The sight of two beautiful nine inch LIGHTNING WHELKS  laying in the path at your feet on your evening beach stroll would be very rare. That’s why I normally don’t find the big shells like Clark. You have to hunt for them in the water. Good thing I have Super Sheller Clark with his trusty shelling backhoe because he found this 8 1/2 inch and 9 1/2 inch in the water off West Gulf Drive beach access #6 by sloshing around in the water right where the waves were breaking on the beach.
Of course they weren’t laying there side by side but they were in an area pretty close together. I was up on the beach looking through a few shell piles when Clark came walking up to me with these two beauties in his backhoe.
Whoa! Look at the color and size of those WHELKS. They are stunning!
We shelled until dark and on our way back to the car, we saw that Bobby Jo from Sanibel found a big WHELK too!
Things are getting stirred up in the gulf after we had some outer weather bands coming from the north from Hurricane Irene and now we have Tropical Storm Lee in the north of the Gulf  Of Mexico. So the past few days have been feast or famine shelling. We went to this same spot the next day and there was nothing to be found. We were so happy we stopped by when we did and so is John from Virginia. Here’s a little video of what the shelling looked like in the water that evening.
PS- The video on my newest Panasonic DMC-ZS10 isn’t as user friendly as my old one so that’s why I haven’t take as many videos lately. Grrr- Rasher-frasher, I love making fun movies. I’m not sure why it kept blurring but at least you get to see all the shells rolling in, right?
Those are awesome….
I am loving your website. I get excited every time there is a new post on FB. My husband and I are coming to Sanibel the week after Christmas for our 30th wedding anniversary. I am trying to learn all I can about shelling before we come. Trying to figure out how I am going to look for shells in the water though with it being winter.
My husband and I go to Sanibel in the winter months (for our anniversary as well) and the water is warm! It is the wind that will chill you out, so bring jackets and a change of cloths to change into once out of the water. I have actually swam in the water in the winter in Sanibel, It is not bad and I am from South Carolina so I am not a hard core winter weather person. I can’t take the cold.
Get the tidal charts off Pam;s website and plan to be out there at low tide to have the best shelling experience. Look at the wind predictions on weather websites. Shelling is better when the winds are up over 10 to 12 miles an hour blowing into the shores (or a storm, we had excellent shelling the morning after a big storm on Sanibel).
Some people get out there at 2 and 3 am with flashlights to look for the large conchs that wash up in the tides overnight, but I just can’t bring myself to get out of bed at that time to go look. Maybe one day!
One thing I do, on the beach when walking on Sanibel, is to look at the wash line. I find all kinds of nice shells mixed in with the sticks and reeds. No one likes to look up there so the shells get missed.
Good luck and have a great time! We will be coming down behind you! We can’t wait!
You don’t think the tears of jealousy falling on my computer will short it out or anything, do you?
I am here in Sanibel…. Should I stay here at blind pass for tonights low tide?
Found lots of King Crown here yesterday.
Jackie – Kings Crowns are my favs!!! (along with every other shell). Congrats on your abundance!!
Oh baby!
A blurry look at life on the beach is better than no look at all…..sigh….
LOVE the shelling video…and LOVE those whelks!
Amazing whelks….
nice find!!!!
PAM……………………WE CONTINUE TO BE SO GRATEFUL FOR ALL OF YOUR WONDERFUL PHOTOS AND COMMENTS……………
RASHER THRASER I WISH I WERE THERE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!.
SANIBEL SISTER (TWEESER) LINDA
great videos!! feel like I am there shelling!!
are the no-see-ums bad at this time of day?? what do you use??
It’s been so breezy, I havent run into no see ums lately. I havent found anything that works for me yet against them except to find a breeze, then they get blown away. But I think I may be getting immune to them too because I havent seen them all summer.
I was there 3 weeks ago and didn’t think i got bit but 3 or 4 times.
The day after I got home, I started itching alot. I had over 20 bites on my arms and over 20 bites on my legs. I suppose it must have been the no-see-ums. I sure wish i had used the bug spray I took.
I was just there August 9th to Aug 16th and I had tons of bites! My friend’s daughter did too, and she was worried they were bedbugs so we went to the doctor. There were 67 on my legs alone!! I had well over 100 bites! It was my third time being there in the summer and I had never had noseum bites before! They were terrible even though we had bug spray on! Much worse than mosquito bites, I itched for days and had to take Benadryl as well as put anti-itch cream on constantly!
You’ll never believe this, well, maybe you will. I had a dream last night of finding 2 large lightening welks at my feet in the shallow water! I rarely remember my dreams, so this was unusual for me.
We’re hoping to be in Sanibel during the negative low tides in either January or March. I think we need to buy a condo there so we can visit more often, don’t you think?? ;)
I do believe you had that dream Donna. And yes, I also think you need a condo here and I know the perfect person to find you that condo … Super Sheller Clark will come to your rescue! ;) heehee
When it’s our time to buy, you can bet we’ll have Clark help us!!!
Absolutely Super Sheller Clark will be the first one I’d call! I feel like I know him by now. Do you have a link to his business on your website?
Loved the video- and the commentary! I wondered how the shelling was with Lee in the Gulf; good luck to all of you who are heading that way or are already there :D !
Great finds! I haven’t found any that big down here in Bonita Springs, I guess it’s true, Sanibel is the Shelling capital!
Cheers!
Those whelks are huge! Love the video…just the sound of the ocean is enough to get me itching to be there! Thanks Pam! I really needed to see and hear some wave action!
Love the sound of the waves! Love the video.
OOOOO AAAAAHHH !!! Oh my gosh , it sure made me want to get my feet wet & sandy !!! Thanks for keeping all of us updated on how the shelling is on Sanibel !!
wow, that’s what i wanted to find when I went last month. I found mostly miniatures.
Once again – the shovel rules!
More shelling in action videos please!!!! Super therapeutic for this Florida girl in the central plains of Illinois. I missed my son’s call from Basic Training at Fort Benning because my husband’s phone turned itself off and was in tears….but this really helped me feel better……
omg, Pam! That video took me back to my fave times shelling, the excitement of seeing something colorful peeking out of the sand & feeling so good when it’s a keeper! Gosh, it really is an addiction, isn’t it? :)
Ok, your Panasonic is more high tech than mine :D, but I read something about continuous auto-focus causing blur problem in video. I’ve had that occur in regular foto shoots as well, especially at sunset! hmmmm, I need to go bug some techie forums….:) Thank you SO MUCH for fulfilling my Sanibel addiction!
I love it!!! Thanks for the video, its like I was there! Love the toe-polish color too! ;)
Thank you, thank you for the video – it makes me feel like I am there! Counting down the days until Dec….can’t wait to return to the most relaxing place I’ve ever been.
LOVE………the……….WHELKS!!!!! They are awesome! Can’t wait to see what the ocean stirs up next, but those are beauties. Congrats!
Nice, nice, nice! Gorgeous. Jealous…..
Wow, I am jealous! Beauties! Thanks for posting the video! It is sooooo fun to see the live action! Wish I was there!
Thanks for the virtual shelling video. I feel like was there. Did you hear me yelling at the screen, “Hey, you’re missing some!”
Hi,
Where did Clark get his backhoe?
Amy
Clark got this backhoe at Bailey’s General Store on Sanibel
I just recently moved here from CT … I love your website and postings … I am so jealous though of all your finds. Can hardly wait until I get my first “big” find. Keep up the great postings.
Love the video even with the blurr!! Thanks, I will never get enough virtual shelling with you! Dont you pick up olives? thought I saw some….. I LOVE iloveshelling.com!!!