Our friends John and Jane strapped a Zodiac dinghy to the top of their car on Saturday and invited us to join them for a boating adventure down to Marco Island. Yes! We are always ready for a shelling expedition.
The whole day was golden…
Literally! Both John and Clark found GOLDEN OLIVES!
When we all got back to the boat, everybody was showing off their best finds and both guys held out their hands holding the GOLDEN OLIVES…
Look at this huuujah ANGEL WING Clark found. It fills my whole hand…
This was an ALPHABET CONE John found for the day.
These are Jane’s FLORIDA CONES. These are pretty golden too!
Here are the rest of her best finds.
A nice 10 inch old crusty HORSE CONCH I found on the low tide sand bar…
I heard Clark yell and start waving his arms. Oh no, he di-ant! Another one? He couldn’t have found another you-know-what. I looked to see how far away he was since I was way out on the sand bar. See that little speck? That’s how far he was from me.
Okay,..you might want to avert your eyes if you’ve had a bad day or just can’t stand the thought of Clark finding yet another J….. uh…. I can’t even say it. To show me where he found it, he had it sitting right where it was when he walked up. Here… see for yourself.
Really? How come I didn’t look there first? The man is a shell magnet. Here is a close up of his nearly perfect JUNONIA (just the tip is missing). I want to find one! Not that I’m jealous…. oh, geez. Of course I’m jealous! Oh I’m happy for Jane and “him” too…. I guess. ;) It even has a golden color to it too!
You know I’m just kidding about being upset I didn’t find the big J. How could I when I found so many beautiful shells on such an awesome day? Here are some of our other golden treasures…like candy!
TOP SHELLS…
BRUISED NASSAS…
TAMPA TURRIDS…
DUSKY CONES…
and even a cool BRYOZOAN COLONY…
PS- I popped off some of those crusty barnacles to uncover the shell of that HORSE CONCH I found out the sand bar. It’s beautiful! I found a home for it on my outside steps as a happy welcome to our Shell Shack.
Love ALL of the shells!!! Looks like fun!
Looks like you had a pleasant and productive time. The Golden Olives are nice.
Wow, Awesome finds I so want to be shelling…my fave are the baby horsies in the huge angel wing!
Headed down your way this week to visit Sanibel/Captiva. Can’t believe it is a
full moon tonight. Can’t wait to go shelling!
Omg! I about passed out when I saw that junonia! What awesome color! I’ve never seen one so vibrant! Loved all the others, too!
I TOTALLY concur with Sherri!
That Junonia is so exquisite! I hope to find one some day; oh and of course, I love all the CONES! Never seen so many Dusky’s in 1 day!
CONGRATS!!! What a GREAT day!!! Eye candies for sure! I love the bruised nassas…I’ve never seen those before.
Clark…. You da man!!!
YOU might not be jealous, but I am! I am golden with envy! :) And I always smile when you say Tampa Turds – hee hee – she said “turds”. Doesn’t take much to entertain me! – Anna Lemons
Great shelling! I have found awesome shells on Marco. Where on Marco did you go with this little boat or where did you do your major shelling???
It’s OK to be jealous, we certainly are!! What a beautiful Junonia and the size of that Angel Wing, WOW. Clark sure has the touch. I really like your Horse Conch. It looks so nice all cleaned up on your step. March just can’t come soon enough.
I’m waiting on the video post now of Clark’s “Shell Gods” dance he must be performing when no one is around….
Oh Kristen, you would have loved his happy dance! I was way too far away to video it but It was crazy enough that I had to laugh all the way out on my sand bar. LOL I should have called him the Golden Boy in the post!
Anna- TURDS!
Looks like an awesome trip! I’m jealous too! Clark is a very lucky guy!
I always LOVE your beautiful pictures, Pam!!!
I would love to go to Marco Island but I read that it is not an easy adventure without a boat. We started traveling today on our way down for the winter. Hope to see you on the beach sometime soon. Joan, a shellin’ sista.
Pam-Love the finds! Just where is Marco Island and is the area you went to accessible by car? Thanks, as we are always looking for new shelling sites.
Marco Island is around an hour and 30 minutes south of Sanibel. There are some beaches like Tigertail beach that accessible by car but there are lots and lots of little islands around Marco that are only reachable by boat. Every time we go somewhere different by boat, we try to keep an open mind and go where the wind blows us (literally some times). We did go to Kice Island this time as we did before on our other trips but we pull up at other islands and look around and if we dont find anything, we pull out and go somewhere else. It is not as easy as walking the beaches of Sanibel but it’s a great adventure.
It was fun seeing you all on the road with the zodiac on top of the car…where’s the picture of that sight!! Good day to be in Marco…raining most of the day on Sanibel. Thanks for sharing…as always I almost feel like I was there!!!
PS Clark is a very lucky guy!! :-)
Awesome shelling day looks like. Congrats on all the fab finds! Love, love, love!
Oh, Pam…one more question…how did you pop off the barnacles on the giant Horse Conch? Always wondered how to do that. Thanks!
Hammer and screw driver. Works great. No one believes me, but it is so easy. Pam, I hope I made a believer of you this summer.
Ha! Yes! I witnessed the hammer and screw driver process and MK whittled the whole shell clean as a whistle. It was like watching one of those ice sculptors chipping away at a block of ice that becomes a seashell. I however, use a metal dental tool because I don’t trust myself with that hammer so close to my pretty shell. Maybe I should practice on a block of ice.
Would this method work for removing barnacles from other things too? I picked up a big Penn reel that the tide left on the beach one night. It is pretty covered with barnacles and I’m not quite sure how to remove them without damaging the reel. Any thoughts?
Shell cleaning is a big subject with entire chapters in books devoted to it. Everyone has their own methods, which can be more or less effective. As for the hammer and screw driver method that I use for the larger shells, I do not use a “sledge hammer”, but a relatively small hammer, smaller than a typical carpenter’s hammer. I use a relatively small screw driver, place the head of the screw driver at the base of the barnacle and hit the back of the screw driver with the hammer. Most of the time the entire barnacle flies off with relatively little force. Yes, I have and continue to use dental pics, but I have broken so many of them that I have switched, primarily for the larger shells, to using the hammer & screw driver technique. In the case of the horse conch, most of the shell, except for the inch or two near the thin lip, is quite hard. To prove my point, Pam saw me hit fairly hard wtih the hammer the horse conch that I was working with. Concerning the Penn reel, I suspect that the metal screw driver might scratch the surface of the reel, but then any other metal object, such as a dental pic will also scratch the metal reel. So, if you really want to remove all the barnacles, you may have to accept some scratches. Good luck with that.
MK, Thanks for the add’l info. I think I will try to find some sort of coated tip screwdriver then just hold my breath and do it. I keep delaying because I know it will be tough. …maybe a project for the winter….
Wow, nice shelling trip. Congrats to Clark on his new Junonia.
Lee
I can’t believe that Junonia!!! It almost looks like someone put it there. Are you sure that Clark isn’t just pulling your leg? LOL… Just kidding! What a find!!
That was one Golden day!!
I love that horse conch – and I LOVED lunch today!!!!!
Oh wow, wish I could have been on that trip. And what’s up with Clark, maybe he should be in serious deep sea treasure hunting, he’s a treasure magnet.
We’ll be in Sanibel two weeks from Saturday………I am starting to get the shelling twitches. I’m going to bring my blue t and scooper. But I am going to need the light hat for those low tides in the middle of the night.
WOW what a great trip & WAY TO GO CLARK !!!! My Junonia is sitting in front of me now as I type . It puts a big old Sanibel smile on my face , just like the 1 Clark has on his face !! Don’t worry Pam , your day will come when you find your “special ” treasure , I just know & hope you will ! Thanks again for sharing your awesome shelling adventures .
Great shelling trip and amazing finds you two!! Apparently that golden-yellow color variety (“citrina”) of olive is seldom found off Sanibel, it is more common in the Marco Island area or are you just lucky?!
CORRECTION! Great shelling trip and amazing finds you two!! Apparently that golden-yellow color variety (“citrina”) of olive is seldom found off Sanibel, is it more common in the Marco Island area or are you just lucky?!
I have found thousands and thousands of olives along the beaches of Sanibel Island, but never a yellow or golden one. I have found just a few hundred olives around Marco Island, but two have been the yellow ones. My anecdotal experience is that that the “citrina” form of the lettered olive is more common around Marco Island. Why? Who knows! Shell color may be related to many factors, including genetics and habitat/diet. I have seen shells change color based on diet and habitat. It is all very interesting.
Very neat, thanks MurexKen! I hope to be visiting Sanibel next year and hope to get a “jar of olives” to take home. LOL. A yellow or golden one would be a terrific find. T.
Oh man, what a golden day it was!!! Good for you!!
Any recommendations on hiring someone to take me & my sis out boating to these islands or any shelling islands the end of this month??
See you in 10 days!!
Mary Ann Preston
Pam- will you display your conch candies in the angel wing in your home? It is a dramatic contast of size, color and shape. You have the eye of an artisit in your photo composition.
LindafromSWM, Thank you for your compliment!! I probably wont because I don’t have enough room in my house. i need a bigger house to display all of my goodies! I have a bowl that I have the big angels in so I added to that for the big guy and I have all of my candies in a couple of glass vessels as well. I showed my candy jar when I first started blogging 2 years ago. I can t believe it’s 2 years now! Take a look… I’ve learned a lot since then! Those are all little horse conchs in the vase on the far left. I’ll try to find time to do a post about my displays. http://www.iloveshelling.com/blog/2009/10/24/yard-sale-find/
Wow – what a fantastic day at Marco! Our daughter was on Sanibel last week and returned with a fabulous collection of shells. October must be a great month to be on the island. We’ll be down for 3 weeks at Christmas and can’t wait! Thanks for sharing such inspiration!!
With every post i want to b on sanibel, the more and more i want to b there!!!!!!!!!!! Those finds were amazing!!!! i guess distance only makes the heart grow fonder……..
Again Thanks for the Identification I have several specimens in my ? pile which are exactly like your BRYOZOAN colony, I would love to know how you Made the ID on that one. I still haven’t fully bought in, but I sure don’t have anything better :) shrug.
Luck
Floyd
oh and happy shelling too!
Floyd, I originally identified it on a previous post – check it out, you might buy in ;) http://www.iloveshelling.com/blog/2010/09/28/not-coral-not-shell/
If I ever found a Junonia like that, just sitting right there on the beach, I am sure the blood supply to my brain would temporarily stop and I would fall face down on the sand. Literally. Or maybe I am just sleepy and thinking about my migraine and how seashells are the best medicine or kittens oarylhgd zuygjghkjdxhghiduvnctnu