finding seashells

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!!!

my family shelling

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.

Sanibel squat

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.

seashells handful

She found oodles of WENTLETRAPS, BUTTONS and BUBBLES scattered all along the Lighthouse beach on Saturday.

My Men shelling

Clark and Greg in the shelling zone scooping up the mini shells.

miniature seashell pile virtual shelling

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?

I see seashells

My cutie niece Kelly spying some seashells too. I miss her already.

Virtual miniature shelling

This was a mixed bag of minis after getting rinsed at home . Click on that photo too- you’ll love this virtual shelling too!

seashells sailboats

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.

Junonia inside

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…..

Deer Cowrie piece

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.

Blind Pass seashells

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….

Scotch bonnet under bridge

A SCOTCH BONNET! The man is a Super Sheller!

cracked scotch bonnet

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? ;)

Alternate tellin

He also found this ALTERNATE TELLIN and …

Sunray venus BP

This beautiful SUNRAY VENUS.

Two scoops of seashells

Greg tried two scoops of seashells to better his chances. LOL

Sanibel squatter

Tee’s in the shelling zone too.

mom daughter Captiva beach

Becky and her daughter (and Kelly’s best friend) Maddy.  Do they still say “BFF”…or was so last year?

Sanibel seashells

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!

Sanibel Biking