This is yet another reason why I love living in paradise. We dress up for the holidays in shorts and flip flops and decorate golf carts as our floats for the Christmas parade. It’s cute, quirky and very Captiva.
John (AKA Elvis) and Denice Beggs of Royal Shell Real Estate celebrated with a “Blue Christmas”…
These gals were the fan favorites in their Naughty and Nice Pink Flamingo golf cart…
Can you believe there is a golf cart inside Kingfisher Vacations‘ Mighty Reindeer?
Look how adorable!
VIP Real Estate turned their whole golf cart into Santa himself…
Did you know that Rudolph The Red Nose Flamingo lives in Captiva?
…or did you know that snow flakes could get this big on Captiva?
I’m sure its no surprise there are mermaids on Captiva…
And Elves!
Captiva Kayak Company was one of the big winners of the best float. Cute!
For me, one of the best parts of the parade was before it even started. As we pulled the Junonia Jalopy into the lineup, we met iLoveShelling buddies Diane and Steve from Connecticut. It was so nice to meet yall! Hope you find lots of treasure this week.
The oh-so-cute Raccoon Captiva Critter Christmas float was on the move…
Les Pendleton of American Realty Of Captiva (they made the Raccoon float above!) filmed the whole parade. So you get to see it too! Happy Holidays from the Captiva Holiday Village Golf Cart Parade, thanks to Les!
While we were having all this fun at the parade, Donnie Benton was busy shelling Blind Pass and this is what he found.
Nice, huh? But look at this SCOTCH BONNET!
And he found this freakish FIGHTING CONCH. Very cool.
Over on West Gulf Drive, Gail and Alicia found a MacDaddy 12 inch HORSE CONCH. And it was Gail’s birthday…that’s a great birthday gift from the sea! What a weekend.
Hi Pam…We are coming down shelling….We will be there Friday 9th, early evening and leaving early Wed 14th…We’re staying at Shalimar and SURE hope we get to meet you on this trip! My daughter, Shell and my friend, Barb are coming with me. Can’t wait to get the sand between our toes!
I love it! It looks like such a good time and to wear flip-flops and shorts to any Holiday event?? I’m jealous!!
Can you tell me though, did all the shells come rolling in after we left? I’m dying to know!
I had to slow down last week as I drove off the island towards home. The Christmas lights were up & Periwinkle Drive was magical. My church has a quirky “Festive Holiday Apparel” the 1st service after Thanksgiving where we all get out our Christmas regalia & adorn ourselves with bright & blingy holiday wear. Everyone was in red & green except me. I was in pink & i Love Shelling blue with a Flamingo Santa on my Beall’s purchased t-shirt. Merry Christmas!
The parade looks like such fun – I love all the floats. What a great time of year to be on Sanibel!
It was so much fun! But now that we have a little more time on our hands…. it’s time to get to the beach and start shelling! That huge horse conch is so beautiful, It makes me want to spend every waking moment on the beach hunting for that shell’s brother!
I’m with you, Pam…must possess a Conch that size! LOL
Maybe next trip…no not maybe…for sure, next trip a Horse Conch that size WILL be mine!
Happy Hunting, Pam and everyone! Shell away, shell away, shell away all!
Love it! I was there this time last year, and I miss it so much!
Cool! See you (and some great shells) soon, I hope! Arriving in paradise tomorrow late afternoon.
Love it! I stayed in a cottage at Blind Pass this time last year, and I miss it so much!
Next year I want to view the parade in person. As always your pictures brings much to life for us all. Like you all, I too would love to find a Mack daddy horse conch.
Was the horse conch found in the water or on the sand?
Will there be a parade for the Shellabration in March? I’m looking forward to experiencing the island life in person… better start practicing my Sanibel stoop and Captiva crawl, right?
Loved seeing the golf cart parade! Wish I could see it in person someday. I really enjoyed meeting you on the beach in Oct., We found about 12 alphabet cones the next day, it was fabulous!
I just ordered the 2-beamed shelling hat–Merry Christmas to me!! I won’t get to use it until next Nov., but if I buy it now I can call it a Christmas present.
Have a wonderful Christmas in paraldise and thanks for helping us enjoy Sanibel from afar.
I love that horse conch!!! I think they make one of the prettiest bigger shells
The parade looks fab too.
You have been a busy bee – hope you get to relax a little before the holidays hit.
Just loved the floats, especially yours and the pink flamingo one! I am crossing my fingers that my hubby can get off the week after New Year’s.. So jealous about that beauty of an alphabet cone and the horse conch! Love the calendar although I think at least one of the pics should have been you with your junonia find!!
Were watched the Captiva Parade and IT WAS FABULOS….Fun….Festive….Fabulos..
What a fun golf cart parade!! Great shells, too. Gotta love the super daddy horse conch!!!
For those that had questions about the Horse Conch, Gail found it on the sand around 9am with just the tip sticking up near the high tide wrack line. She saw something that looked unusual and grabbed it and pulled. We did the shellers happy dance after that:-). We were staying at Beachview Cottages and it was about 1/4 mile up the beach towards Blind Pass. Our neighbor at Beachview, who also happended to be celebrating a birthday that day, found a 7″ one at sunrise. Quite the bounty…