Cece (7), Laura, Mark, Jessie (10), Jake (12) from Cincinnati
I saw Jake snorkeling in the water at the Lighthouse beach, but what caught my eye was a huge smile after he stood up to examine a nice size shell he found. He found a few big COCKLE shells with both sides still together. His two sisters came over to show me SCALLOPS, CLAMS and KITTEN PAWS they found. Jessie found a nice white clam shell with a perfect hole in so she can string it for a necklace. Cece couldn’t wait show her treasures, give them to Jessie to put in her shell bag then jump back into the water for more snorkeling.
Jake's bivalves and Jessie's part of a sand dollar
There were some parts of SAND DOLLARS out on the sand bar but the whole ones were alive and very healthy. Just to find a piece of one keeps you coming back to find a whole white sand dollar…. on another beautiful day.
Pam – thanks for sharing some of your knowledge of shells with us and the kids. It made the day much more enjoyable and kept the kids in the water looking for more! Jake says ‘thanks!’ Mark and Laura
How wonderful to see the photo of our family at Sanibel! I’ve been vacationing in Florida since I was 7 years old (don’t ask!), and Sanibel is my favorite spot. Between the fabulous shelling (especially Middle Beach and West Beach and Blind Pass ), Ding Darling Sanctuary, the Shell Museum, nice condos, and wonderful restaurants, it can’t be beat! Thanks for posting the photo. I’ll be checking your site more often! Nana, the Shell Seeker
You must be Mark’s mom!? Jake told me that you come to Sanibel every year and you have tons of shells in your house that he likes to look at. You raised a wonderful family- your passing on good sheller genes!
Yes, I’m Mark’s mom. In addition to Sanibel shells, I have shells acquired from as far back as the 40’s from all over Florida, plus some from the coasts of North Carolina, South Carolina, and some from my cousin in Hawaii. Laura and Mark gave me a wonderful shell wreath for my birthday one year, and my daughter made a card for me with a sea shelI stamp. I still am stopped dead in my tracks when I come upon a photo or painting of a shell. Amazing!
We love your blog and read it all last week while we were in Sanibel. We are all avid shellers and snorkelers. Our best finds were at Turner’s Beach and Blind pass. We found lots of conchs, lighning whelks, cones, sad dollars, 3 beautiful crab carapace sand nutmegs on BP and at Turners beach almost 100 olive shells! Strangely we found florida cones at Turner’s as well. They were so amazing and shiny. At both beaches we found 10 pieces of junonias but never a whole one. I wonder if the 10 count as 1??? We tried to find you on the beaches and hoped we would bump into you as we foraged for gems in the ocean. If we send you a picture of the shell loot will you post it?
Many Thanks,
Elizabeth
I’m sorry I missed you….especially since you found so many good shells! I’ve never seen so many junonia pieces all in one place- I hope you kept them. If you are on facebook, you can easily post them there on http://www.facebook.com/iLoveShelling. In most cases, I can transfer them here easier.
Pam:
Are you related to Clay and Vera Rambo? They were friends of our family in the 40’s and 50’s. They moved from Ohio, and I believe they were in California maybe??
We don’t know them but who knows, right? Maybe relatives from way back.