My friend Diane joined Clark and me on the beach off West Gulf Drive yesterday for a lovely afternoon of shell seeking. We wanted to find a big WHELK like last week but she was just as happy with a candy HORSIE CONCH.
She was even happier to find 9 BABY’S EARS…
Then to top it all off she framed her Sanibel Six in a very creative MANGROVE SEED POD picture frame.
I met another blog buddy Candice from St Pete! She saw Clark with his shelling backhoe and asked him “Are you Clark?” LOL
She said she wasn’t finding much, so I walked with her just for a few minutes and we found a few goodies… 3 ALTERNATE TELLINS, a PURPLISH TAGELUS, COQUINA, FALSE ANGEL WING, 2 CONCHS, a LACE MUREX, a TURBAN and a beautiful BABY’S EAR.
All of Candice’s shells were found on the high and dry wrack line on the far right of this next picture. On the sand bars, there were hundreds of FIGHTING CONCHS and a few bigger shells…
Aha! That’s where the big WHELK was that we were looking for. Jennifer (Sanibel) had already found that prize AND three ALPHIES!
Nice finds, Jennifer!
Clark didn’t find another big WHELK but he did find a huuu-jahh piece of WORM ROCK. He knows this is another fave of mine. It doesn’t look like anything fabulous in this photo but trust me, it’s cool. This is a rock formed by a colony of VARIABLE WORM SNAILS (not exactly the same thing as my “wormie shells” we find) and it’s not every day for us to find it this big.
Look at it close up…
Rock on and have a happy Monday!
As always, I am sooooo jealous! Love to stop in and live vicariously through your blog even if it’s for just a few minutes.
Caron
Once met a lady from Indiana who collected larger pieces of worm rocks and used them for mulch in her garden at home.
Only 49 more days till we are on Sanibel :-)
Lee
what an amazing few days at the beach. I love the worm rock!! I’ve only found very tiny pieces. Hoping for just a smidgen (okay who are we kidding – a great big ol’ smidgen) of this for my time in Oct!
Seeing these picture and hearing of your shelling adventures just make my teeth itch to be there in the shallows. Thank you from the bottom of my heart for sharing these delights.
Tropical essence trapped shell-less in the north,
Robin
Looks like alot of Super Shellin’ happening there…wish I could be there with you. Love the Baby’s Ears. That sure is one heck of a piece of worm rock! I’ve found smaller pieces. Always thought they were the “worm castings” from the Wormie Shells! I am amazed by the size of the beach and is that at low tide with a tide pool in between the wrack line and the water? Looks amazing! Cheers, Pam!
Love your blog. I live in beautiful Hawaii and would love one day to visit Sanibel. Do you know if there are any vendors who sell cone shells that are less than 1″ in length? I create jewelry with them! Thanks!!
Wow what finds!! Can’t wait to be there next month!! Pam, … How old do u think the worm rock is?? Very very cool!
Hope to meet up with some of the other shellers posting notes that will be down in October! Feel free to contact me ;)
Mary Ann
Marbear110@aol.com
Awesome
I always have a great day when I can take a virtual shelling walk with you and Clark.
Mmmmm! Very nice Pam!
Looking forward to the new moon low tide at the end of this month. Weather permitting I will be shelling away. Your web site, blogs and updates are amazing and so very enjoyable.
Thanks so much.
Aha! The notorious Clark & his backhoe…
I keep thinking that there can’t possibly be that many shells …. Living on the southeast coast of Fl. we never get shells like that unless they dredge the beach and the machine spits them up on the shore…sorta doesn’t have the same feeling of “wow look what I found”. Really looking forward to taking a trip over..
That last pic with the sand dollar is awesome! Nice shot!
I wish I could be there for that shelling. The beach and the clear blue sky look so inviting…. You need to make Clark a shirt that says “Yes, I’m Clark!” LOL!
Looking at your beautiful pictures always makes my day better. I’ll be back someday!
Out of curiosity, have you ever found a Sunrise Tellin there in Sanibel? I found a few gorgeous pieces of them in Cancun while on vacation – such a beautiful vibrant yellow, with pink lemonade streaks! I’ve seen a few pictures of them online. They are fabulous!
Sunrise Tellins are how I found this website, even though I haven’t seen any mention of them.
I’m curious too – have you or anyone else that you know of ever found one? They are really beautiful, but I’ve only found pieces and very small whole ones when in the Bahamas.
Back to this website – I LOVE it and I really, really hope to make it back to Sanibel/Captiva someday. We stayed in Ft. Myers Beach for a week in August, 1997 and spent a couple of hours there two different days. We went to Bowman’s Beach for a couple of hours one day and a few days later went to the area of Captiva where it seems you can’t go any further & parking was free. Didn’t find much, but I really didn’t know how to look either.
Thank you so much for sharing your experiences, beautiful pictures (love your pictures – many look like post cards), videos and most of all, your time that you spend on this website. It brings joy to many.
Holly
Hi Holly, Thank you so much for commenting and telling me how you found my blog. It’s always so interesting to me to find out when people find me by google or what types of searches- it’s such a small world now. As for sunrise tellins….. I havent found one here but I’ve seen photos of beautiful ones from Aruba. the speckled tellin is the closest Ive seen on Sanibel/Captiva. Thanks again for your nice comment.
Thank you for the information on Sunrise Tellins. In the meantime, I’ll continue enjoying your blogs till I get another chance to visit Sanibel/Captiva or anywhere I can get a “shell fix”.
Yes, the Sunrise tellin (aka Tellina radiata), http://shellmuseum.org/shells/shelldetails.cfm?id=244 is uncommonly found on Sanibel Island. The Sunrise tellins are beautiful shells and are found throughout the Caribbean and in the Gulf of Mexico and as far south as Brazil. Many other tellins are more commonly found on Sanibel Island. These include the Rose petal tellin, the Alternate tellin, the Speckled tellin, the Tampa tellin and even the White-crest tellin, although I haven’t found one of those on Sanibel in a while.
Thank you.
I can’t believe all the shells-I think you are “fooling” me and showig the pictures over and over again (LOL)..We have some great worm rocks also here in Puerto Penasco, Mex. Hubby says I MUST STOP this nonsense. I’ll be there in March – save some for me.
Janet in Arizona
Pamie, ( things you like, add ie LOLROTF!)
NICE!! Love the wormie rock! Never seen one that big!
I am slow in my response , but I finally found the pics of me and Michelle for her bachelorette party in March! Her wedding was fab with all the ark shells! I really appreciated all the work you went to, to fix up the goody bags with your products that I ordered for the party!! The girls really enjoyed everything! If only you would have had the lighted cap in March………..
Keep on shellin……….. ;)
Hi Pam –
Just got back from being gone on a business trip so I am catching up on my shell reading. Love the video of the notorius “Super Shellin Clark” showing us how its done! Just wondering, where did he get that terrific “2 scoop’ shelling hoe? Perhaps that what I need to improve my shelling skills! :)