It’s always so nice to go on vacation, but I’m always so thankful to come home to such an amazing place like Sanibel. People always ask us why we want to go anywhere else on vacation when we already live in paradise. We love our sweet paradise but we also like the adventure of a new place. We love to explore the beaches of the world and to compare the different shells we find in different climates. But there’s no place like Southwest Florida. She welcomed us home with strong winds from the west to push some of our beautiful shells right up on the beach near the Sanibel pier today.
I found a sweet BABY’S EAR nestled inside a COCKLE shell filled with sand, water and some slipper shells. I’m so thankful I saw it hiding in there!
I saw Wade from Memphis with lots of loot too.
He found lots of APPLE MUREXES, small double SUNRAY VENUS clams, LIGHTNING WHELKS and TULIPS.
His mom (sweet Becky!) had some great finds of her own…
I couldn’t stand not knowing what was happening at Blind Pass so after I shelled at Lighthouse Beach, I drove to Captiva. The water was reeeaaally rough from the winds so there were some nice shells that came up with the high tide but not mounds…yet. This should be some good shelling very soon, folks…. I’m hoping. Just so you know before you go though- the parking lot at Blind Pass Captiva (Turner Beach) is closed for a renourishment project I told you about a couple of weeks ago. But.. I have some good news!
The Sanibel side parking lot of Blind Pass is still open. If you want to see if there are shells on the Captiva side … just walk across the bridge passed the Captiva parking lot then another few yards to a walking path to the beach. I took this photo on Captiva of the beach path and street so you could see how close it is to the Blind Pass bridge. Since the water is so rough right now the project is on hold so the guys doing the work will just have to play it by ear to see what Mother Nature has in store to have a completion date. I don’t have the answer to any more info on this project except how to get around the closed lot to the beach (for now) to do some beach combing :) … so If you have any questions about beach renourishment, please visit this link for Captiva Erosion Prevention District.
But hold on… I made one more shelling stop today too that was so awesome I just had to tell you about it. I went to the tip of Captiva to Redfish Pass on South Seas Island Resort and found a great shell mound forming already. Weehoo! So if you are lucky enough to be staying at South Seas Island Resort (the only way you can access this beach), you will have even more luck finding shells this weekend.
I’m very thankful to be home to our treasure islands and thankful to be able to share the bounty of the Gulf Of Mexico and our beaches. Best wishes to you and your family for a happy Thanksgiving, Pam and Clark.
PS- Part 3 of our adventure in Cat Island coming up next!
Pam, please ask Mother Nature if she would be kind enough to keep those shells rolling in; I am arriving on Sanibel this coming Monday afternoon. :)
I did notice that some of the big weather we got yesterday and today in the northeast had a little bit of a trailing edge on the south end that went over you guys too.
Talking of your Bahamian shells, have you seen the new-this-year 2013 edition of the large-format hard-cover book by Colin Redfern, “Bahamian Seashells”? This new edition is ALL in color. It costs $136, but it is worth every penny! It is drop-dead gorgeous.
Here is a link to a webpage showing sample pages from the book. You can’t read the text because the pages are reproduced so small, but it does give you some idea how great the images are:
http://www.bahamianseashells.com/page80.html
I’ve got that book! I studied before we went but haven’t had one minute to open it to ID anything since we got home. It will take some time
Glad you have the book! If I can help you ID stuff (especially the small stuff) while I am on-island, I’d be glad to! But maybe you prefer to unravel the mysteries by yourself… :)
thank You Pam loved this post hope to be down in April Happy Thanksgiving to you and your Family
loved your post Hope to come down in April Have a wonderful Thanksgiving
Have a Happy Thanksgiving! Can’t wait to see your photos. Glad you had a safe return-we’ve had high winds and rain in NY. Saw on the tv that freezing weather is expected in Florida-hope it doesn’t last too long. Happy shelling . Pat
I am giving thanks for the Shellin’ Rambo’s. Today did not break freezing temps. Shellabaloo Sisters Marie and Martha are soon headed that way…save some goodies for us. Meet you on the beach!
We just returned today from Sanibel. Didn’t find many shells this past week but because of that, we found many other fun things to do on the island. With this being our fourth trip, I finally pulled myself away from the beach long enough to rent bikes and go for a nice ride, something I wanted to do since the first time on the island. We also attending the Sand Sculpting on Ft. Myers Beach. I say, a bad day of shelling still beats a good day at work.
Woohoo! I’ll be there early tomorrow afternoon:-).
Happy Thanksgiving Pam and Clark! I’m thankful for you both and this wonderful portal to Sanibel you’ve gifted to the world.
Thankful today for so many things. Among those things is meeting you and Clark. Up here in freezing Ohio, you give me a virtual trip to the beach every time you post a new story. Thanks for all you do.
Ilovesheldon.
Happy Thanksgiving to Pam and Clark and all our Shellin’ Sistahs (and significant others)! I don’t want to leave out the men folk. Thank you for your love of all that is beaches and shelling and for having the idea to share! Have a wonderful time today and in the days to come when the beaches are filled with LOTS of bounty!
Pam,
THANKS for GIVING us so much joy and excitment with each beautiful post !!
Shellotte
I am thankful for all of you!!! :) <3
(Shellotte- your clever comments tickle me!)
I am thankful for your shellin’ sharin’. You have made my beachless days up north in Jersey tolerable. Cannot wait to be back there in April.
Oh Pam, I am in need of all the info. You gave on where to go in the Bahamas , someone here deleted all the emails you had sent on all the Bahamas places to go and stay and shell etc. any way I could receive them again? I am dying to do a adventure with you. When is your next real great one??? Thank you so much. G
Gale, hmmmm not sure what you ran by the emails but all of the info you can find here on my blog. Here is the link to the post I wrote that had the most info on the Cat Island itself and the places to stay and do… http://www.iloveshelling.com/blog/2013/12/04/look-what-the-cat-island-dragged-in/
As for my shelling adventures… the next big adventure is next month January 6-9 I’d love for you to join us! You can find all of the info on the January Shellabaloo and the cruises to Cayo Costa here… http://www.iloveshelling.com/blog/iloveshelling-events/