I’ve often said that shellers are the nicest people on the planet and after spending five days with the 13 awesome shellers that joined us for Shellabaloo 3, I’m positive that it’s true. It was truly spectacsheller! We shelled the beach at our home base at Island Inn Sanibel…
Angela found “candy”! LOL Yep, she found three sweet baby HORSE CONCHS and her sister Cathy found a huge SHARKS EYE and a beautiful LIGHTNING WHELK that was the most incredible shade of mauve I’ve ever seen. Don’t worry, I’ll show you a closer picture of it on my next post…
Marisa was the BANDED TULIP queen! I think she found about five of them within an hour.
Everybody was finding great shells… Jessica (who helped organize Shellabaloo for the Island Inn) found her first ALPHABET CONE!
We were so fortunate to have choices of shelling the wrack lines or shelling the water line. Fun!
Gregg and Trish and the rest of us had a crazy fun time on our boat ride for a shelling trip to the island of Cayo Costa with Captiva Cruises…
Look who joined us on our cruise! Rusty and Donna from Shellabaloo 2! Thank you so much for joining us- so fun to see yall again…
Oh gosh, there were so many other people I want to show you that were on the boat too but they deserve a whole other post on their own. I’ll show you more soon.
Once we docked at Cayo Costa State Park marina, we hopped on the island shuttle for a ride to gulf side for our next shelling adventure…
Nancy put on her snorkel gear and found a live SAND DOLLAR within seconds. She put this one back in the water to live a happy life then found several white ones that werent alive. Keepers!
Donnie headed towards the high wrack lines to look for some unusual BEACH BLING. He found something really cool! He found an empty baby turtle nest that probably hatched just a few days before we got there. Just in front of Donnie in the photo, you can see the empty shells surrounding the hole in the sand. There were no stakes around the nest to mark or monitor it for research so I doubt anybody knew it was there. It looks like the babies made so… Hooray!
He also found SEA BEANS and a few pieces of gorgeous SEA GLASS while walking next to the high wrack line on the beach…
Jennifer found a live ARROWHEAD SAND DOLLAR in knee deep water. After oohing and ahhing at this fascinating creature, she gently put it back in the water where she found it…
Annette found one too! I rarely see the ARROWHEAD SAND DOLLARS so it was a treat to see how purple they are when they are still alive.
Woop! Woop! Marie found a white KEY-HOLE SAND DOLLAR so she got to keep this one…
We had such a great day finding all sort of shells and BEACH BLING like sand dollars and fossil SHARKS TEETH.
A good time was had by all!
But hold on, this shelling party was just getting started. We carried our shelling party into the evening as Martha and Marie and our group witnessed a glorious sunset.
Then we hung out together for cocktails hours…
We were able to share our stories of our day and get to know each other.
We all had so much in common!
We all seem to be kindred spirits.
Oh and let me tell you, we did not miss any meals. We had fabulous picnic lunches every day that were out of this world and we ate delicious dinners at different restaurants every single night. All of the meals were included in the package!
Even the FroYo party at Zebra Frozen Yogurt was part of the Shellabaloo package. Yummy!!!!
I cant even find the words to tell you how much this week has meant to me and that it has been so special to have spent so much quality time together and have gotten to really bonded as a group. Since our 5 days together just ended today, I have lots more photos to sort through but I saved the best for last… Shell ‘N Tell photos! And I have the results of our Shellabaloo Shellinger Hunt. You wont believe all of the A-Mazing shells this group found and the creative shell displays they put together. So Stay Tuned!
Looks like a great time had by all.
It was sooooo great meeting everyone on Shellabaloo 3. Even though I only spent one day with all of you, it was so fun to meet other people just like me!!! I definitely want to do the whole Shellabaloo next time!! Friend me on Facebook, so we can keep in touch and trade shell stories!!!
Deana from NJ
Deena, are you the one we met from the reality show about New Jersey ice skaters? You were so cute and had us all rolling with laughter. Thanks for sharing your great finds with us!
Oh how nice! Shellers are the best people! :)
They sure are, and super friendly!
Looks like fun! Can’t wait to find out when your next Shellabaloo is scheduled. Pat
Ummm, yeah, I’m definitely going to the next one!! Glad you all had such a great time and I’ll look forward to more pictures! Yay!! ;-)
Enjoyed every smile on every shellers’ face !!
The Florida skyline is a tonic…
This site is the best :) I refer to ILS as Vitamin “SEA”
The seashells Pam reveals next, will be the icing on the cake…
OMGoodness Gracious how I look forward to returning to Florida.
Will see you on Shelling Adventure, Sept.12. Can’t wait to get to Sanibel on the 10th!!!
Island Inn is great! You can’t be any closer to the water if you tried. When I was there in April, I didn’t find any banded tulips, conchs, or sand dollars, but arc shells (?), scallops, kitten’s paws, and clamshells of all varieties (dosinias, southern quahog, sailor’s ear) were abundant. I found 3 live lightning whelks of decent sizes (put them back, of course). All in all I found almost 30 varieties of shell. A++ would shell again :)
It sounds like so much fun! I am missing Sanibel soooo much!!! Wish I could have been there then in my classroom! We have had very hot days & it’s no fun when you can’t jump in the ocean to cool off! It’s been in the upper 90’s with heat index of 108, and half of the Minneapolis Schools closed Thurs and Fri (the ones with no air)! Of course, not mine because it has air conditioning! Ugh, how wish I was there!
Sherri from MN
This looks like you did have a perfect 5 days. I wish I cold have been there. Since I had to retire from teaching for medical reasons I could have flown down for the event. I made a huge mistake..next time I hope to be there. However, I am still cleaning and enjoying all the shells we brought back from Sanibel in June. I can relive the days on the beach over and over again.
Soooo much fun…still decompressing. Made friends with kindred spirits as Pam said. Felt as if we had known each other for years…so comfortable. Go whenever and however you can. Hoping for a reunion already.
As one those at Shellabaloo 3, this was a dream come true for my sister and I! What a grand time we had there! Some serious shelling every day, wonderful breakfasts, lunches, and dinners, and getting to know and share with some of the friendliest people you’ll ever meet! Pam, Blanaid, Jessica, and all at the Island Inn made it so special for us and I thank you from the bottom of my heart! The terrific shells I found will always bring back so many special memories of Sanibel and Captiva Islands and all the nice people I met there. For those of you who are planning on coming to a future Shellabaloo, what a treat you have in store for you!
Wow! Looks like a spectacsheller time was had by all! Lovely photos as usual, and those sand dollars made purple my new favorite color! Sending prayers your way,
L
I am so thrilled for all of you; a great representation of all us shellers no matter where our home is Sanibel is heaven to us shellers!! Wish I was there , I’m missing Sanibel so much.
Hope all is well with the Sanibel bobcats Pam, & I’m sure your friend has named them all!! Do tell.
Mary Ann
East Granby. CT
Pam you’re just like the cruise director. Looks like another winning event.
I agree with Angela. I can’t express how much this week meant to me, finding wonderful shells and especially meeting such great people! Pam and “B” we’re so knowledgeable and helpful; EVERYONE was so friendly! I could never have imagined it would be so much fun! Great accommodations at the Island Inn, great food all week, and great weather, even with a few showers! I would love to have a reunion too, Marie! Thanks to all for a fantastic week!
Cathy! I miss you all already! xo