blue sheller iLS

The Sanibel Island shellers have been out the last 2 days having great luck with and without their scoops. Kim from St Louis was in knee deep water scooping up treasures with her net this morning at Blind Pass Sanibel…

kim shelling sw florida

She found a bag full of trophies! She found The Sanibel Six, COCKLES, SCALLOPS plus a big honkin’ HORSE CONCH! She said it was rolling by her foot when she was in the water.

seashells yellow bag sanibel florida

She was workin’ it!

kim horse conch

The shells were piling up at the same spot I showed you last week when the Shellingmen Tribe was out in full force…

seashells sanibel island florida

I also met Darlene from Pennsylvania but was too shy to have her photo (not sure why- she’s cute as can be) but she definitely wanted to share her loot because she was happy as a clam to find all of these WHELKS, CONCHS, OLIVES, TULIPS, MUREXES (The Sanibel Six minus the CONE) , SCALLOPS and some cool CORAL.

darlene seashells

Okay, I told you this was the same spot on the Sanibel side of Blind Pass as last week where the shells were rolling in… but yesterday I found another shell pile at Blind Pass. This time it was under the bridge on the Sanibel side.

seashells under bridge sanibel

Kim from Cape Coral didn’t need a net or a scoop to sift through this pile on the canal to find some goodies to take home…

lisa blue shell bag sanibel

She sorted through to find a KINGS CROWN, HORSIES, WHELKS , TURBANS and my latest faves… the amazing colorful SCALLOPS.

lisa blue seashell bag

And last but not at all least, cutie pies Emily and Brian from Boston were wading in the water to find this live LIGHTNING WHELK…

emily brian lightning whelk sanibel

I write some times about finding an OPERCULUM on the beach so now you can see what it looks like when it’s still useful to this live MOLLUSK. It acts as the door to the opening of the shell so it can protect itself from predators. The black part around the OPERCULUM is the animal going back inside its shell. Cool, huh? So after we looked at this magnificent live creature, Emily and Brian walked it back out to the water to live happily ever after.

live lightning whelk emily

That’s what makes shelling so much fun… every day the beaches change and every day you see something different.

shells canal sanibel bp

seashells and surf iLS