Archive for Alternate Tellin
Gotten, The Cabrits Of Our Lives
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It’s not easy to find a CABRIT’S MUREX on the beaches of Sanibel.. much less with some of the spines still in tact. So I was over the moon when Clark found this one near Bowman’s Beach. (Okay, hopefully not the Cabrits of our lives but I couldn’t resist the silly title play on words)
Joanne (NJ) was shelling in the same spot with me when Clark showed us this great find. So guess what she found the very next day? You guessed it! Her own CABRITS MUREX!!
They look to be just about the same size and color (Clark’s looks whiter but when it’s wet it looks just like her’s with a pinkish color) but hers has a few more spines still in tact. Crazy, huh?
Look at the other cool shells she found… a piece of LIONS PAW, 2 FLATS and a pink tinted ALTERNATE TELLIN with both sides still attached.
Then I ran into Joan (Indiana) who found a beautiful SCOTCH BONNET on her birthday!!!!
Look at that bright yellow SCALLOP too. Happy birthday, Joan!
The low tide mornings over the weekend brought in these unusual shells along with lots of the goodies.
Lizbeth found a handful of orangies. Look at that fabulous solid brilliant orange CHESTNUT TURBAN. It doesn’t look chestnut to me, you know?
I also found a wonderful treasure… Shelling Sistah Connie Knight in her i Love Shelling shirt!!!
And then Shelling Sistah Mary Ann Ross too! I was in hog heaven all weekend.
Here’s Benny from Miami finding those bright orange SCALLOPS too…
The weekend started off with gobs of rain and wind then finished with gorgeous skies. We shelled right through all of it and ended up with a treasure trove. You gotta roll with the tides, baby.
Constricted Shelling Seems Like An Oxymoron
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When I am shelling on the beach, the rest of the world melts away. My breathing gets easier because my body loosens up and my whole outlook widens. To think of anything that is constricted about shelling seems like an oxymoron to me. Constricting and shelling are contradictory words! That’s why I was surprised to find this CONSTRICTED MACOMA mixed in with oodles of ALTERNATE TELLINS around West Gulf Dr.
This one looked so different because it looked like the sun melted one side of it. I couldn’t find a match in any of my books to identify it but MurexKen assures me it is the CONSTRICTED MACOMA. I wonder what it is so constricted about? I would have called it the MELTED MACOMA or MELTY TELLIN… but who asked me, right?
Quit constricting, MACOMA!
Relax like some of your other relatives, the ALTERNATE TELLINS…
…and like some of my buddies when we get together to enjoy just hanging out on the beach and shelling…
Nancy, Sarah, Jodi, Toni, Di, Ellen and Me
Toni had a theme going… KITTEN’S PAWS in a kitten’s paw bag.
This Weekend Rocked
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My friend Diane joined Clark and me on the beach off West Gulf Drive yesterday for a lovely afternoon of shell seeking. We wanted to find a big WHELK like last week but she was just as happy with a candy HORSIE CONCH.
She was even happier to find 9 BABY’S EARS…
Then to top it all off she framed her Sanibel Six in a very creative MANGROVE SEED POD picture frame.
I met another blog buddy Candice from St Pete! She saw Clark with his shelling backhoe and asked him “Are you Clark?” LOL
She said she wasn’t finding much, so I walked with her just for a few minutes and we found a few goodies… 3 ALTERNATE TELLINS, a PURPLISH TAGELUS, COQUINA, FALSE ANGEL WING, 2 CONCHS, a LACE MUREX, a TURBAN and a beautiful BABY’S EAR.
All of Candice’s shells were found on the high and dry wrack line on the far right of this next picture. On the sand bars, there were hundreds of FIGHTING CONCHS and a few bigger shells…
Aha! That’s where the big WHELK was that we were looking for. Jennifer (Sanibel) had already found that prize AND three ALPHIES!
Nice finds, Jennifer!
Clark didn’t find another big WHELK but he did find a huuu-jahh piece of WORM ROCK. He knows this is another fave of mine. It doesn’t look like anything fabulous in this photo but trust me, it’s cool. This is a rock formed by a colony of VARIABLE WORM SNAILS (not exactly the same thing as my “wormie shells” we find) and it’s not every day for us to find it this big.
Look at it close up…
Rock on and have a happy Monday!
Clark Found A Junonia?
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Clark was teasing me to no end on the sand bar at Blind Pass Sanibel when he told me he found something really good. Ut Oh. What!? Oh no you didn't! He said, "Yep!" and showed me a JUNONIA.
Ha! Yes, it's a JUNONIA...... a very worn JUNONIA. But still a whole one so, and yes, it's still better than what I've found....barely. 
After shelling Blind Pass, we decided to visit beach access #7 off West Gulf Drive since we haven't been there in months. Lots of TELLINS....
Oodles of SOUTHERN QUAHOGS....
I was tickled to find several large old worn WHELKS. I love these old "yard shells" so I line them up in an area in my garden to look at them every day.
The low tide in the late afternoons this whole week has been heaven.
Full Moon Unveils A Moon Shell
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After 25 mph winds swirling from north, south, east and west this weekend, the Gulf of Mexico was rockin’, rollin’ and doing the twist to help churn up those seashells. Since there was no clear wind direction, yesterday late afternoon we ran down to Blind Pass Sanibel at low tide (-0.4) to check out the sand bar. In just a short time, Super Sheller Clark scooped up this huge MOON SNAIL, aka the SHARK’S EYE , with his shelling backhoe. You can’t really tell how big it is in the photo above so this’ll give you an idea of how big it is…
I thought this was THE find of the day but Clark told me had another one that was his favorite of the day by far….an ALTERNATE TELLIN with both sides still attached.
I never would have thought he would choose a TELLIN as his favorite over a that SHARK’S EYE but our tastes change and grow for finding the unusual. I still haven’t had a chance to clean this one up but you can really see the colors by looking at this side…(oh, and take a look at how far out we were on the sand bar from the beach)
inside alternate tellin double
We found lots of FIGHTING CONCHS that we left on the beach for others to find.
I did keep one. This juvenile FIGHTING CONCH has the prettiest markings, I just had to put it in my pocket.
I met Shelling Sister Moira! She always loves the updates of Blind Pass so now she got to see it for herself….. with her hubby Marty. She has on her brand new iLoveShelling Tank Top! Fresh off the press!
She found this live OLIVE in her net and quickly dug a little spot in the sand to put him back.
There are quite few ways to collect shells. Like Clark, Moira and Marty like the scoops but Theresa prefers to lounge in the water and let the shells come to her in the tidal current. Then stack ‘em up!
I saw Faye and Penny (May 12 post) finding more goodies like this double SPINY JEWEL BOX.
As I walked up to the beach to gather my things, I saw this dried out STARFISH (SEA STAR) on the high tide line.
Since I was occupied with this STARFISH, Clark decided to check under the Blind Pass bridge to see if anything had washed up there. I heard him yell to me. I picked up the pace to see what he had found. Oh Lawd! A huge shell pile!
Aha! This is where they all were. There was a long deep line of shells on the bay side of the bridge with the shells pushed back into the bushes. A beautiful TRUE TULIP!
Cindy (MD) and Patty (VA) had already found the gold mine and had planted themselves right smack in the middle of this shell heaven.
In just a few minutes we found great shells and Patty found a KINGS CROWN, 2 FLATS and a FLORIDA CONE!!!
I found a KINGS CROWN too!
And an APPLE MUREX…
Okay, I’ll fess up. We couldn’t stay any longer because… okay….. I’m a huge “Survivor” fan and last night was the finale. Clark and I have been addicted since the very first show. Maybe because they are surviving on an island? I don’t know.. I just looove it and I would have hated it if the tivo didn’t record it. Yay Rob!!!
Shelling Sisters with our matching tanks. Check out our new caps too (one has lights!) at SHOP.
Click the picture for more info!
My Family Visits The Island
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It couldn’t have been a more perfect weekend. The sun was shining, temps in the 80s, low humidity, shells in the surf….. and the very best part….. my family came to visit!!!
Greg and Tee!
My brother and I grew up spending our summers on the beach at Sandbridge in Virginia Beach and vacationing on the Outer Banks of North Carolina. The beach is in our blood so it’s a good thing we both found spouses that have that sand running through their blood too. My sister-in-law (the best a sister could ask for!) is all about the beach too so the first thing after the whole gang got here ….. we hit the beach.
Becky finding minis
Our friend Becky (and part of the family) was the first one to find out how glorious the miniature shell finds can be.
She found oodles of WENTLETRAPS, BUTTONS and BUBBLES scattered all along the Lighthouse beach on Saturday.
Clark and Greg in the shelling zone scooping up the mini shells.
This was exactly how one pile from their scooper looked after Clark or Greg dumped it on the beach for us to sift through. Go ahead, click on the photo above for some virtual shelling! How many WENTLETRAPS did you find?
My cutie niece Kelly spying some seashells too. I miss her already.
This was a mixed bag of minis after getting rinsed at home . Click on that photo too- you’ll love this virtual shelling too!
On Sunday we started the day on the Captiva side at Blind Pass and Becky was thrilled with sittin’ and siftin’ in the shell pile by the jetty.
Looky what I found! Dang! It’s not a whole JUNONIA but I’ll take it. This was good but it wasn’t even the best “part” of a shell found. Look what Clark found…..
A piece of a DEER COWRIE! This seashell isn’t even native to our area but last week I showed another piece that Donnie found on my post last week and a whole one February 15.
We walked over the bridge to the Sanibel side of Blind Pass and saw lots of new shells washing up. I can’t believe what Clark plucked out of the water near the pilings of the bridge….
A SCOTCH BONNET! The man is a Super Sheller!
Okay, it was cracked on the other side ….but still! Since I found part of a JUNONIA too, all we needed to complete the Elite Three was to find a LION”S PAW. Would the DEER COWRIE count?
He also found this ALTERNATE TELLIN and …
This beautiful SUNRAY VENUS.
Greg tried two scoops of seashells to better his chances. LOL
Tee’s in the shelling zone too.
Becky and her daughter (and Kelly’s best friend) Maddy. Do they still say “BFF”…or was so last year?
There were plenty of COCKLES, FIGHTING CONCHS, WHELKS, MUREXES and DOSINIAS along with so many other shells to take home with them. Shelling Success for the family!
