baby alphabet cone sanibel bp

It sure feels good to find an ALPHABET CONE again! I’ve been stumped finding the SANIBEL SIX lately so I was excited to find this baby within a half hour of arriving at Blind Pass Sanibel yesterday evening for a somewhat low tide at a .4. I still didn’t find the SANIBEL SIX though since I couldn’t find a TULIP that was in good enough shape but I’m subbing that bright orange CHESTNUT TURBAN on the right as a good find to be very happy.

collecting seashells bp

See how that sand bar has moved right to the beach now? You never know what to expect the beach to look like until you walk out and see if for yourself. Always a surprise.

tidal pool sanibel blind pass

The tidal pool was loaded with live FIGHTING CONCHS …

live fighting conchs shells tidal pool

On the other side of the tidal pool, shellers were lined up along the shoreline to catch the seashell loot washing up to the beach.

sanibel shellers row

I met so many cool shellers like Joe and Kerry from Sebastian, FL…

Joe Kerry sebastian Fl shells

..and Karen and Steve from Michigan…

karen steve michigan shelling

Karen found two gorgeous bright orange CHESTNUT TURBANS.

orange chestnut turban sanibel

Here are Tim and Mary Ann (NY) showing off Mary Ann’s cool shell sifter.

Tim mary Ann NY spiny jewelbox

I think the prize of the evening was Tim’s incredibly large FLORIDA SPINY JEWELBOX with attached valves. It’s terrific!

spiny jewelbox

Anna (West Virginia) was tickled pink as she filled up her strainer with shells.

Anna West Va shell basket

She found FIGHTING CONCHS, MUREXES, COCKLES, SCALLOPS  and a pretty little TRUE TULIP.

shell bucket strainer

Bob and Johnnie (TN) were on one of the shell piles searching for minis.

Johnnie bob TN shell pile

And they found them! I loooove this tiny little lemon yellow ROUGH SCALLOP…

lemon pectin scallop

They found some other colorful cuties too including a sweet FLAT SCALLOP…

colorful mini shells

It was a fabulous night meeting so many nice people and seeing the shell piles on the Sanibel side again.

egg cases seashells

 I needed a break from that stupid camera any way. No, I didn’t take any of theses photos with the J1 and by the word “stupid”, I think you can tell I’m still frustrated with it ;( . Anyway, I took a quick little video with my trusted little Panasonic DMC-ZS6 to pan the beach to show you exactly what it looked like and how the beach has changed…. yet again. Oh, and sorry about the sound. The wind noise is horrible but oh well, I just wanted y’all to see it any way.

UPDATE! Set your DVRs and Tivos for Sunday morning!!!

I forgot to mention the Sanibel/seashell story I spoke in my about March 1 post should be airing this Sunday, April 22nd on CBS Sunday Morning.We don’t know exactly when the segment will air, but the show is on 9 – 10:30am (EST) and Bill’s pieces usually run towards the last half hour of the show (10-10:30 Eastern). The disclaimer is that this is TV, and anything can happen – so it is confirmed best to all of our abilities.

seashell collecting florida