find seashells after a storm sanibel

On your WHELK. Get CERITH.  GO Shelling!

Sanibel shells from storm winds

For the past 3 days, Southwest Florida has been peppered with high winds, rough and choppy seas in Gulf Of Mexico, rain showers and extreme tides. Thank goodness we didn’t get a direct hit from Tropical Depression #9 (now named Hurricane Hermine) on Wednesday, so it was safe to go scouring the island to find a huge shell pile that formed in the morning on the west end of Sanibel at Blind Pass that brought a few awesome treasures (top photo).

seashells on the beach

After picking through those treasures for a while, I couldn’t wait to see what was happening on the east end of Sanibel at Lighthouse Beach.

sanibel beach with shells

The gulf side was still too choppy but by the late afternoon the shells started piling up at the waters edge on the pier side of the lighthouse.

seashells at sanibel lighthouse beach

Then more rain and more high winds… then…. fast forward to this morning at Lighthouse beach near the fishing pier again…. Shellzam!

seashells after a storm on Sanibel island Florida

It was Shellmania! Shells started washing up on the beach but before they could even get on shore, we had a line of shellers sitting on the sand bar in the water having a spectacsheller time.

collecting seashells on sanibel island florida

It was total shelltopia! We all became fast friends after all 5 of these HORSE CONCHS were found in less than an hour. We would hear screams of joy when someone pulled another empty one up out of the shallow water then we splashed over to see the next trophy- give a big hug then oooh and ahhh. Such a blast!

pam rambo, andrea with shellers with horse conch shells on sanibel

I found a HORSE CONCH too! It was very cool although it had lots of old barnacles and shell “crust” but since we have a few already at our house, I decided to gave it away in a “guess a number between 1 and 100” game with 9 other shellers. Congrats Andrea! haha So. Much. Fun.

sheller pam rambo with horse conch

Feeling the anticipation of what a Tropical Depression in the Gulf Of Mexico like Hermine (aka “#9”) will do to our beaches if there’s no threat of danger, makes all shellers feel giddy with excitement.  If you’re an extreme sheller, this is what we wait for. It’s happiness. 

IMG_1141

While running the beaches the last 2 days, I met so many amazing people finding such awesome treasures. This is what makes the beach here so much fun- sharing the shelling love.

IMG_1183

IMG_1131

IMG_1148

IMG_1161

IMG_1160

IMG_1213

We also saw Captain John shelling with his family Katherine and Jack at Blind Pass. He was the new captain with Captiva Cruises who captained our last iLoveShelling Adventure .  They just moved to Sanibel 2 months ago and looks like they’re already getting the hang of finding shells. Nice TULIP!
IMG_1195

I haven’t even gotten a chance to hit all the beaches because we still have storm bands driving thunderstorms though our area. Please remember…. any time you hear thunder PLEASE be safe and get off the beach. It’s so easy these days to find a good radar weather app to be aware of storm bands coming through so you can be prepared. If you don’t have your smart phone with you, the sound of thunder is Mother Nature’s warning signal to be safe and take cover. The shells can wait… Mother Nature knows best.

IMG_1271

More shell stories to come so stayed safe and stay tuned ;)

Until then, have a shell of a day!

PS- Hi Joey, I hope you got that little WHELK from your Gramma Sandy. ;)

Pam-rambo-sanibel-shell-trips