This Thanksgiving holiday weekend has been such a Shellaganza in Southwest Florida, it’s been hard to choose which beach to shell first! But as you know by my last post, we chose to shell Blind Pass Captiva on Thursday and hit the mother load. I’m so happy we found soooo many good shells, but it’s not only that we found shells… I’m thrilled that everybody found amazing shells like this…
And I got to meet so many awesome shellers like Skip and Tina. Tina found the spectacsheller SCOTCH BONNET and Skip found the amazing ALPHABET CONE, FLAT SCALLOP and gorgeous TRUE TULIP. And those were just a few shells they found. Their bag (in the first photo) was filled to the brim with incredible shells. It was a pleasure to meet you both!
I also met Jessica, Lyle and Matthew from Virginia who now know how addicting shelling can be after finding so many shells like this in only a couple of hours. They didn’t know the names of many of the shells, so I peeked in their bags to tell them the names of most of the shells in their bags… LIGHTNING WHELKS, FIGHTING CONCHS, APPLE MUREXES, LETTERED OLIVES, BANDED TULIPS… But OMG, Wait!
Jessica found a CABRITS MUREX! Boom Shellalaka! It was mixed in with all of the other shells and had a small hole in it but I told her that was a pretty rare shell to find in our area. Very nice find!
James and his brother Jacob (from Chicago) are experienced shellers who named all of the shells they found – which BTW, was very impressive. It tickled me so much though when James snatched a perfect bright orange HORSE CONCH out of the water and shouted “Score!”. Yes you did, Jacob!
It was so much fun to see everybody finding such beautiful treasure. Local sheller Roma (who never lets me photograph her- silly girl ;)) never even got wet by the waves as she sat in the shell pile digging away. She found all of these shells in one small area…
As you saw in the video on Thanksgiving Day, Clark didn’t want to get wet since we had plans later in the day for our big meal but after finding these 2 ALPHABET CONES right next to each other coming in with surf… it was all over.
Super Sheller Clark was soaked by the time we got to our car.
Uuuuuhhhhh… and so was I.
A few minutes after Clark took that picture, I found a JUNONIA! Yes, it is a little beat up and cracked but I was very thrilled! I showed it on my last post but I love that photo so much, here it is again. These were the best of our finds on Thursday…
After shelling for countless hours Thanksgiving morning, we decided it was time to pack it up. While loading up the car with all of our loot, we met this sweetheart family Linda, Eliana and Nik from Pennsylvania ready to adventure out to find their own treasures. Prepared with shelling scoops, bags and a fantastic attitude I’m sure they found all of the shells they could hope for. So nice to meet y’all!
But that’s not all folks! I know this is a long post but I have so much to catch you up on since … really…. its been a Shellaganza. I have met so many nice folks while shelling and that was just on Thursday. I want you to meet more folks that I was shelling with yesterday (Friday) at Blind Pass (Turner Beach) it was a Sit N Sift kind of day…
The shells weren’t crashing up on the beach any more but they were buried in a mound of shells. These were all found sittin’ ‘n siftin’ by Jeff and Donna from Palm Beach Gardens….
Isn’t that amazing? Jeff and Donna were sitting right here to find a CARRIER SHELL, GAUDY NATICA, SHARKS EYES, ALPHABET CONES, FLORIDA CONES, FLATS, TULIPS… and on and on. Love it!
Shelling Sistah Connie Knight was deep into the shelling zone with her cute hat and tee on :)
It was so much fun to meet her shelling family on this big pile of gems… meet Zach, Lori and Nate with Connie all visiting from Iowa
I always love to see that rich chocolate color in the LACE MUREX Nate found along with his other favorite shells…
Local shellers Bob and Sue couldn’t resist sifting through the pile looking for a few unusual shells but I think were having more fun giving OLIVES to the other shellers. :) There were so many OLIVES!
I met sweet Patti Goodwin on last month’s iLoveShelling Cruise to Cayo Costa (“Woop!” heehee) but this time I got to meet her husband Curt too. They arrived when I was about to leave so I hope y’all found some good treasures.
I saw Becky and Wade again too. They had been at the Lighthouse Beach on Thursday (Thanksgiving Day) and told me it was a great day shelling there too.
Wade found this Mega True Tulip at Lighthouse Beach! Woohoo! It was a fabulous day on all of the beaches of Southwest Florida!
Since returning from Cat Island, things have been a whirl wind… literally… with the wind whipping from the north bringing such exciting shelling days for us here at home. Then preparing for the big holiday, I haven’t been able to find one extra second to clean our Caribbean shells from our vacation or much less finish telling you all about it. I’m so sorry but when local shells arrive, I want you to know about it ASAP! So if you are anywhere near SW Florida and want to do a little shelling, most of the beaches have some great shells and some really interesting BEACH BLING to explore. Once I slow down and finish up local exploring (Island Inn beach has great shells too!) , I’ll share the rest of our adventure to the Bahamas so you will have more info on other shells from around the world.
Want to shell together? Join me on the next iLoveShelling Cruise to Cayo Costa Friday December 6, 2013 at 9am!
How exciting, fun, fun, fun! The shells are all beautiful! Wish we were there!
Ugh!! I’m so sad I haven’t been to Sanibel in forever. Gonna have to change that soon. Missing out on so many wonderful shells. That said, I’m very happy for everyone blessed to have been there over the past few days. Great finds!!! Congrats to all.
It’s been awhile since we’ve seen so many wonderful shells rolling in. What a fascinating mix and variety of shells that were found. Love the cabrits murex, carrier shell, scotch bonnet and giant tulip. As I gaze out at the snow covered yard and the thermometer that read 5 degrees this morning, I am very very SHELLOUS! Congratulations to all!
I know! Its been way too long … but you know? it makes the finds that much sweeter and more appreciated when it happens like this. Maybe its a sign of what this “winter” will bring!
We booked our shelling cruise for March 3rd!!! Can’t wait to get out of Wisconsin to visit our favorite place in the world and get shelling again! :)
fantastic!!!! looking forward to seeing you!
Fantastic pickings! Well done on that Junonia Pam!!!
Some great shells showing up! Love the Cabrits murex!
I wish I could swap one of my snow piles for just one shell pile. Those lucky shellers were finding such a large variety of shells…I thought I had good shelling days but nothing like these guys Congrats.. L-O-R-E-E
You can definitely tell who the Floridians are vs the Northerners in those photos. The Floridians are in sweatshirts and the Northerners are in shorts! ;)
I also noticed that must have been inthe low 70’s verus our -10.
it was in the high 40s in the early morning. but now that you wrote -10…OMG it does sound whimpy. hahah
And they may not all be northerners! My family and I would have probably been swimming the flats in that kind of weather, and we only live in Georgia. Just goes to show how awesome it must be to live in FL. ;)
YAAAY! You found a Junoniaaaaa! So happy! I’ve been just itching to know about it since the photo in the last post. That was really creative, by the way: Piling your shells together so artistically :). I may have to do the same thing with some of our seashells that we found on Sanibel.
Oh my goodness, what gorgeous finds! I had some good luck at Tigertail Beach on Marco Island today, and I’m so excited to day-trip to Sanibel tomorrow!
Pam, I don’t know if you’ll be shelling tomorrow (Sunday), but I’m entertaining the idea of Blind Pass at low tide, 3:11PMish, followed by Lighthouse Beach around 4:15ish. (I’m sure I’ll be at Blind Pass earlier, of course, given those massive shell piles!) If you happen to be around, I would love to meet you and thank you for your wonderful posts, as I’m an avid iloveshelling follower!!!
I’m going to have to rethink my policy of usually ignoring the shell pile at Captiva! I have always assumed that the infamous “others” have beaten me to the great shells! When we were there in June we found nothing I was hunting for …not for the lack of trying!! So happy for everyone finding such great shells…love hitting the mother load!!
Such a great post with all kinds of wonderful shells. Oh, I wish I were there.
Holy cow! Holy cow! Holy Cow!!!! Why does that never happen when I’m there!
Holy moley!! ……& I’m where? Not there .
Have fun everyone!!
Mary Ann
East Granby. CT
Hey Pam did you notice a “sleeper” in the picture of Jeff and Donna’s shel lfinds? the fighting conch at the bottom (just to the left of the words I Love Shelling) is the uncommon smooth or knobless form. Look closely..there are no spines or knobs. It looks to be quite a good one!
I didn’t notice that one in their pile. Good eye! The funny thing is, I saw other ones though. I was so surprised to see quite a few but they were all broken- but completely smooth. There were so many different variations of fighting conchs it was overwhelming. I found a violet colored juvenile. Ill take a pic and put it on my next post. thanks Steve!
….. Almost forgot, Congrats on the Junonia Pam!
Woooohoooo
Mary Ann
East Granby. CT
We love your pictures, adventures and e-mails. We joined your club and so glad we did. Keep up the great Work.
Bob and Patty Varwig
Sunset Beach N.C.
Just drove by Blinds Pass. Barricade out front says beach & parking closed to public. Wanted to go there on Tuesday.
Patty, I wrote a post about this last week- check it out… http://www.iloveshelling.com/blog/2013/11/27/giving-thanks-for-beaches-of-southwest-florida/
Hi Pam,
It’s not your fault, but wouldn’t it be nice if the Captivian-Powers-That-Be (hint, hint) could search for a temporary alternate parking lot for beach-goers in one of the private lots nearby? The planners messed up on this one. The best shelling in well over a year, it’s Thanksgiving weekend, and HALF of the parking spaces at Blind Pass are not available. Yikes! (Maybe some of the hotels/resorts could offer a “shuttle” for a few days?)
On a happier note, thanks so much for your continued posts! The shells are incredible. I wish I was there!
Got here late Friday afternoon….sorry I missed ya! WTYM ;-)
Pam,
I love the picture of you standing in the surf. It’s looks like you’re doing the “Sanibel Scoop”. Happy shelling!
I will be arriving on Sanibel tomorrow afternoon… Ahhhhhh!
I see you used the shifter to get your junonia. I hope I can find at least a piece of one when we’re there next year. Everyone’s finding great shells. If a shuttle can’t be arranged how about trying to car pool? Wish I was there. Pat
It was a wonderful couple of days! In 10 years of shelling, I have found 2 alphabet cones….then I found 12 in 2 days at Thanksgiving! Nutmegs, scotch bonnets, true tulips, horse conchs, etc……….. Crazy times!
Coral, Harry and I had to leave the day before Thanksgiving but we had great shelling at Tween Waters beach two days before. Found all of the shells represented except Junonia. Some fellow shellers even found Cabrit’s murex. We also saw THE GREEN FLASH for the first time ever!!!
Hi Peggy,
I can’t believe you saw the Green Flash, how exciting. Every year I go down I watch for it!! I’m so excited for you guys to have seen it. Do you have magical powers now? Heehee
Did you stay at the Tween Waters, if so did you like it?
Congrats,
Mary Ann
East Granby CT
WOW! Looks like everyone hit the jackpot! Love all the shells- some awesome finds! We had to work for our shells the week before but loved every minute of it. You could see the shells while walking in the water it was so calm. Amazing what the wind and waves can bring you just a few days later :-).