sand dollar with shell bracelet

Another day, another fabshellous SAND DOLLAR on our iLoveShelling Adventure to Big Hickory Island with Sight Sea-R Cruises yesterday.

boating to shelling destination in Florida

It was a blast and an amazingly calm, beautiful day to hunt for shells.

collecting shells in Bonita Florida

family time on the beach

Patti Goodwin (Nova Scotia) found a perfect SAND DOLLAR just moments of stepping on the beach.  That’s her SAND DOLLAR in the first photo with the shell bracelet similar to mine. We both go them from the Sealife By Congress line at Congress Jewelers. Love it!

Pat Goodwin with sand dollar

Erin (Chicago) had great luck with ANGEL WINGS and WORM SHELLS…

Erin from Chicago found angel wings on the beach

angel wings coquinas worm shells

It was so much fun to meet Megan H and her dad Peter (Illinois) after reading many of her comments here on iLS. Such a lovely time hanging out with you!

Megan H, Peter from Illinois collecting shells in sw FL

Her favorites from the trip include a SAND DOLLAR, ROSE PETAL TELLIN, ANGEL WINGS, KEYHOLE LIMPET, MAUVE MOUTH DRILL and a BUTTON SHELL.

beach finds from sw florida

I’m always thrilled to meet such great shelling families who enjoy being out on the beach together exploring. Fredrik, James, Michael and Jinny from VA were such a treat to talk with and shell with.
Fredrik, James, Michael, Jinny from VA find shells in FL

I was so happy to see that they loose to collect minis. Can you see how big that TUSK SHELL is in James’ hand? He even found a WENTLETRAP!

collecting tusk shells

We had lots of other families too. Like cutie shellooties Pearl and Becca from Sarasota.

Becca and Pearl find shells in sw fl

Marlene, Max, Emily and Ryan found a few keepers too.

Marlene, Max, Emily, Ryan on shelling boat

Charles, Ava, Andrea and Charlotte came to Southwest Florida from Ohio to enjoy a little shelling…

Charles, Ava, Andrea and Charlotte from Ohio enjoy shelling cruise

So happy Liam, Rosamary, Jillian and Mike drove from north Florida to join us on our shelling adventure…

Liam, Rosamary, Jillian, Mike north Florida

Liam and Jillian have quite the shell eye. I wish I had shown a little more of Liam’s LACE MUREX (it’s just peaking out in between the OLIVES and WORMIE)- it’s gorgeous!

seashells crab shells and sea pearl

Teresa, Reagan, Daniel and Mark were visiting from Kentucky to have some fun shelling.

Teresa, Reagan, Daniel, Mark from KY find shells in sw fl

Reagan is another Shelling Sister that loves JINGLES and aqua nail polish (I do too, Reagan!).

jingle shells and aqua nails

So good to see Tim and Mary again as well…

Tim, Mary find shells on salty sms cruise

Time showed me a few of his favorite finds of the day and I couldn’t help but notice his SHARKS EYE had a rough texture on the surface.

shells and sand dollars found

A little closer look at it… Aha- That’s SNAIL FUR! SNAIL FUR ( Hydractinia echinata) is a HYDROID (related to JELLYFISH) that forms on shells that have HERMIT CRABS occupying them. Hmmm, I wonder why? I’ve never been able to get it completely off a SHARKS EYE shell without it looking scared but it’s kinda cool just to know what it is that coats SHARKS EYES because I normally don’t see SNAIL FUR on many other type shells.

sharks eye shell with snail fur hydroid Hydractinia echinata

But anyway, there were other shells that we found that will clean up beautifully!

seashells in a circle

It was an amazing day on the beach combing and collecting in the cool, blue, calm waters surrounding Big Hickory Island on our Sight Sea-R shelling cruise.

cool calm and collecting

And of course each passenger on this iLoveShelling Adventure received a $25 gift certificate to Congress Jewelers-  Yahoo!

SLBC iLSPromo

New Cruise Dates Are Here! I just posted new dates for summer Shelling Adventures – CLICK HERE for reservations and schedules or click on…

pam rambo shelling trips