photo down on my post “Sunset, Seashells and Shelling Sisters”… CLICK HERE to see it. Then you will know why I took their photo this way (since they didn’t want me to take their faces… silly girls!) Here is Cheryl and her sister Brenda holding their WHELKS…
Joyce and her daughter Kristin had just gotten started filling their shell bags but were so happy to already find some goodies.
There are some good shells to be found at Gulf Side City Park… BUT, it doesn’t even compare to the shells we found after Hurricane Isaac, Tropical Storm Debby or any of the other storms that brought high northwest winds like this. Blind Pass still is empty of shells- weird. I didn’t find too many good shells on any other beach other than this one… Mother Nature is definitely fickle. She likes to change the rules to stay in control so we don’t ever think we are smarter than she is. You’ve got my respect , Mother Nature!
PS- I did take a few minutes of video so I’ll try to get that downloaded ASAP for you to see on my next post.
Hurricane Sandy Sprinkles Seashells On Sanibel
Posted by: | Comments
Our Sanibel and Captiva beaches were pounded by 4 to 6 foot waves for three days because of high northwest winds from Hurricane Sandy so I assumed we would have lots of shells at Blind Pass Sunday morning at low tide. I was wrong… so I kept moving.
Gulf Side City Park showed promise!
It’s always a good sign to see PEN SHELLS! They get washed up first in a good storm so you know that there are better collectable shells on the way. I was lucky to see a SEA WHIP caught in this group of PEN SHELLS. I love these purple ones.
After walking east only 1/4 mile, we found a nice shell pile!
My first find… a beautiful dark WORMIE!
And a candy corn for Halloween. See it trying to hide?
Then I found a TULIP, WHELK and CONCH…
I saw Kim from Michigan find a gorgeous TRUE TULIP rolling in the surf.
Are you ready to go shelling? Okay, then… Let’s go CYBER SHELLING! Click on the next photo to enlarge this random photo I took of the shell pile. Notice how many beautiful SCALLOPS there are…
I think today will be even better but I’ll never know until I get there. As we all know, the beach changes every single day but I think Blind Pass will take another day to load up with shells so I’m headed back to one of Sanibel’s mid island beaches…. like Gulf Side City Park again.
Hurricane Sandy may be bringing us a few new shells to get excited about but we are very worried about all of you and our families that are up north bracing for Sandy and the “Super Storm” (as they are calling it). Please be safe!
Finding Peace With Shells On The Beach
Posted by: | Comments
I found shell Peace at Gulf Side City Beach yesterday evening. Literally!
Sanibel low tide
It was the perfect word to describe my walk at a low tide with temperatures in the mid 80s. Peace.
Ellen's Wentletrap
Not that I was eaves dropping (well trying not to), but I overheard a couple trying to figure out what they had found on the beach. I just had to see! It was a pretty large WENTLETRAP! They knew it was special.
Bill and Ellen after finding their wentletrap
There were lots of egg casings like I saw on May 18 on this stretch of beach too. This one is a MUREX EGG CASE.
Murex egg case
Woops! I goofed when I named the egg case on my MAY 18 post a TULIP egg case- it isn’t and I corrected it! It was a HORSE CONCH EGG CASING on my other post- thank you Sanibel Sisters! The one below is a TULIP EGG CASE.
Tulip Egg case
This is a SHARK’S EYE MOON SHELL SAND COLLAR. The eggs are mixed with sand and a gelatin mixture to protect them by forming this collar. Weird, huh?
Moon snail egg collar
I was very impressed when I met Caroline and her mom Bonnie. We were showing our shell finds to each other and Caroline knew every name of each of the shells…. PAPER FIGS, OLIVES, CONCHS. Bonnie says that Caroline loves everything to do with nature so she soaks up every bit of information she can find. I can’t believe I didn’t get pictures of their shells but I sure got a cute picture of the two of them…
Caroline and Bonnie (Cincinnati)
