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Shelling at Sanibel Farmers Market

Posted by pam on Apr 7, 2014 in Decorate with shells, Duck Clam, Sand Dollar, Shell crafts, Smooth Duck Clam | 28 comments

I can find seashells everywhere on Sanibel… even at the Sanibel Farmers Market! Seriously, all of these veggies were made by Barbara Walling using different seashells. Dont you remember Barb? I filmed her making other shell art creations a few years back and she is still creating such fun shell crafts. Aren’t these the cutest veggies you’ve ever seen?

If you want to see this in person, you only have a few more weeks since this market is open seasonally from November through April where Betsy, Jean and Sherrill proudly display it at their booth.

You can even find seashell soaps at the market…

Honestly, I’m not much of a cook but when I have guests over, its fun to buy local fresh food and mingle with the island peeps like shellers Mary and Jim that I met on one of the iLoveShelling cruises to Cayo Costa.

But anyhoooo…back to the shelling on the beach. Here is a sampling of shell treasures I found at Gulfside City Park one morning this weekend.

Just after I met Nora, Mac, Dan and Molly (visiting from Illinois) I heard a loud “Whoa!”.

Mac found a SAND DOLLAR laying under some seaweed just like this and then fund a few more.

Then Molly asked me what this unusual bivalve was. It’s a SMOOTH DUCK CLAM. They are so fragile, it’s hard to find one that is not broken- so good finds!

I always say that there are enough shells on the beach for everyone because different people like to collect different shells. Sydney and Lori tom Indiana were trying to find broken shells and shells with holes in them.

They like to find the shells that already have holes in them so they can make jewelry. I love that they were getting so creative! I had to chime in too and told them that I like to collect the OLIVE shells without tips to make bracelets (for my tutorial CLICK HERE) and also explained how to make a seashell mobile too with broken shells. There are so many fun ways to decorate with shells!

PS- I got all my fresh ingredients at the Sanibel Farmers Market to make dinner because it was my turn to host for my book club (we’ve been together for 12 years!). I used some ideas from Pinterest and it was a fun, successful night with my girlfriends. If you like to read, this is my favorite book I’ve ever chosen that every sheller or treasure hunter would enjoy…

Tiny Sea Urchins And Beach Bling At Lighthouse Beach

Posted by pam on Oct 13, 2013 in Channeled Duck Clam, Dosinia, Duck Clam, Pen Shell, Sailor's Ear Channeled Duck Clam, Saw-Tooth Pen Shell, Sea Whip, Spider Crab, Stiff Pen Shell, Variegated Sea Urchin | 36 comments

SEA URCHINS! I haven’t seen SEA URCHINS washed up on our shores in quite a while… much less cutie itty bitty ones like this.

I found dried tiny ones with spines as well…

Normally if SEA URCHINS still have their spines in tact I would assume they were still alive and put them back in the water. But I found these in the highest wrack line at Lighthouse Beach. They had been cast on shore by those rough waves from the high winds last week with the high tide and got caught in the “sea weeds” then left for days to dry out. They look like the gumballs that the Sweetgum trees drop in the winter up north, dont they? LOL

I normally don’t get so excited to collect PEN SHELLS (since we see them so often on our beaches) but I rarely see perfectly intact baby STIFF PEN SHELLS (on the left of my hand) and SAW TOOTH PENS SHELLS especially with no BARNACLES or SLIPPER SHELLS attached to them. They are so cute!

See how thick this wrack line was? Some people in other parts of the world might think this was an ugly site on a beach… but not me and most beach combers. This is a haven for shells and BEACH BLING for beach combers and for wildlife as well. Thick wrack lines like this packed with all sort of vegetation and other sealife are so important for our beach ecosystem. They provide food for birds and other wildlife as well as providing a layer to trap sand for less erosion. They become incubators for dunes!

But… Just to make sure this seaweed was a natural occurrence without being harmful, I asked my friend and director of the Sanibel Captiva Conservation Foundation (SCCF) Dr. Eric Milbrandt if he knew what types of matter had washed ashore. Of course he did! He said “There were 8 species from collections at Moonshadows beach and the Lighthouse beach. Many of the specimens had intact holdfasts and given the recent > 1 m wave heights, were likely attached and cast on shore. Many of these species are found at nearshore hardbottom areas (the same areas that produce many of the mollusc shells) whose abundance peaks in Nov.” He also reported that most of these species of seaweed (macroalgae) were common on all coasts. Thank you Dr. Milbrandt!

Along with the PEN SHELLS and SEA URCHINS tucked away in all that seaweed, Clark and I found hundreds of double DOSINIAS…

And a very cool completely intact dried (and non-stinky!) SPIDER CRAB…

Clark found a double SAILORS EAR (CHANNELED DUCK CLAM) without any cracks. It’s funny, we rarely find them on the beach with both sides intact because they are just so dang delicate…

I haven’t gotten a good dose of combing through cool BEACH BLING in a while so I was in haaaawg heaven. There were oodles of little micro shells, SEA WHIPS and other goodies so I could (and did) walk for miles and miles getting lost in discovering the fascinating gifts that Mother Nature leaves us on our beaches.

Turkey Wings and Rice, a Cone and Candy

Posted by pam on Aug 16, 2011 in Alphabet Cone, Ark, Augers, Baby's Ear, Brown banded wentletrap, Duck Clam, Horse Conch, Rice Olive, Sanibel, Smooth Duck Clam, Turkey Wing, Turrid, Wentletrap | 18 comments

Don’t get your taste buds all worked up about TURKEY, RICE or CANDY because I’m talking seashells, of course! We found lots of mini “morsels” at the lighthouse over the weekend including these two TURKEY WINGS (the biggest one is only about an inch long) and two TAMPA TURRIDS in the photo above and RICE OLIVES and BABY’S EARS in this next photo.

Along with the usual ANGULATE WENTLETRAPS, I found a BROWN BANDED WENTLETRAP too….

…. And some AUGERS and little FIGHTING CONCHS.

And to top it all off with some sweet candy, we found two HORSE CONCHS and baby ALPHABET CONE.

I met William and Melissa (Jacksonville, FL) filling their shells bags with SCALLOP shells, CONCHS and some MUREXES.

I found out this was their first trip to Sanibel so I showed them how to find WENTLETRAPS too..

I met another Shelling Sister Sanibel Stooper on the beach too…. this little cutie Lucy! She was having a ball with this COCKLE shell on the beach with her parents Jeff and Tammy.

And look what I found again…. a SMOOTH DUCK CLAM. Maybe it isn’t that unusual (?)

Unfortunately, it’s so thin and fragile, it broke when I got it back to the house……oops!

There were so many SAILOR’S EARS, I bunched a few together and that’s when I saw the SMOOTH DUCK CLAM too.

Sailors ears

Just a reminder- If you haven’t entered the Susick Sea Shell Sifter Giveaway yet, CLICK HERE to win!

Duck, Duck, Goose. Clams On The Loose!

Posted by pam on Aug 13, 2011 in Channeled Duck Clam, Duck Clam, Sanibel, Smooth Duck Clam | 21 comments

Smooth Duck Clam with False Striped Limpets

I see a lot of CLAM shells every day I’m on the beach but this one I found at Blind Pat’s (….oops! I mean Blind Pass. ;) ) was a little different from the usual clam shells like the DOSINIAS, CALICO VENUSES or SEMELES.

Smooth Duck Clams

At first I thought it was just gunk stuck on the edge of this shell but I didn’t want to do anything to it since it seemed so fragile. Once I got home, I could see that this thin shell was a SMOOTH DUCK CLAM and that “gunk” was a nice little ridge on the side of it that makes it different from its “sister shell” the CHANNELED DUCK CLAM I call a SAILOR’S EAR. I don’t think I’ve ever picked up a SMOOTH DUCK CLAM before (I don’t think it’s too common in South Florida but I may have just never noticed) but we frequently see the SAILORS EARS on the beach so I can’t believe I’ve never shown this one before.

Channeled Duck Clam aka- Sailor's Ear

See? Doesn’t that look familiar? I found the SMOOTH DUCK CLAMS in the shell line on the pass side of the jetty rocks this week.

I found the CHANNELED DUCK CLAMS in my stash of shells that Clark and I have been trying to organize. I’ve been overwhelmed by all the shells in our garage that have never been cleaned and sorted so this is our project this week. Organize! We don’t bring home many shells any more but some times…. you know how it is. We just can’t help it.

Full Moon With Two Low Tides For Shelling

Posted by pam on Mar 18, 2011 in Alphabet Cone, Channeled Duck Clam, Florida Cone, Olive, Sanibel, Turkey Wing | 23 comments

Seashells by Smitty

Smitty told me he found a few good shells like an ALPHABET CONE and then he said “I found a few CANDIES too”. It stopped me in my path. Did you say “Candies”? He sure did! He and his wife Marcia hang out with us here at iLoveShelling!

Smitty (GA) and his shells

Smitty and Marcia (sorry I missed you, Marcia!) have been visiting Sanibel to shell for 23 years and plan their trips around the moon and tides. He chose this week for not only the full moon but because there are also two low tides per day for optimal shelling. Notice in the photo above, the moon is practically sitting on his shoulder.

Smitty with shelling scoop

I had to show you this photo too because he uses the Seashell Sifter scoop to get his shells which Marcia gave him for his birthday. He told me a gal asked him “Is your name Clark?”. That was Barbara whom I met a little while earlier this evening and she thought he was Clark because she recognized the blue scoop that she sees Clark using in some of the blog pictures. Small world!

Ray and Barbara (NJ)

Barbara and Ray did end up finding the right Clark (they hang out with us here at iLS too!) and they also found lots of good shells to brag about. I have to admit that I think that Barbara is the one that found the FLORIDA CONE but it ended up in Ray’s hand. hmmmm. ;) As he told Clark “Possession is nine tenths of the law”. HA! They sound like us….just a little competitive, huh?

Ray's (left) and Barbara's hand full of seashells

After I took this photo, she found an ALPHABET CONE too…. Nice!

Alphabet cone with minis

Clark found most of these shells (below) in the water although I added the OPERCULUM, the BLACK JINGLES, CHANNELED DUCK CLAMS (which I call Sailor’s Ears, do you?), the little candy TRUE TULIP and the “CANDY” (little orange HORSE CONCH).

Our seashells

Can you identifiy the rest of them? If not, go to the SEASHELL IDENTIFICATION page to help. I do have to show you another TURKEY WING Clark found too. We mostly find these shells pretty beat up but this one is a beauty.