After 20 years of beach-combing Aly finally found the coveted Junonia. She was with her son who had  flown down for the week from New York City. Aly was shelling at beach access #5 on Sanibel when she saw the top of what she thought was a piece of a Junonia. (she has collected 9 pieces of Junonia through the years and was looking forward to number 10) Much to her surprise after digging the “piece” up, it was a whole Junonia! She was so thrilled to actually have the whole shell. It was a memorable day for her for many reasons. Having her son with her made the experience absolutely perfect.

The table of shells are the other shells she found at beach access 5 on the same day.

What a day!

 Congratulations Aly!

Well, fellow shelling friends this will be my last post as guest blogger.

I have enjoyed reporting to you all about the discoveries of the week.

You never know what is just past the far horizon.

Thanks for all the insightful comments and good luck in your next shelling experience.

Capt. Brian

Hi there!  Captain Brian here delivering a message from Pam.

 “Thanks Capt Brian! We are just getting home from our secret vacation spot but here’s a photo of our vacation shells. I’m doing a contest on the iLoveShelling facebook page and there were some great guesses but I’ll give yall a chance to guess where we are here too in case you don’t do facebook.  This is the first photo………”

and now the second photo….

We sure had such good luck shelling so we’re passing on the luck with a chance to win a few of our vacation shells! It will take a little while to recuperate so Captain Brian will still take care of yall until then”

A wagon full of shells – WOW!

Tulips and one True Tulip

A table of shells.

Olives

Colorful Scallops

2 Pieces of Lions Paw on 2 Separate Days – BIG WOW!

Look at all the Horse Conchs.

Color Your World With Scallops – Tray 1

Tray 2

Tray 3

Tray 4

Basket of Fighting Conchs

Look at these Buttercups!

Simply Beautiful!

Minis!

Tools of the TRADE

After the SUPER MOON, I heard that my friend Alison had collected A LOT of really good shells.  It was not until I talked to her a week later when I realized by the tone of her voice that I really needed to go look at these shells.  WOW!  She shelled for four days after the Super Moon on Beach Access 5 & 6.  All the shells in these photos were collected during these four days of fabulous shelling.

Howdy!! Captain Brian here to share some news.  Hot off the Press!  The Sanibel Shell Fair announced the theme for the 76th Annual Shell Fair in 2013 will be “COLOR YOUR WORLD WITH SHELLS”.   In the spirit of the Sanibel Shell Fair, I dug through the shells on my back porch and arranged some of my favorite shells of color.  For you miniature shellers out there, the Sanibel Shell Fair has added a “new” scientific class for miniature shells.  In this category, the maximum shell size for miniatures cannot be longer than 1 inch.  So, it’s time to get out those tweezers out and get the minis!

On a Nature Note – One of my favorite trees, the Royal Poinciana,  is in bloom now.  I just had to stop and snap a few pictures today of this flowering tree in bloom.  If you are on the islands now until late June, you can catch a first hand look at this magnificent tree of color. 

Sanibel’s Blind Pass has been so much fun the past week with high winds from the west pushing in the seashells.

I’ve met so many nice shellers enjoying every minute of their seashell treasure hunting.,,like Patty (VA) who found a nice piece of JUNONIA!

She and her friend Cindy (MD) said they met so many cool shellers too and were thrilled with all their finds.

Some of the shellers they got to meet were Kathy and Paul (Utah) who are back in town. In my post Junonia Necklace  I showed Kathy with her wire wrapped JUNONIA she made. I’m sure she gave Patty a few tips on making her JUNONIA piece into a beautiful necklace as well. Here they are again!

They found some beauties. Two gorgeous SHARK’S EYES, their TRUE TULIP had amazing color and I wish you could see how purple their APPLE MUREX was in person.

Kristy and Dave (MN) found some spectacular goodies as well.

Look how dark those KINGS CROWNS are… and with nice spines! I know, the ALPHABET CONE ain’t so bad either, huh?

Kathy (NY) was working that shell “backhoe” nonstop.

She put back quite a few live FIGHTING CONCHS but eventually found a few empty ones she could add to her shell bag.

 I saved the best shellers for last. Now how cute are these little girls! Sisters Maddie and Gillian from Ontario were so excited about their seashells they collected  and identified each of them by name.

 Maddie told me that earlier in the week she saw a SEAHORSE on the beach that had lost his breath so she put him in the water to see him come to life again. She saved a SEAHORSE like Carol in my Saving A Sanibel Sea Horse  post! They are so special so good job Maddie! Here are some of the shells she and Gillian had just found…

 The shelling should still be really good the rest of the week so don’t worry if you are coming in for the weekend. Happy shelling!