On your marks… Get set! It’s time for Shell ‘N Tell!  Our last night together at Island Inn Sanibel for Shellabaloo 3 was one of my favorite evenings because I got to see everybody’s exshellent shells they collected throughout the week and to see how well they did for their Shellinger Hunt. On the first night, I gave each sheller a scroll with a list of shells and Beach Bling to find throughout the week to display their fave finds and listed items on the last night for Shell ‘N Tell. The day before the festivities began, my kitty Dustie helped me prepare their scrolls…
I was so amazed and tickled at all of the cool shells in awesome displays for our mini shell show! Here is Lou (FL) with her trays with SHARKS TEETH FOSSILS, the SANIBEL SIX, BEACH BLING and a MACULATED BABY’S EAR (you can see it better in the first photo).
Can’t you just see the fun Donny (Port St. John, FL) was having by that smile? Ha! That’s true beach treasure!
Love, love, love how everybody showed their different display styles and different shells and bling like Marie (Kansas).
See? Look how sweet that SAND DOLLAR is encircled with OLIVES, CONCHS, AUGERS,WHELKS, SLIPPERS and white clam shells. I love the red vegetation too!
Martha (AR) made a simply elegant display!
She added some beautiful greenery to her shells and cool Beach Bling items of a TARPON SCALE, piece of CORAL and a metal stake. LOL I just loooove the humor of shellers!
Cathy (St Augustine, FL) had some awesome finds!
See that big green thing in the middle top? That is part of a PANCAKE SAND DOLLAR she found at Cayo Costa. Such cool stuff! And dont miss the beautiful color of the LIGHTNING WHELK bottom left…
Oh Angela (Windermere, FL), you are so cute! It’s amazing to see how many different varieties of shells you found…
OMG Jennifer (Ottawa, Canada)! You found so many big beautiful shells!
Marisa (Ottawa, Canada) wasn’t sure if she was going to love shelling or not when her mom Jennifer asked her to come with her to Shellabaloo at the Island Inn. By the end of our shelling week, she looked like she was just as “into” finding shells and beach treasures as every body else. And look at the great ones she found!
Annette and Jim (IL) were so much fun to hang around with for the week. And they had some great luck finding some awesome shells too…
As you’ve probably noticed, some the Shellinger Hunt items listed were… “Find 10 KITTENS PAWS then display them in a COCKLE SHELL.” and “Find a dozen JINGLES and display them in any large BIVALVE shell.” Since I loves me some Beach Bling, They had them find 2 pieces of Beach Bling as well. Annette found 2 OPERCULUMS!
Jim found an OPERCULAUM as well and did a nice job of  … “Find 5 DOUBLE COQUINAS with different colors”.
Nancy (San Diego, CA) had a gorgeous display with her very cool ARROWHEAD SAND DOLLAR she found while snorkeling at Cayo Costa.
She found 2 gorgeous LACE MUREXES and SHARKS EYES as well.
Trish (CO) added some doilies to spruce up her already beautiful display…
Her husband Gregg had some oh so fab shells too!
Here are Gregg and Trish’s shells combined to make a gorgeous display with flower petals added for color. Fabulous!
After being overwhelmed at seeing everybody’s shells all at one time, I tried to take my time and look back through some of the shells again. I got back to Gregg and Trish’s display and looked again at the WHELKS. OH MY GOODNESS! “EVERYBODY COME HERE!” I shouted. Â Look what Gregg found!
It’s a RIGHT HANDED WHELK!
*UPDATE: Oops! After lots of research and talks with Dr. Leal, we’ve come to the conclusion that this is a KNOBBED WHELK…. not a right-handed lightning whelk.
He had no idea it was special and just put it in his favorites pile along with all the other WHELKS and CONCHS. Yes! It should be in your favorites pile! We went to the Bailey-Matthews Shell Museum at the beginning of our shelling tour where Dr. Jose Leal had mentioned to us that the LIGHTNING WHELK was the only left handed gastropod in our area. It is extremely rare to find a RIGHT HANDED LIGHTNING WHELK.
But back to the Shellinger Hunt results! The winner was based on points scored from each of my questions and treasure hunt finds listed on the hunt rules. Thank goodness Super Sheller Clark was there to help with the judging because it was very close. Drum Roll Please…..
Congratshellations! The highest score is Lou!
 Thank you Sealife By Congress for generously donating an amazing prize of a stunning silver JUNONIA pendant on a silver chain!
On the first night, I had announced the winner’s prize of the necklace and let everybody get a glimpse of what the Shellinger Hunt winner would receive. Do I look excited or what? hahaha It’s from my favorite jewelry store. Thanks Jessica (from Hillgate Communications) for the photo!
Lou was a happy, happy gal to wear her new fab  JUNONIA necklace.
Our 5 day shelling adventure brought a group of kindred spirits together for a shelling trip of a lifetime. We started as shellers and bonded as friends.
Clark and I thank Island Inn Sanibel for organizing this unforgettably shellacious event and hope to be announcing dates for the next Shellabaloo very soon -you will be the first to know. We’re already looking forward to Shellabaloo 4!
Looks like an amazing time was had by all!
Oh wow. Seeing the big common room and all those shells is giving me the itch again!
Just awesome!! See you on the October cruise!!
Wow….wish we had been there! My husband and our two kitties are coming to Sanibel for two weeks in October and hope to meet you on the beach sometime. We will be fishing and shelling. Thanks for the beautiful picture of your gorgeous Birman mix kitty.
Can’t wait to take part in the next Shellabaloo!! Gonna run out and get that junonia charm…maybe it’ll bring me some luck and I’ll find a real one. A girl can dream! ;-)
Wow…amazing finds. Looks like you all had a great time.
So many shells….beautiful.
All kinds of really great shells! Can’t believe that right-handed lightning whelk! Wow!
I believe the right handed whelk is a pretty knobbed whelk :)
Oh I wish I was back there. A nice variety of shells. Where did Lou find all those sharks teeth? I can’t believe Gregg found a right handed lighting whelk! Awesome! Very nice necklace too. You did a very nice job Pam andso dideveryone at Island Inn. Pat
Thanks Pat! All of the sharks teeth and fossil fragments were from Cayo Costa.
Wonderful pics Pam! Thanks so much for all!
Congrats on a great one!!!! Pam, love the picture of you and Clark. You guys are the best!
Would you be able to give the name of your favorite jewelry store?
Of course! It’s Sealife By Congress on Sanibel Island, Florida. Here’s the link…. http://sealifebycongress.com/
I have enjoyed looking at all the pictures from Shellabaloo 3. I hope I can attend one of your adventures in the future.
Looks like a great time was had by all. Loved Cathy’s lightening welk with the purple interior.
After seeing Gregg’s amazing right-handed whelk, I just had to run upstairs and go through my whelk collection from when we stayed on Marco Beach in 2011. I had found THREE! Whoop Whoop Whoop!
If it weren’t for your amazingly fun and educational blog, I never would have known that I had something so special. Thank you, Pam!
Carolee, OMG Three? Could you check again and make sure they arent PEAR WHELKS? Its the LIGHTNING WHELK that is normally the left handed whelk.Check the ID page if you need to see the difference if you need to because they are very similar! http://www.iloveshelling.com/blog/seashell-identification/ Then let me know again, okay?
Can I send you pictures? Maybe that way you and some more experienced shellers could look at them and verify what kind of shells they are.
After looking at pictures of the Lightning Whelk and comparing them to pictures of the Pear Whelk, it looks like they could very well be Pear Whelks.
I will be doing a post on the differences from a left handed and right handed lightning whelk and also what the difference is from a pear whelk as well. Ive got a very busy week with a big announcement coming Thursday or Friday…. so after that, I’ll compare the shells so you can see the difference. Thanks for getting back to us so quickly about the pear whelks.
Pam I thought I had some right sided LW but they turned out to be Knobbed Whelks they have knobs on them!
WOW…looks like everyone found some awesome shells and “bling”. Thanks for sharing all the fabulous pictures of everyone’s treasures. And my favorite pic of all? The great photo of you and Clark! It really captured the two of you fabulously! Congrats on another Shellabaloo! I hope to make one in the future…
Oh Christine, You are a doll. Thank you so much sweetie!
PS- It would be a hoot to have you on one our shelling adventures!!!
Gregg and Trish’s display looked like a delicious (or “shellicious”) dessert tray!!
Beautiful!!!!
The right handed lightning whelk was a great find down there! Up here in NE Florida I find them all the time. It is rare for me to find a left handed one!
Tana, I’m sure you are finding the KNOBBED WHELK in NE Florida… which is right handed. Check them out and see. We dont have the KNOBBED here
How often do you have the Shellabaloos? Would love to join the fun if my work schedule permits. Coming to Sanibel in November and can’t wait. Want to find some great shells and maybe find you on the beach:)
We hope to do Shellabaloo 3 times a year. Last year was January, May and August. Im hoping 2014 will bring January, May and October for our 3. We are still working on exact dates and will announce the next one in a couple of weeks. Check this page for iLoveShelling day cruises to Cayo Costa here… http://www.iloveshelling.com/blog/iloveshelling-events/ Hope you can join us!
I LOVE the photos of everyone’s displays. It’s hard to look at them and not be tempted to catch the next flight out. Sanibel is such a wonderful place. Thanks for sharing, Pam.
Love the junonia charm!! I will be looking for a real one when I am there next week, will be on the Sept. 12 excursion w/you. Can’t wait, I am soooo excited!!
Congrats Gregg on your beautiful right handed Whelk!!! I have to admit that I am quite envious, but so excited for you at the same time! It has been on my wish list forever!!!!! One of these days…..haha!!
Just arrived on the island….heard the brackish water is from lake okeechobee. Would appreciate any other information you have.
Seaglass,
I encourage all of us whom are concerned about the environmental welfaere of the GULF to read the science about the release of toxins from BIG SUGAR interests into our waterways at: miamiherald.com 8-24-13 OPINION by my local hero, Carl Hiaasen.
It ain’t pretty, but hopefully with Carl’s courage to stand up for our state of FLORIDA and her gulf waters, future generations will cherish the coastline as we are so very fortunate to do…. Hope this will help.
For updates and info, I encourage you to go to Sanibel Captiva Conservation Foundation website. They have factual information and constantly up date. It’s a fantastic resource… http://www.sccf.org/