Archive for Bittersweet
Sensational Seashells, Sunshine and Sunsets
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If there is a better souvenir than finding an awesome LIGHTNING WHELK like this to remember a wonderful vacation… I dont know about it.
Therese told me she only saw a tiny bit of the top of this shell and thought it looked interesting enough to start digging around it. Then she realized it was this perfectly empty WHELK! Congratshellations Therese! She and her husband Dan (visiting from Minnesota) had an exshellent afternoon at Blind Pass Captiva under the bridge at low tide filling up their shell bags with WHELKS, CONCHS, OLIVES and one nice piece of a JUNONIA.
She even found one of the biggest CHESTNUT TURBANS I’ve seen in a while too…
Wendy (a local Sanibelian) found a few goodies to take home to make into jewelry…
She also found a SHIVA SHELL (which I didnt even get a picture of – darn!- so CLICK HERE if you want to see one) and this incredible DOUBLE JEWELBOX. It has pieces of CORAL growing on it!
Clark found a few nice shells too but the one I got most excited about was the WHITE CRESTED TELLIN in the top left corner. We have found them more on Cayo Costa but to find one at Blind Pass is pretty rare. The shell in between the two OLIVES is a huge and thick weird shaped JINGLE I thought was interesting too. I love that weird stuff!
You really couldn’t see how big the NUTMEG was in the last photo so I thought I’d show you how big it is in Clark’s hand. It’s shellacious! It measures in at a whopping 48mm… which isn’t like a world record size (Susan H?) but it’s the biggest one we’ve seen in a long time!
I found a regular sized NUTMEG that I thought I’d keep along with a BITTERSWEET, a CALICO CLAM with a cool pattern, and my new faves- the CALICO SCALLOP.
We ended the evening watching another gorgeous sunset over a big pile of Sit ‘N Sift shells on the other side of the jetty rocks at Blind Pass Captiva.
The sky turns a lucious orange right at the horizon when the sun sets over the Gulf Of Mexico.
Then it melts into the water to end another sensational day on the island.
Oh Wait! I did take a short little video right when we first got to Blind Pass at 6pm yesterday. It’s just a little something to show you exactly where we were. This was right before Therese showed me her WHELK! Have a wonderful weekend!
Santa’s Seashell Good List
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We were shellebrating the season on the beach at Blind Pass Captiva today! We must have been on Santa’s “Good” list this year because he gave us the best gifts of all… gifts from the sea. Seashells!
Lots of seashells!
But wait… let me back up because the shells weren’t there all day so let me show you how quickly Mother Nature (maybe Santa too?) can do her/his magic.I arrived at Blind Pass this morning at 8 a.m. bundled in layers of clothes to ward of the 46 degree cold northwest winds. BRRRRR! That’s cold for us! I found a few scattered COCKLES, FLIGHTING CONCHS and PEN SHELLS along the high tide line and pocketed three beautiful shells… a KNOBLESS FIGHTING CONCH, GIANT BITTERSWEET and a funky orange CALICO SCALLOP…
There was nothing to speak of along the jetty rocks so I thought I’d amuse myself by waving to say hello to the camera since my shadow was the only thing in the picture (I know, I’m a dweeb). See? No real shells to write home about…
So I left around 9 a.m. (played tennis) and came back around 12:45 to find all of these shells piled up! In that short time span, thousands of shells rolled up along side those jetty rocks!
Probably only an hour after I left, Lucky lady Glenda from England plucked the king of shells, a JUNONIA, right out of all those shells! And you won’t believe it… her husband Richard found a rare QUEEN HELMET!
So you know what that means… the “KING” and “QUEEN” will find their way back to England soon. LOL Congratshellations, to the royal couple!
As soon as I walked onto that shell pile, Dawn snagged an ALPHABET CONE out of an incoming wave…
Then she showed me 3 HORSE CONCHS she just collected as well. Candy!!!
Michelle and Eric were on Santa’s Good list too!
I took this photo when I first saw them and I know they bucketed a few more ALPHIES, HORSIES and BITTERSWEETS but take a look at her JUNONIA (“cob”), part of a LION’S PAW and that gorgeous FLAT SCALLOP (lots of those found today!)…
I don’t think there is anything more fun than witnessing a pile of seashells being formed on the beach. It is mind boggling that within 4 hours, thousands of treasures can be washed up by the waves of the Gulf Of Mexico. More photos coming soon!
Christmas JUNO-HO-HO-HO-NIA
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If you happen to stop by the Sanibel Captiva Chamber Of Commerce on your way on the island, say “Congratshellations!” to Anne at the welcome counter. She found her first JUNONIA this week!!!
Wow! It’s so pretty! Like Mimi, this is an early Christmas gift of the sea too.
She told me she found it rolling in the surf at Blind Pass Sanibel half way from the pass to the newly exposed seawall so I of course I high tailed it down there to see the beach. Remember the erosion I photographed last month? Well, the seawall is still exposed but not as much. It’s filling back in slowly but surely.
By the time I got there, I only saw a few shell lines but I could see there were shells still rolling in the surf. After I took this next photo, I got to thinking that in probably six months, this whole wall will be buried again and we might not see for years to come. The power of Mother Nature.
The other side of the pass (Blind Pass Captiva) is starting to show signs of smaller shells rolling in. I doubt that little sand cliff will be there very long since we have some good west winds predicted to for this weekend. Yippee! I’m hoping the bigger shells will be coming in soon!
I sifted through some of these shells in this new pile…
And I found a COMB BITTERSWEET!
I don’t think I’ve ever taken a photo of this shell before. Hmmm. I’m really not sure I’ve found one before either but I don’t think that it is a rare find here. So I looked through my collection but didn’t find one. Okay, honestly, I’m really not that organized but still… I didn’t see a COMB BITTERSWEET in all the shells I pawed through in my garage buckets.
It’s a little “nibbled” on the one side but now I have it in my “collection”. Ha!
Okay let’s get back to the real important things…. Anne’s JUNONIA! Since Santa gave her an early Christmas gift like the SEAHORSE (I painted with a Santa hat) Mimi received, I had to give Anne’s JUNONIA the same special treatment! A JUNO-HO-HO-HO-NIA!
Captiva’s New Shelling Spot
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We usually see beautiful seashells rolling on to the beach next to the jetty rocks on Captiva at Blind Pass but the best shelling spot has now moved down the beach. I walked the shoreline from the jetty to find Eldon wading through the water with a hand full of seashells. He said he was only snorkeling for 5 minutes to find all of the empty gorgeous FIGHTING CONCHS pictured above. Here is Eldon with Ronda and his darling son Micah…
As I walked further down the beach into Captiva, I overheard Stacey telling her daughter Gracie that she just missed a good shell in one of the waves that washed in. She said ” This is just like shopping at HomeGoods! If you see something you want, you better snag it up right away because it won’t be there in another second.” LOL It’s so true! Here’s Gracie and Stacey showing off some of their shells that didn’t get away.
Jennifer and Cindy were thrilled to wade in the clear shallow water to find LIGHTNING WHELKS and lots of CONCHS.
The CONCHS are so beautiful!
I was thrilled to find candy! A HORSE CONCH and a BITTERSWEET were my fave finds.
I took a short video to show you where this new spot is and how far it is from the jetty rocks at Blind Pass Captiva on this beautiful beach.
Turquoise Treasure Terrain
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I love to find Sit-N-Sifters plopped on top of a gorgeous shell pile when I walk on to the beach at Blind Pass Captiva.
This is what gets my heart racing…
A deep pile of seashells just waiting to be sifted and sorted while you can hear more shells in the surf waiting to land on the sand.
Once I hear the jingling of the shells in the surf or another sheller sifting through the mound of shells, I can start focusing on the different types of shells I want to pick up …like this cutie BITTERESWEET CLAM shell.
Then everything else in this world disappears, my heart calms then my hunt for a beautiful seashell begins.
This is a video I shot on Thursday which I intended to edit to make it shorter but I couldn’t wait another day to put it up. Now that I downloaded it, I actually think you might like this unedited version. It’s like CYBERSHELLING and CYBER”SEA”ING together. LOL Hmmm. If this next image doesnt have that little arrow on the screen to tell you the next photo is a video… it is! …. this next image is a video! click it to start playing…
I went back yesterday to see if the shell pile was still there … and low and behold!… I saw shelling sistah Roxanne Reinhart doing the sit-n-sift! She is has been hanging out and commenting on iLoveShelling for it seems as long as I have been posting… so I am so grateful for your encouragement Roxanne! xo Here she is with her adorable niece Kenna and her brother Kenny…
She loves minis so these were her favorite shells – 2 little teeny tiny bright orange SCALLOPS. What I loved just as much was her blue nails. She even had her toes painted in blue too! So cute!
I want to thank all of you for participating in Island Inn’s shelling package in January to sell it out within 36 hours of my last post. Wow! I still can’t believe it! So I do want to apologize for all of you who wanted to join us but didn’t get to so we will be working on getting another shellabaloo date and/or another event to include more shellers. It’s a phenomenal (or phenomeshell hahah) community, isn’t it?
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!
