Archive for Lion’s Paw
Yesterday’s Surf Advisory
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After hearing there was a surf advisory with high SW winds yesterday, I couldn’t wait to see the beach filled with seashells and cool Beach Bling.
Shawn from Kansas was in perfect Sanibel Stoop position so I figured he had already found some goodies…
He found a nice mix of shells. I looove that LACE MUREX with the link top…
After talking to him, we realized that I had met his mom a few weeks ago, She’s Shelling Sistah Karen from that special day “When Shelling Worlds Collide“. Hi Karen! Now I met your son Shawn!
Massachusetts girls Kristin, Chloe and Haley were having a blast finding PAPER FIGS, SEA URCHINS and STARFISH. Most of the STARFISH were alive so they went back to the water but there were a few dried in the high wrack line. A souvenir!
I didn’t see many shells on the pier side of the Sanibel lighthouse but there was plenty of SARGASSUM. This is a type of seaweed provides a rich environment for marine animals like SEA TURTLES.
More PAPER FIG EGG CASINGS…
Low and behold, I found a BABY’S EAR turned upside down in the bling…
And just to get my heart racing, half way buried in the sand I saw the ribs of a LION’S PAW. I reached down to dig it out … and came up with a broken piece. That’s ok! Where there’s a broken piece today, there may be a whole piece tomorrow.
We’ve had so many beautiful calm days for weeks and weeks. This is a wonderful thing for most people, right? But for us shellers, give us some messy weather! This wind was a start but maybe just 2 days back to back of high west winds… then it can go back to perfectly gorgeous island weather. Am I being too selfish?
PS- The DOLPHINS and PELICANS were playing this morning too!
Pretty Perfect Lion’s Paw
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Donnie wasn’t kidding when he commented “Bring it!” for the wanna-be shelling competition in my January 1st post. He went right out to Blind Pass Captiva and scooped up his first perfect little LION’S PAW this morning! Score! You win today Donnie- Congrats!
He must have snagged all the ALPHIES too because when I got there, I didn’t see a single piece of one in the whole big shell pile. He did miss this very cool piece of a DEER COWRIE though…
Christy (TN) found some beautiful WHELKS and started to fill her bag with other goodies too…
I saw lots of the Sanibel Six (minus the CONE) but mostly I loved this delicate FIG laying right on top of the pile untouched…
I always love to see people sharing their treasures. I caught Carolyn and Les (Fort Myers) admiring the shells together they just found.
I walked over to the Sanibel side to find hundreds of dead MULLET fish laying on the beach. Ugh. A casualty of Red Tide. Yuck.
I’ve heard that red tide has been really bad around the Sanibel lighthouse so I’ve stayed clear of the east end beaches the last week. I get that irritating cough when I breath it so it’s not worth it to me any more (I used to tough it out since “they” say it can’t hurt you). But it looks like it’s hit Captiva now too but I didn’t feel that tickle in my chest- whew.
I think this may be why Clark and I have found those big shells lately too. Could be from the red tide….. but don’t quote me on that. I’m only speculating since it’s not every day you find 3 (!) huuuuge shells like that in one day. I also found this cool skull…
When I found this, I thought it looked so cool and looked like a bird skull. Like an OSPREY or something but it’s not. It is some sort of fish.
Anybody know what kind of fish skull this is? It sort of has that CRUCIFIX SHELL look about it but definitely not the same.
Any way, there are lots of shells still coming in from this windy cold front and hopefully the red tide will go away in the next few days so I can enjoy the beach like I did with my girlfriends Jane, Sandy and Mary…
Seashells On Cloud Nine
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The shelling was excellent all weekend after the storm early last week. Not only was I tickled to find this large TRUE TULIP, the FLAT SCALLOPS, HORSIES, the WORMIE and a piece of aqua SEA GLASS, I think finding 2 pieces of JUNONIA and 2 pieces of LION’S PAW is what turbo charged me to run from beach to beach to search the clues for the unbroken loot. The after-burners went into high gear. I know you already heard I hit gold with my JUNONIA and LION’S PAW but now they are all cleaned up so I have to show them just one more time (I know, I know… just humor me 
)….
Ahhhhh. Two out of The Elite Three. So for a while, I’m not coming down from being on cloud nine.
I saw lots of other shellers and friends enjoying the gifts of the sea too. Sunrise shellers Robert and Eileen…
Robertfound a LION’S PAW too! It has some barnacles but who cares! It is a huge whole one and will clean up nicely I’m sure.
The locals were out playing on the beach too. I ran into my friend Mary (Captiva) …
She found an ALPHABET CONE and a bright orange HORSE CONCH. Candy!
More of my buddies! I found Betsy and Sherrill sittin’ n siftin’ through another big shell pile…
King and Queen of this shell mountain, Kathy and Tony had it all to themselves…
Other than shells, the storm brought in lots of other Beach Bling too. One of my favorites being pieces of CORAL.
I still have more photos of cool stuff I found on the beaches..but not the time to show them all again. We have Hurricane Rina out in the Caribbean which may turn towards Florida from Mexico so we have to keep an eye out to see what she does. I just hope everybody is safe from this Category 2 Hurricane headed for Cancun, Cozumel then turning towards Cuba. When everybody is safe, then we can think about the shells she might produce. I promise, I’ll catch up tomorrow and keep you updated.
My Shell Cup Runneth Over
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I’m speechless. The day after I found my very first JUNONIA, I found a big beautiful LION’S PAW.
Really!!!! I found it on North Captiva on Saturday. I really can’t even find words to tell you how lucky I feel. Maybe because I’m exhausted from searching beach after beach all weekend (you know that feeling!) especially after I got the major adrenaline rush from my JUNONIA. I just had to share this with you tonight. I couldn’t wait one more second! Until tomorrow for the rest of the story….
Yee Haw, A Lion’s Paw!
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As soon as I saw this huge LION’S PAW, I wanted to grab it and run down the beach. Unfortunately for me, I had to remain calm and admire it in the hands of the guy who found it… Bob from California.
He couldn’t believe his luck when he found it on a sand bar off West Gulf Drive this morning. He pointed out the nodules were broken off but then we all said “who cares!”. That’s a fantastic find.
Congrats, Bob!
I also saw local sheller Liz with some killer finds of her own… a FLORIDA CONE, TRUE TULIP, FLAT SCALLOP and a perfect SCOTCH BONNET with great color.
I think the cooler weather was bringing lots of the locals to the beach this weekend. We saw our friend Jean collecting COCKLE shells to line a walking path in her yard. Good idea!
Shelling guide Louise Alt from Waterwoman Adventures was shelling with her trusty first mate Darla. I always love to run into Louise!
Jane was shelling off East Gulf Drive for black SCALLOPS to make a frame for her husband John’s picture…
Darlene (Pine Island) found this 7 inch LIGHTNING WHELK on the sand bar at Blind Pass…
Barbara from Long Island, NY had just gotten started shelling for the day and found a nice SHARKS EYE…
April from PA loves the WORM ROCK like I do…
Yep, I can say “Yee Haw!” for Bob and all of the other successful shellers this weekend. There were some mighty good seashells out there for the pickin’. 
Barefootin’ With Shelling Sistas
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It sure was a roller coaster weekend… literally. Hurricane Irene was rolling along the coast wreaking havoc and causing lots of trouble. My family and friends in Virginia Beach are fine (some with no power still, but fine) and I hope you and yours that were in Irene’s path are okay as well. I spent most of my time glued to the weather channel wrenching my hands so I took a 45 minute drive to Bonita Springs on Saturday to meet my Shelling Sistas Carla and Kelly at Barefoot Beach for some well needed shelling time. The welcome wagon was there to greet us in the form of a GOPHER TORTOISE…
He was even so friendly to hang out with Kelly for a bit. How cute are they!
The tide was pretty high when we started our treasure hunt but there’s always something fun to find on the beach.
Carla spotted a couple of SHARK’S TEETH and fossil piece of a mouth plate to a PUFFER FISH….
I only found one little SHARK’S TOOTH but was happy to find any!
Carla came across this PEN SHELL with such a colorful EGG CASING attached to it. It looks like a beautiful flower blossom!
I am a little confused which egg sacs these are because of the color but I think this maybe a TRUE TULIP EGG CASE that just was formed. Take a look and see what you think. I’d love a positive I.D. so if you can help, please help us learn what it is. Here’s a closer look at this beauty….
Carla walks this beach probably as much as I walk the Sanibel beaches so she has a keen eye to find the goodies like the SHARK’S TEETH, EGG CASES and this perfect empty LACE MUREX …
Did you notice her necklace? Yes! She found that big honkin tooth and made a necklace out of it like she did for the oh-so-cool piece of sea glass she gave me. I love it Carla!
Kelly was soaking in the beauty of the day every second….
I was thrilled when she brought seashells she found from Puerto Penasco, Mexico (aka- Rocky Point) to share. Thank you Kelly! Now remember, these are shells from Mexico NOT Florida…
Seashells from Rocky Point (Puerto Penasco, Mexico)
I didn’t get a picture of all her treasures our day on Barefoot so she sent a photo of her shells from the day…
I know these don’t look like great shells to most, but these were my favorite finds on Saturday- CORAL, WORMIE, SHARKS TOOTH, a piece of a LION’S PAW (!), a tiny OLIVE with beautiful color and pattern and a SEA PEARL.
Since I was so distracted by Hurricane Irene, I didn’t get to show you another shelling sista I met last week on the beach in Sanibel. It was so nice to meet you, Desiree! I love your hat!
She said she bought a cheapy hat and embellished it using hot glue with shells she found on Sanibel. She said it was a snap to make since the ribbon was already there to glue the shells to. It’s the simple things that make life fun, isn’t it?
I have some pictures of Blind Pass from yesterday evening at low tide that I won’t probably get to post until tomorrow but it’s just an FYI…. there are shells there. You have to look in the water right at the edge of the small drop off. Good luck! In the mean time, enjoy a few more pics of Barefoot Beach…
