Archive for Horse Conch
Shell ‘N Tell At Shellabaloo 2
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After you enjoy feeling the excitement of finding shells on the beach, you get to enjoy the excitement all over again when you show them to someone else that “gets” what you found and knows how you feel. That’s why our Shellabaloo 2 “Shell ‘N Tell” was one of my favorite days of the whole week during Shellabaloo. Do you see what Michele (Ohio) is holding in her hand in the first photo with her husband Bill? She found a JUNONIA! But that’s not it… she found what she calls “The Trifecta!”… A large HORSE CONCH and a large WHELK along with her JUNONIA. Do you think she was a happy girl or what! So happy for you Michele!
Here are some of her other finds (minus the JUNONIA since she was showing it to the others when I took this) …
For the week of Shellabaloo 2, I made up another Shellinger Hunt. The hunt is really meant to just have fun learning about different shells and not to overlook some of the common shells like JINGLES and KITTENS PAWS because…. well… because I think they are beautiful too! So you will see some of the displays with a dozen JINGLES in a COCKLE SHELL because that was point for the Shellinger Hunt. It wasn’t about who could find and take the most shells off the beach- it was all about enjoying the shells that were found… and some bigger points for finding things like The Sanibel Six or finding the rarer shells. It was so much fun to see these shellers find shells they’ve never found before and to rediscover the ones that can easily be overlooked.
On our last day, I asked everybody to bring their fave finds and/or their entries for the Shellinger Hunt at our home base at Island Inn so we could all see what everybody else was collecting. We set up tables for each person to display their shells and it turned out to be a mini Sanibel Shell Show!
Terri (NY) made a beee-uuuteeeful display of her favorite finds.
Lee and Susan (Cuba) narrowed down their favorite finds on a cooler tray for the Shellinger Hunt…
Of course I added a BEACH BLING category on the hunt ( i Love the BLING!) so it’s so funny they added a dried up fish tail that looks just like a MERMAID and a washed up fishing bobber as the faves in that category. LOL
Rick (Texas) brought a plate of his fave shells… the miniature shells. I just love how everybody organized their shells so creatively!
Rick’s wife Murfy showed her faves along with her favorite vintage shell book…
There is one shell in the middle of the others that is a little different. It looks like some sort of a TURITELLA… which I dont think is native to this area. I think it is either a FOSSIL shell that found it’s way to the gulf on a high tide from sidewalk fill or it was left over from a party or wedding after someone bought shells to decorate with. Hmmmm.
If there was a prize for being creative… Sharene and Tom (Ontario) would have won for creativity!
Rusty and Donna (Apopka, FL) narrowed down the favorites and of course it included an ALPHABET CONE and the SEA WHIP that had the ONE-TOOTH SIMNIAS I showed you in the first Shellabaloo 2 post.
Roger (MO) told me that his favorite shells were the minis he found at Lighthouse Beach. It was his first time finding WENTLETRAPS, RICE OLIVES and TUSKS so it was really fun to find something new.
Margie (AL) is so adorable! Her favorite shell was the PONDEROUS ARK because she loved the black PERIOSTICUM (the shell’s “skin”) on the white shell so that’s all she collected. She is going to make a black and white frame for a mirror when she gets home so I hope we get to see it!
Cutie Pie Becka needed her own table to make room for all of her newly found treasures.
Kendra (IN) had a sweet organized display of her favorites but also for the Shellinger Hunt.
She was so afraid she was going to lose her first TUSK SHELL so she wrapped half of a bandaid around it so she would know where it was (on the blue plate). LOL
Pat (Boca Raton, FL) had an amazing display of shells and BLING for the Shellinger Hunt.
While I was oooohing and aaaahing at all of her finds, she pointed out a piece of BEACH BLING that she wanted to know what it was. Whoa! Pat! You found the OPERCULUM to the SHARKS EYE! Clark just found our first ones just last month so I was absolutely thrilled for her that… A) she saw it and picked it up… and B) that she knew it was something special to show at the Shell And Tell. See why I love these shellers? Who else would think this thing on the beach was cool…
Speaking of awesome shellers, unfortunately, Gina couldn’t come to the Shell ‘N Tell but I still have to show you one of her exshellent finds… Gina found a yellow SEA WHIP. We find the purple ones a little more often but not the perfect yellow ones like hers. And no, I couldnt get her photo either because she was a little camera shy but Ha! I took a “long-arm shot” with me in it so we could get her picture and the SEA WHIP. LOL And yep, you guessed it! There were two ONE-TOOTH SIMNIAS on it!
I have found yellow SEA WHIPS before but never one with the yellow ONE-TOOTH SIMINAS on it. Yahoo! Gina did! Such a treasure!
Okay back to the Shell ‘N Tell with the rest of the awesomeness…. Here’s Cindy with her huge HORSE CONCH I showed you in my last post! Now you can see all of the other fabulous shells she found as well.
She also found a big ALPHABET CONE …which is part of 2 sets of The Sanibel Six for her Shellinger Hunt finds. She found a FLORIDA CONE to make her other set. And look at all of the SHARKS TEETH!
Okay… It’s time to announce the winner of the Shell And Tell and you won’t believe this prize! The winning sheller went home with a silver JINGLE SHELL necklace made by Sealife By Congress. It is beautiful! This new Sanibel jewelry store in Periwinkle Place Shopping Center is filled with seashells, SEAHORSES, DOLPHINS, STARFISH, SAND DOLLARS and every other sea life in gold, silver and with tasteful gemstones as well. I was thrilled they wanted to give our winner this perfect shell necklace.
After much laughter and ado, we narrowed the winners down to Michele (with her JUNONIA and HORSE CONCH) and Cindy with her HORSE CONCH based on their points score…
Before we announce the winner, Cindy and Michele clicked their CONCHS as if it was a toast. Cute and so much fun!
Drum Roll Please! …. wait for it…… The winner is Michele! Her JINGLE necklace is perfect for her! Congratshellations, my friend!
I can’t even begin to tell you how much fun both Shellabaloo 1 (in January) and this Shellabaloo 2 have been since it really brings amazing people together with not just shelling in common but we all seem to be like-minded in so many other ways. It’s quite a bonding experience, I must say. Thank you Island Inn for hosting such a great Shellapalooza. I’m sorry to say that I don’t know when the next one will be- no dates of been set yet for this 4 day Shellathon but as soon as we’ve come up with a plan, you will be the first to know.
But wait! I’m gathering a group of shellers for an afternoon of shelling at Cayo Costa next Sunday May 19 from 1-4pm on a Captiva Cruise. Join us! CLICK HERE for more info or call 239-472-5300 and ask to come along for the next iLoveShelling cruise!
Tarpon Beach Top Shelf Shells
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These shells are the cream of the crop! This is any shellers dream to find a handful of shells like this. I’m talking… not just a TULIP… but a gorgeous nice size red TRUE TULIP. And not just a FLORIDA CONE, but a deep orange FLORIDA CONE with a purple tip. That PEAR WHELK is so yellow! And that size HORSE CONCH? Not so easy to find. And as you can see, I could go on. I just can’t believe I haven’t spent more time at Tarpon Beach (at the end of Tarpon Bay Rd on the Gulf side). It’s been a gold mine the last few weeks! Laura and Ken from CT were shelling with their family Jaime and Matthew who live in Fort Myers hit the right spot…
Matthew told me the whole family has been shelling for over 20 years on Sanibel so they know what to look for and knew they had some top shelf shells.
And they love to search the water!
The water wasn’t the only place there were shells. The WENTLETRAPS are there as well. You can see this one trying to hide in the sand…. sorry buddy! I see you!
I was so surprised to find a BABY’S EAR too…
Clark and I also hit Sanibel’s Blind Pass this weekend too. There are lots of shells still on the canal side of the pass under the bridge.
That’s where we met Jude from NY decked out in her skin suit to cover up from the harmful rays of the sun. Hey Judy, that’s pretty smart! (I couldnt resist)
She was thrilled with her finds! She found everything from WORM ROCK to a DOUBLE ALTERNATE TELLIN to a COCKLE full of minis…
Right under the bridge, Janet from Sanibel (too shy for me to take her picture!) found this awesome FLAT SCALLOP.
Clark and I found a few goodies this weekend that we’ve never found before! I get so excited to find something new! I hate to be a little bit of a tease but I have to get some good pictures of them then I’ll show you our finds tomorrow. Okay, okay…. I’ll give you a hint on our finds. The one I found is a shell that’s a little rounded on the TOP. The one Clark found isn’t a shell but it protects a MOLLUSK but not SHARKS.
Cayo Costa Shelling Cruise Finding Seashells By The Seashore
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It was a gorgeous sunny day on the iLoveShelling cruise to Cayo Costa yesterday! This beautiful HERMIT CRAB found a nice home inside this CONCH shell for lots of us to ooooh and ahhhh over it then see it go safely back into the water. But Debbie was soooo fortunate to have found this gigantic LIGHTNING WHELK completely empty!
Yowza Debbie! So happy for you! She also found a GAUDY NATICA (aka COLORFUL MOON SHELL) EGG COLLAR and a shaggy parchment worm tube.. but that gorgeous WHELK stole the show.
Holy mackeral! Super Sheller Clark found an empty LIGHTNING WHELK too. When we got back to the boat, Clark and Debbie showed their big finds of the day…
It was a day for finding big shells because Erin found another big LIGHTNING WHELK. After letting everybody see this beautiful creature alive and well with the original mollusk still inside, she walked it back into the water to live out its healthy life to breed more WHELKS. Way to go, Erin!
Like I always say… Every day the beaches change. One day the shells are piled on the beach and some days you have to work at finding them. I have to admit, we never found a huge pile of shells but this was an awesome group of shellers because they not only found those huge shells, but they found other beautiful shells they were happy with as well…
Did you notice in the last picture that little tiny SCALLOP SHELL? Love it!
Others were finding FIGHTING CONCHS and SUNRAY VENUS CLAMS…
Aaron from Kansas City was finding the mini shells for his mom…
He found BABY’S EARS, FALSE ANGE WINGS and an ALBINO LIGHTNING WHELK. I think that other shell is either and OYSTER or a big KITTENS PAW but I didn’t even look at since I was inspecting the fab ALBINO WHELK.
I know this is a broken shell, but as soon as I peeked inside Shanna’s shell bucket on the way back to the dock and saw this piece, I woooped it up! She found the lip of a DEER COWRY! DEER COWRIES are very rare in Southwest Florida since they don’t live here. They live further south in the keys so for it to travel this far north… I always think any piece found here is a fun find. Especially the lip.
Here is Shanna and her mom Patricia (both from Georgia) with her fave find.. a WORM SHELL 
I was thrilled to find a SPECKLED TELLIN! This is another shell I don’t normally find on our beaches. Between Clark and I, we only have about 4 that we’ve found around here (SW Florida) so to me, it’s a pretty rare find.
This is how I found it so if you see it with the interior side up, you will know to pick it up too. Errrr… Now that I look at it this way, doesn’t it look like Spock lost his ear? Weird. haha
Speaking of ears…There were quite a few people that found BABY’S EARS for the first time ever…
So let me show you a few of these beautiful souls that Clark and I got to spend some time with to exchange stories and treasures…
I had to get my picture taken with Jeanine and Della from PA. They came geared up with their iLoveShelling tee shirts just like me. Thanks you guys!
There are 3 shellers in the next photo too. Jody and Melissa will be having a baby next month so their newest addition will already have shelling experience. Doesn’t she look great? Lucky baby!
Thank you Captiva Cruises‘ Captains Keith and Kelly for a perfectly safe and smooth boating morning.
And thanks so much to these fabulous folks for joining us for this spectasheller day!
Don’t miss this experience! Join us on our next cruise May 19 from 1pm to 4pm. CLICK HERE FOR MORE INFO
The Wonder Of Sanibel Beach Life
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After the rain stopped and the warm sunshine filled our weekend, the Sanibel Lighthouse beach was very popular for watching wonderful wildlife like this huge live HORSE CONCH Bijou is showing us in the first photo (with fresh sunscreen protecting that sweet little face!). Bill from Michigan found a different one moments later…
Three young girls look like mermaids calling the dolphins to tell them secrets…
Bruce from Eugene, Oregon was crouching in the sand filling up his University of Oregon cup with hundreds of shells…
Look at his collection of COQUINAS!
Allison from NC found everything from WENTLETRAPS to LEOPARD CRAB shells but wanted to find a pair of ANGEL WINGS to give to friend but couldn’t find them. So instead, she was collecting COQUINAS since they were like colorful wings.
Not one minute after she told me about the ANGEL WINGS, I looked down to find a pair of tiny ANGEL WINGS practically at our feet. What are the chances! We placed the wings inside one of her double DOSINIAS to keep them in her bag for safe traveling until she got back to her room. Best Wishes Allison!
Shelling worlds tend to come together and when they do, Sue and Ken tend to be there. Ken was busy collecting the miniature shells as well…
He found lots of other shells but he showed me these WENTLETRAPS, a SHARP RIBBED DRILL and a GULF OYSTER DRILL. I realized I don’t have the GULF OYSTER DRILL on my SEASHELL IDENTIFICATION page! This week, I’m going to work on getting that up to date, my friends.
You may not think the beach looks pretty in the next photo because it looks a little “dirty” at the surf line… but to me, that looks like a gold mine! That’s where all of the mini shells are hiding.
This is just a small assortment of what Clark found the beginning of the weekend. I haven’t had time to sort out our finds yet so I’ll try to get those posted soon too.
Just in case you were worried about what happened to those large live HORSE CONCHS…. after I took a photo of Bijou’s HORSE CONCH, she immediately walked it out in the water as far as she could and gently placed it back in the GULF OF MEXICO (without her mom Deanna having to tell her).
And Bill did the same thing. From all of us, Thank you for being good stewards of the sea.
Oh, and…. Join us for our iLoveShelling shelling adventure to Cayo Costa Island next Saturday! Click on the next image for more info…
Super Sheller Clark Is Back
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Happiness! Super Sheller Clark was like a giddy kid when he found this big HORSE CONCH on a low tide sand bar last night at Blind Pass Sanibel. He heard that HORSE CONCH calling his name.
I would NOT suggest shelling when the rip currents are strong and the water is rough but Clark waited until the tide got low enough last night and knows how to read and maneuver our local waters….
..to bring this baby to shore.
I’ll clean this gem up like I did in this tutorial… CLICK HERE.
As Clark was in the water, I on the other hand, decided to stay safely close to the shore line to watch the shells roll in with the current and found a few shells lodged in the jetty rocks on the Captiva side…
The high north west winds (20-30mph) and cold weather (50s… I know, might not be cold to everybody!) hadn’t brought in huge piles of shells (only small piles as of last night) but the rushing current waters were bringing in nice shells like this…
I was actually “catching” them in the current as the tide was going out from Pine Island Sound through the pass (channel) into the Gulf Of Mexico at a pretty fast pace. Now you’ll be able to see why every day and every hour the shelling changes. The water, sand and shells roll in… then the water, sand and shells roll out to expose a different view every second. Enjoy the video! 
Oh and PS! As of today 3-27-13, There was one room cancelation for the Shellabaloo so you have a chance to join us May 6 through 9! For more info CLICK HERE
Sanibel Stoop And The Shelling Scoop
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The Sanibel Island shellers have been out the last 2 days having great luck with and without their scoops. Kim from St Louis was in knee deep water scooping up treasures with her net this morning at Blind Pass Sanibel…
She found a bag full of trophies! She found The Sanibel Six, COCKLES, SCALLOPS plus a big honkin’ HORSE CONCH! She said it was rolling by her foot when she was in the water.
She was workin’ it!
The shells were piling up at the same spot I showed you last week when the Shellingmen Tribe was out in full force…
I also met Darlene from Pennsylvania but was too shy to have her photo (not sure why- she’s cute as can be) but she definitely wanted to share her loot because she was happy as a clam to find all of these WHELKS, CONCHS, OLIVES, TULIPS, MUREXES (The Sanibel Six minus the CONE) , SCALLOPS and some cool CORAL.
Okay, I told you this was the same spot on the Sanibel side of Blind Pass as last week where the shells were rolling in… but yesterday I found another shell pile at Blind Pass. This time it was under the bridge on the Sanibel side.
Kim from Cape Coral didn’t need a net or a scoop to sift through this pile on the canal to find some goodies to take home…
She sorted through to find a KINGS CROWN, HORSIES, WHELKS , TURBANS and my latest faves… the amazing colorful SCALLOPS.
And last but not at all least, cutie pies Emily and Brian from Boston were wading in the water to find this live LIGHTNING WHELK…
I write some times about finding an OPERCULUM on the beach so now you can see what it looks like when it’s still useful to this live MOLLUSK. It acts as the door to the opening of the shell so it can protect itself from predators. The black part around the OPERCULUM is the animal going back inside its shell. Cool, huh? So after we looked at this magnificent live creature, Emily and Brian walked it back out to the water to live happily ever after.
That’s what makes shelling so much fun… every day the beaches change and every day you see something different.
