Practicing The Sanibel Stoop On Cayo Costa
Every single time I step on the beach of Cayo costa… its different. Its truly fascinating to see it change so drastically and which part of the beach the shells pile up. The last few months, we had to walk down to the right to find the shells washed up and before that we found them to the left. This time as soon as we stepped on the beach on our iLoveShelling cruise with Captiva Cruises, we saw loads of shells right in front of us.
Its so much fun to see the different shells everybody finds.
Lots of Sanibel Stoops … Or Cayo Conch Crouch? heehee
There’s enough for everybody!
SUNRAY VENUS, ANGEL WINGS, JEWELBOXES, CONCHS, SHARKS EYES…
And SAND DOLLARS
Such fun times!
Even a surprising live KINGS CROWN! (Of course safely put back in the water)
Yahoo! Fabshellous LIGHTNING WHELK totally empty.
Good to see Brin and her amazing shelling family again.
She’s an amazing artist so she has such a great eye for beautiful shells with different color patterns. Thank you Brin ;)
Such fun to hang out with so many amazing shellers.
Check out this spectacsheller assortment Will found… BUTTON SHELLS to BABYS EARS and lots in between.
I had a surprise for everyone too! Shell Love Bug made a special appearance at Captiva Cruises so everybody on our shelling boat could see her. Fun! For Easter week, Shell Love Bug is now at the airport in Fort Myers until April 18 – hope ya get to see her and find your favorite shell.
Hey hey- I have new dates for summer iLoveShelling cruises! Hope I get to see y’all- Check them out …
PS- I’m really sorry I couldn’t work in all requested dates :(
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Shellavanting The Beaches
I heart finding the mini shells! I’ve been enjoying short little walks (mostly at Gulfside City Park) on the beach this week to strengthen my sprained ankle so searching for miniature seashells is abshellutely perfect exercise.
Autumn showed me this sweet FLAT SCALLOP (ZIGZAG) she found a little further west but when she showed me her shell, I couldn’t help but be drawn to her nails too. Cute nail polish, Autumn! ;)
Since I’ve had my bum ankle, it’s been the perfect time to run around in Shell Love Bug! My good friend Diane and I took it to the Marco Island Shell Show.
The Marco Shell Club is awesome!
I met big time shellers Jack and Ella (Marco, FL) a few weeks earlier at the Sanibel Shell Festival then I got to see them again at the Marco Shell Show too. It was so much fun to see them again…. then omigosh… the next day they found a JUNONIA!
It was completely covered in barnacles but they knew right away what they had. They cleaned it up to uncover this stunning specimen. Boom Shellalaka! Way to go!
Then I took Shell Love Bug to Blind Pass where I saw so many fun shellers like Pat, Curt, Char, Dave and Colleen
Michelle (Fort Myers) showed me this little shell she found. Hmmmm… it sorta looks like a BUTTON SHELL.
So here’s our “normal” BUTTON SHELL (Modulus modulus) we find here in SW Florida…
And now look below at the one Michelle found. Different, right? Kinda looks like one found in the Caribbean but I researched it in my Shellibrary but I still didn’t find an exact match. This is the closest thing I came to finding… http://www.idscaro.net/sci/01_coll/plates/gastro/pl_modulidae_1.htm
Here’s the aperture. Can anybody out there identify it? MurexKen? SusanH? Y’all think its a WEDDING SHELL?
So it’s been a fun week shellavanting around on the beach and with the bug. Maybe just as much fun as these MILLIPEDE SEA STARS were having while doing their Locust yoga poses.
I’m working on setting dates for my shelling cruises for this summer since I only have the scheduled until May so far. I’ll post those new dates ASAP but until then…
PS- I know my pages here on my blog are a little messed up if you are looking at my posts on a mobile device or tablet. My Seashells Identification button, Beach Bling Identification button disappeared- Ugh! I’m trying to fix all that so please bear with me? So just in case you were looking for the pages to identify your seashells or beach bling….
A Shelltastic Thanksgiving
Wishing you a very happy Thanksgiving from the beaches of Sanibel Island. I’m very thankful today I can share the love of shelling with YOU!
Turkey Wing anybody?
Big Time with Big Fabshellous Bunch
Big time fun at Big Hickory Island with this big bunch of fabshellous folks!
Our boat with Sight Sea-R Cruises took us to this amazing island with clear blue water, lots of sunshine…
And seashells to find on the beach.
And treasures to find in the water.
I’m a little delayed in posting, but this was last week on Halloween day. Cutie trick or treaters found lots of seashell treats.
That’s an amazing ALBINO LACE MUREX along side those 2 FLORIDA CONES, huge BABYS EAR and sweet striped SUNRAY VENUS. Fantastic finds!
I couldn’t believe I even found a fossil SHARK’S TOOTH.
Every time I’m on this cruise, I’m thrilled to meet and see shellers find such exquisite gems. I look so forward to these trips!
Did ya see the awesome post about this shelling cruise written by Robin Draper of Authentic Florida? Her Authentic Florida blog is devoted to giving us the best info on everything cool thing in Florida and I’m honored she came on this boating trip with us. Check out her article… http://www.authenticflorida.com/articles/where-to-go/find-florida-shells-with-a-shellebrity/.
And check out her blog…
Thank you Robin for all you do give us a peek at all the hidden gems of Florida. And you’re so dang cute and fun!
Join me on a beach combing adventure! CLICK HERE
The Calm After The Storm
The best time to find lots of shells on the beaches of southwest Florida is after a storm coming from the Gulf Of Mexico – which is exactly what happened last weekend when Tropical Storm/Hurricane Hermine came through.
We never know exactly when or where the shells will start washing in after the storm leaves town but theres nothing more fun than hunting for them high and low. This is also the time to meet lots of other fun-loving shellers on the hunt for those amazing treasures that roll up on our beaches.
… And in the water when it calms.
… And anywhere in between.
Errrrr but wait. There may be something more fun than searching for them… Finding them.
Conchratulations!
Boom Shellalaka!
Shellzam!
Truly Spectacsheller!
This type of excitment is exactly what happened at the Sanibel Lighthouse Beach by the fishing pier last weekend. It’s what we shellers wait for and dream about!
Earlier this week the seas calmed from the storm and the shells weren’t as easy to find so Clark and I headed south towards Marco to explore the outer islands by boat.
OMG Super Sheller Clark hit the shellmongus jackpot… 2 gorgeous HORSE CONCHS! Thank you Tropical Storm Hermine for stirring up the Gulf Of Mexico just a tad without doing any damage to anything or anyone. You left such beautiful gifts of the sea for us.
Seashell Treasures Brought to the Islands By Hermine
On your WHELK. Get CERITH. GO Shelling!
For the past 3 days, Southwest Florida has been peppered with high winds, rough and choppy seas in Gulf Of Mexico, rain showers and extreme tides. Thank goodness we didn’t get a direct hit from Tropical Depression #9 (now named Hurricane Hermine) on Wednesday, so it was safe to go scouring the island to find a huge shell pile that formed in the morning on the west end of Sanibel at Blind Pass that brought a few awesome treasures (top photo).
After picking through those treasures for a while, I couldn’t wait to see what was happening on the east end of Sanibel at Lighthouse Beach.
The gulf side was still too choppy but by the late afternoon the shells started piling up at the waters edge on the pier side of the lighthouse.
Then more rain and more high winds… then…. fast forward to this morning at Lighthouse beach near the fishing pier again…. Shellzam!
It was Shellmania! Shells started washing up on the beach but before they could even get on shore, we had a line of shellers sitting on the sand bar in the water having a spectacsheller time.
It was total shelltopia! We all became fast friends after all 5 of these HORSE CONCHS were found in less than an hour. We would hear screams of joy when someone pulled another empty one up out of the shallow water then we splashed over to see the next trophy- give a big hug then oooh and ahhh. Such a blast!
I found a HORSE CONCH too! It was very cool although it had lots of old barnacles and shell “crust” but since we have a few already at our house, I decided to gave it away in a “guess a number between 1 and 100” game with 9 other shellers. Congrats Andrea! haha So. Much. Fun.
Feeling the anticipation of what a Tropical Depression in the Gulf Of Mexico like Hermine (aka “#9”) will do to our beaches if there’s no threat of danger, makes all shellers feel giddy with excitement. If you’re an extreme sheller, this is what we wait for. It’s happiness.
While running the beaches the last 2 days, I met so many amazing people finding such awesome treasures. This is what makes the beach here so much fun- sharing the shelling love.
We also saw Captain John shelling with his family Katherine and Jack at Blind Pass. He was the new captain with Captiva Cruises who captained our last iLoveShelling Adventure . They just moved to Sanibel 2 months ago and looks like they’re already getting the hang of finding shells. Nice TULIP!
I haven’t even gotten a chance to hit all the beaches because we still have storm bands driving thunderstorms though our area. Please remember…. any time you hear thunder PLEASE be safe and get off the beach. It’s so easy these days to find a good radar weather app to be aware of storm bands coming through so you can be prepared. If you don’t have your smart phone with you, the sound of thunder is Mother Nature’s warning signal to be safe and take cover. The shells can wait… Mother Nature knows best.
More shell stories to come so stayed safe and stay tuned ;)
Until then, have a shell of a day!
PS- Hi Joey, I hope you got that little WHELK from your Gramma Sandy. ;)
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