On the exposed sand bars and tidal pools, we saw lots of live mollusks like this beautiful LIGHTNING WHELK off Middle Gulf Drive. The full moon brought such a low tide so we also saw lots of other beautiful shells but they all seemed to be occupied by tenants.
Then I saw Dana sitting in the middle of a tidal pool looking like a kid on Christmas day. She showed me a brilliant orange HORSE CONCH she just uncovered.
Then she dug out an ALPHABET CONE.
As I started to walk away, I heard her start laughing again… she dug up another ALPHABET CONE! She found herself a genuine honey hole!
My friend Eilene hit a seashell honey hole too!
She found an ALPHABET CONE then saw just a tiny bit showing of a HORSE CONCH in the sand and when she dug around it, she brought up a perfectly empty specimen.
Chris must have found the queen bee’s honey hole! Wow! He said he found this gorgeous HORSE CONCH in a tidal pool with only tiny bit of the shell exposed too.
Chris’s family Cameron, Chelsea, Jeni and Zoe got to share in the excitement of his great find as well as their full shell bags.
My fave shell we brought home is this FREAK FIGHTING CONCH. Look at the funny top- I love it! So sometimes it takes a little more “work” to take home the gold or taste the honey but like always, the treasure hunt itself is the fun because some times it makes you get a little creative.
Whelks are my favorite shell! But what type of shell is that in Eilene’s hand, sitting partially on the scallop?
Its a colorful moon shell. pretty, huh? Take a look at my seashell identification page at http://www.iloveshelling.com/blog/seashell-identification/ . If you click on any of the picture it will take you to all of the posts Ive done about that shell
I love that beautiful colorful moonshell! Are they harder to find than shark’s eyes? I was thinking that it was just another variation of shark’s eyes. Going to look it up! Sherri
Sorry to post so much, but where was this again? And, Pam, will the dredging effect us at all? I read somewhere that it can be stinky & loud? Sherri from MN
Sherryi, Yes, I think the colorful moon is a little harder to find than the sharks eye. Its beautiful, right?
The dredging won’t effect all of us because its just like any other “road” project. There will be big machinery at Blind Pass and at Bowmans and noise from the trucks and generators. Really, don’t read too much into this dredging thing. There are a few people who have been asking about it, thats why I’ve mentioned it in my blog but the main thing about all of this, is that it keeps the waterways healthy and while they pump sand from one area to another, there are also shells that get pumped as well, so they come out of the tubes as well. In my humble opinion, it’s not glamourous by any means but it can fun if you are in the area already and want to see the sand pump out of the tubes.
Lovely! At least the low tide for you over there isn’t at 7a.m. in the morning… I can’t climb out of bed! :( Anyway, gorgeous freak conch and horse conch and thanks for sharing again! :)
Wow…awesome shells. I have a found a conch like that.
Wow ! you guys hit the Jackpot , great day for shelling !
Awesome finds!! Congrats to all!
I am so GREEN with shelling envy right now! Look at everyone’s lovely finds!!! Lovely indeed <3
I am green too Missi – with a capital “G”.
Looks like a bunch of nice shells. Jealous!
I have to work until 5 today…where would be a good spot to go look for some goodies today around that time?
It looks like they all found beautiful shells at the beach.
Wow, that freak fighting conch must have been attacked by a big predator when it was half-grown and only just managed to escape with its life! Pretty amazing!
Ok, I can kind of be anonymous here,.. I had no idea we should dig for shells! I thought they were just lying on the sand for all to see and first come, first served. Wow, I’ve got some more learning to do before we head back to the place I want to retire.
Your website makes my day – I read every comment and look at each pcture.
Oh how I wish I was there with you all.
Janet in AZ
Beauties, each and every one!!
Wow! I went shelling here for the full moon low tide too. Though I had a fabulous time and did find some goodies they were nothing remotely as wonderful. I will be sitting and digging like Dana once I finally get there. Hopefully the next low tide.
Until then your site keeps me going.
A world of thanks.
We are so lucky to live in Southwest Florida and enjoy these beautiful sights regularly!
Oh WOW!!! How I love to sit and dig! I just love those horse conchs! And the cone, of course. And the moon shell, whelk, well ALL of them! I am just dying with excitement! My best friend and I are coming for 12 days with her two girls (9 and 10)! My hubby might join me for a couple days, but we are soooo excited! I have my iloveshelling hat ready to go! Have to get some turtle filters! When I bought it, I thought I was just going to use in MN for my dogs at night..OMG! We will be there from July 2nd to July 14th! Brutally hot but I don’t care! My question is prob silly but I don’t know much about moon phases. Will there be another full moon during those times? Where were you in these pics? Would luv to shell somewhere new. And, how will the dredging of Blind Pass effect beachcombing? I am even excited for that!! Sorry for long message, but I am dying with excitement!! Hope to meet you, Pam!! I feel like I know you! I am the special ed teacher from MN that was helping you with that computer glitch awhile ago! The one that freaked out to find a large tulip last Aug! :)
-Sherri from MN
Hi Sherri,
I added the moon phases back on my blog page again. It’s funny that you are the one that asked this for me to remember why I took it off in the first place… I was having those computer problems so I had to take off all my widgets from different links to see which one was the problem and crashing my sight. It wasn’t the moon phase one but I just forgot to put it back on there. Funny it was the same time you just mentioned! So don’t just click on the moon phase button on the right hand side of this blog, click on the link on the bottom of the button that says “Lunar phases” (i know, its kinda hard to read) but that will take you to understanding the moon and tides. There are links on the side of that page too that give you all kinds of other info as well. Have fun! Hope to see you
That is funny, Pam! I will do that right now! I did look up the next full moon online somewhere, and I got July 3rd!! So hopefully that is right.. Then it sounds like it would appear full for aprox 36 hrs. I will check against your info. I am sooo excited! Not just for shells but roseate spoonbills and everything else Sanibel! School is done for me & now I can start my countdown to Sanibel! Thanks for the wonderful info you provide us & of course, the pictures!
I have a friend who has a gigantic collection of shells collected from all over the world. We are wondering who might buy this collection or what we can do with it. It is taking up a tremendous amount of space, she is elderly and we don’t know any avenues in which to go. Can anyone lend us a hand and give us a starting point? Any advice and help is greatly appreciated! I will reply via email to any comments with good advice – thanks!