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Beachcombing Breeze
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For me, this is the perfect evening… taking a walk on the beach without any rush, without an agenda and being happy with whatever I find.
That’s how I felt this week. I just want to melt into my beachcombing and have my mind completely focused on… well… focused on NOTHING. Ahhh. It worked. And as soon as I started breathing, feeling the warm breeze and being so happy to have my toes on the sand after a long week…. the rest of the world melted away.
That’s when I found WENTLETRAPS! …And SAND DOLLARS!
I get a little “edgy” when I cant get my fix of the beach. Yes, I know, I’m VERY fortunate to be have access to the beaches of Sanibel and Captiva as often as I do but this week was so busy catching up with life in general (we all know how that goes) I didn’t get to get my normal beach therapy. There is one thing I NEVER take for granted… beach time. That’s why I think it’s important to share it because I loooove looking through wrack lines like this one near LIGHTHOUSE BEACH and knowing you love it too…
I even think it’s cool to see SEA PORK…
I was thrilled to find my treasures to take home but my favorite thing on the beach I found this week (that I couldnt take home) was seeing a mama SNOWY PLOVER and her babies. So sweet!
They are so hard to see because they blend in so closely to the sand but I snapped a few pictures of them without getting too closely to disturb them. And I got a little video! Enjoy the THREE SNOWY PLOVER BABIES AND THEIR MAMA video and if you are near SW Florida, join us on the iLoveShelling cruise to Cayo Costa tomorrow- Sunday May 18, 2013 at 1pm at Captiva Cruises. Call 239-472-5300 for reservations.
But for now… enjoy the SNOWIES! 
Total Coup at Shellabaloo 2!
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Total coup at the Shellabaloo 2! Woo Woo!
We are all so happy for Cindy from Missouri after she found this shellacious empty HORSE CONCH on the beach at the Island Inn yesterday during Shellabaloo 2. She is still two clouds above nine since she found it in the water in the midst of a pile of PEN SHELLS. How awesome! Congratshellations!
But wait… let me back up for those of you who aren’t quite sure what SHELLABALOO 2 is exactly. Island Inn Sanibel put together a 4 day, 3 night shelling package including 7 meals, a beautiful goodie bag, a trip to the Bailey-Matthews Shell Museum and asked me to gather and guide this group of shellers to the best possible places to find seashells and treasures from the sea. What? Hang out with a bunch of folks that love shelling as much as I do? Shell Yaya! So I had to give it a fun “shell” name (of course- it’s the iLoveShelling thang!) … so “SHELLABALOO” was born.We had the first Shellabaloo in January… and it was a Baaa-laaaast! So we had to do it again with this unbelievably fun gang…
Before I show you more a-mazing shells that were found by these shell hunter extraordinaires, let me introduce a few more of my new friends to you that I didn’t get to show you on the last post. We started off at a cocktail party at the Island Inn where I met Becca (Ft Myers), Margie (Alabama) and Paula (Alabama)…
Helen and Cathy both came from Arkansas to join the shellastravaganza…
Although this is a little blurry because of a ”long arm” self portrait …Clark was there to meet everybody to share a few of his “Super Sheller” secrets as well.
It was a fab party thanks to cuties Blanaid and Jessica! They worked out all the details on behalf of the Island Inn…
I promise to get to everybody else too but let me get you to the beach pictures. I showed you our day at Gulfside City Park and the gigantshellous mound we hit at Blind Pass Captiva on Tuesday on my last post…
Yesterday we did a full shelling day on the secluded island of Cayo Costa by way of a boat cruise by Captiva Cruises. How fun!
Terri (NY) and her mom Darlene (CA) got to enjoy a perfect day on the water…
On the way, we saw DOLPHINS as we passed the private island of Useppa and several other pods in different areas but you know how that goes with wildlife… out of prob 20 shots, this is the only semi-good one. LOL
Once we got to the boat dock at the Cayo Costa State Park Ranger Station, we took an island style “shuttle” to get to the beach side.
We hit the beach to find clear aqua blue water and a wide stretch of beautiful beach all to ourselves…
I was so surprised to find an area with oodles of SHARK’S TEETH and other FOSSILS like this STING RAY BARB on the far right of my hand!
I showed Terri what I found and within minutes she found a handful of her own…
Donna and Rusty (Apopka, FL) found some too!
They were filling up a smaller tub inside their buckets to catch all of their SHARKS TEETH…
Susan (Guantanamo Bay, Cuba) was thrilled to find SHARK’S TEETH too!
She showed me her SHARKS TEETH, then asked me about another piece she found… Oh Yaya! It’s a FOSSIL PUFFER FISH MOUTHPLATE!
Cindy and her husband Roger (MO) said they spent a whole day in Venice, Florida last year but didn’t find one SHARKS TOOTH. They were both thrilled to find their first ones!
Lee (Guantanamo Bay, Cuba) had the eye for bigger shells..
He found a bag full of double SUNRAY VENUS CLAMS and some LIGHTNING WHELKS…
Kendra (Indiana) was coming back with a full shell bag too…
After a picnic lunch and a full gorgeous day on Cayo Costa, we boarded the boat to head back to Captiva…
But do you think we stopped shelling once we got back??? No!!! These are my kind of shellers. Half of the group headed to Lighthouse Beach to find out how to find WENTLETRAPS…
Yep. We found them and lots of other minis…
The evening’s perfect low tide left a wrack line of tiny treasures…
Lee, Tom and Sharene (Ontario, Canada), Lisa (NJ) and Kendra (and me!) all had quite a spectsheller day…
I have more to show you but… ACK! I’ve run out of time! I have a few more introductions and some VERY amazing finds (just as amazing as Cindy’s HORSE CONCH!) that I will show you at our “Shell And Tell”. We had our own Sanibel Shellabaloo Shell Show- so stay tuned! Here’s a sneak preview…
A Lions Paw and Junonia
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This morning the shells showed up under the bridge on the Sanibel side of Blind Pass again like last week. But this time, a LION’S PAW showed up!!
My friend Eileen was the lucky one to find this sweet specimen. Wahhhooo!! I am thrilled for her. This was on her shell list this year so now… “Find a Lion’s Paw” CHECK! We always seem to give each other luck. She and Rob were with me when I found my QUEENS HELMET in November so now she found her gorgeous LIONS PAW.
Rob (who found a LIONS PAW last year with Clark and me) was working the shell backhoe in the water to help fill up their shell bag…
Wanna peak inside that ziplock bag? They found lots of WHELKS, TULIPS, MUREXES, SCALLOPS and really nice pink double ALTERNATE TELLIN…
He also found this really cool FROND OYSTER…
It looks exactly like a palm frond.
I couldnt help but show off some of their gorgeous SCALLOPS they were finding. I will NEVER get tired of looking at the amazing colors of SCALLOPS and I love when I see other people get excited when they find them too.
Okay, but I have to show you what Olivia found. I introduced you to Olivia on my last post about the Lighthouse Beach and I found out today that she found a JUNONIA last night on the same beach! Wooot! Wooot! Congratshellations to you Olivia and to you Eileen!
I thought we’d have to wait until the cold front tonight before we saw great finds like JUNONIAS and LIONS PAWS but it looks like the shells are already here! Can’t wait to see what more will be in store for us in the next few days at Blind Pass and the Sanibel Lighthouse Beach
PS- It’s Tuesday morning now and the beach is wiped clean. It’s too rough waves for the shells to stay on the shore. Maybe Wednesday … If the surf calms.
Lucky Four Cleat Plover
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Top of the mornin’ to ya! Wouldn’t you feel luckier seeing a “Four Cleat Plover” rather than a “Four Leaf Clover”? Well, I did!
I felt lucky and charmed when I spotted this cutie little SNOWY PLOVER while walking the beach at Gulfside City Park. Ok, maybe one doesn’t normally call his four little toes on each foot “cleats” but for the sake of St Paddy’s day, I’m taking creative license with this one. heehee
May your day be filled with luck and charm as well! Happy St Patricks Day!
Our iLoveShelling cruise to Cayo Costa was EXSHELLENT yesterday! I’ll have photos coming up soon but until then I have one more lucky charm… here’s a four leaf clover too!
Happy Hunting For Seashells
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Happy. That’s what this photo of a mom (Margaret) and daughter (Katy) from Chicago says “Happy”. I peaked into Kay’s shell bag and knew why she had such a happy face. Who wouldnt be happy filling a mesh bag full of seashell treasures like these…
She found this awesome ALPHABET CONE…
Her mom Margaret found great treasures too and pulled out these two ALPHIES and a TULIP…
Katy and Margaret collected their seashells this morning at Captiva’s Blind Pass but yesterday I saw Bridget and Brendan from New Hampshire on the Sanibel side of Blind Pass with the same happy faces.
They were exhilarated by finding gobs of shells like these FIGHTING CONCHS…
While I was in the parking lot at Blind Pass Sanibel, I ran into Jean from Iowa who found an extremely large PEAR WHELK (no, not in the parking lot, silly)…
I mean, this is a gargantuan PEAR WHELK!!!
Earlier in the week on the east end of Sanibel, I showed you all of the weird BEACH BLING that was washing up on the beach. Now the BLING (and Red Tide) is moving out with some north/northwest winds and those winds are bringing in some nice big shells.
My faves (and Clark’s) this weekend have been the multicolored SCALLOP shells. They are amazing! I relate it to the same experience as seeing a DOLPHIN… I will never get tired of spotting a DOLPHIN no matter how many times in the week I see them. Its the same with SCALLOPS. I will never get tired of spotting a beautifully colored SCALLOP and being amazed by so many different patterns. They are both magical.
We’re On Vacation….Gone Shelling
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We are on vacation! My awesome husband Clark planned a big vacation for us along with our friends Jane and John (Johnny Angel) to celebrate a BIG birthday for me! Im not gonna tell you how old I am but I hope we find 50 QUEEN CONCHS…
and 50 SAND DOLLARS…
or explore 50 miles of shell collecting…
and collect 50 wonderful island memories…
Wanna know where we were??? I’ll post lots of photos of seashells we collected and the location we found them in just a few days. I wish you could have been here with us because the beach combing was awesome and I know you would appreciate how gorgeous the beaches are. We all know Sanibel is seashell heaven but this has become a second heaven for us already. I can’t wait to show you!
