Low Tide shelling at Little Hickory
Shelling Bloggers Unite!
Blogger Karen from The Essential Beachcomber organized a low tide shelling expedition at Little Hickory for bloggers Rhonda from Shellbelle’s Tiki Hut, Debbie and ME! What a blast!
Bloggers Karen, Rhonda and Debbie
We met at Little Hickory beach in Bonita Springs at 7 am (yep, another early morning) yesterday for low tide shelling…. and gabbing.
Live sand dollar
Rhonda found this live SAND DOLLAR, then another and another. Lots of very healthy ones so even though we didn’t find any to take home, it’s always good to see them happy and healthy.
Bonita Springs Fighting Conchs
On the other hand, there are still hundreds of FIGHTING CONCHS fighting for their lives at low tide and many dead. I posted an article about this last week (Fighting Conchs on Bonita Beach) but haven’t heard an update as to why they think they are dying. As you can see, there are still tons of them.
Debbie’s true tulip
Debbie found this gorgeous TRUE TULIP about 4 inches long. I think that was the best find of the day!
Crucifix bone
Another beachcomber, Carol, at Little Hickory found a CRUCIFIX SHELL. It’s actually the head bone of gafftopsail catfish and it is said to bring good luck to the finder. I sure hope that’s true because……
My Crucifix shell from catfish
I found one too! Mine isn’t as perfect as Carol’s but I didn’t read anywhere that it had to be perfect to bring good luck. Woohoo!
Little Hickory beach
I’m already lucky to live in paradise but I feel lucky too for getting to spend such a fun day with 3 other beach bloggers! See? It’s working!
Karen The Essential Beachcomber
Thank you Karen for getting our Beachcombing Blogger-Palooza together!
Great finds! Guess I’ll have to add Little Hickory to my list of places to shell, but first, Sanibel is on my horizon in a VERY short while….woo hoo!!!!!!!!
I’d never heard of a crucifix bone — always something wonderful to learn on your blog!
Wish I knew more. Spent morning near lighthouse &
Find’t much. Disappointed.
Awww- I wish you had seen CShells with her blue scoop! She could have pointed some good stuff out for you. Don’t give up! Take your time and enjoy the whole experience.
Karen invited me a couple of weeks ago and I was so upset that I wasn’t able to be there because of having to substitute……looks like you guys had a great time and I hope I am able to be there the next time!!
Wow, I now have three more sites to get my “shelling fix”. Sounds like you had a great shelling adventure. That red true tulip is a great find!
Lee
wonderful!! i’ve never seen a live sand dollar before. thanks for sharing.as always i cant wait to get back to sanibel.
What a great way to make new friends!
It is a small world after all—I met Rhonda & Debbie at the Lighthouse Beach this afternoon. They recognized me by the scoop, you’re making me and the scoop famous. They told me about meeting you, but not about your shelling trip. Is Little Hickory a good shelling beach even when theres no negative tide? . Went to Gulfside beach this a.m. and found lots of minis at the surfs edge.
Little Hickory seems to be like most of the beaches on Sanibel…. when it’s good- it’s really good but always nice to be out there and you can always find some sort of treasure. That scoop is so easy to spot and makes it easy to tell the other serious shellers. LOL Rhonda has one too- Karen gave it to her for her birthday- so sweet!
Sanibel needs a scoop rental place for those of us who have to travel by plane and can’t pack our scoopers:-) Last year our condo had a big metal scoop for us to use but it about took off my leg everytime I went for shells in the surf.
Oops, it was Karen & Rhonda I met, sorry Karen. It must be all the blood rushing in my head from looking down all of the time thats put me in a state of confusion.
Fabulous! Absolutely Fabulous!!! Im so glad you ladies were able to find some cool things out there! That little beach is getting famous thanks to you guys!! The more the merrier!! I found a crucifix out at the 10 spot a few months back. The fishermen leave the heads of the cat fish on the beach~I ve seen them out there a lot~And that tulip~well..it just makes your heart skip a beat dont it?
Aha! That’s why we both found a crucifix on the same day. Carla- You are the one that made that little beach famous. Thank YOU!
You girls rock!! What a great thing to do. Debbie had told me you caught up. Wish I could have joined you. What great finds too. Love Debbie’s tulip and the sand dollar is amazing. Really amazing. I still don’t understand those things fully. I’ve never seen one at the beach but maybe they don’t live here in Australia? I also love your crucifix catfish. Isn’t nature incredible. Pruxxx
Love the photos, we’ve yet to view this lovely location but hope to soon. I can’t get over the crucifix bone, that’s pretty cool. Thank you for sharing Pam :)
Pam,
We’re thinking of checking out Little Hickory tomorrow. As for Lighthouse shelling, I found about 35 wentletraps out there at low tide yesterday. I had to scoop them with my net and go through all the shells. I also found a ton of little bitty ones. We were out there for about 4 hours though. So… it takes time and patience to find stuff out there right now.
Karen
That true tulip will bring smiles for a long time!
Keep searching for what ever you want to find. i just love your site – nothing better when back home in Canada. This year I have been searching for a Fargo Worm. Finally after 5 days of casual stooping I found 2 today. Not a big shell, but cute enough for me. I will be stooping another few days with my 2 black labs in tote. They will find any bone or dead thing on the beach.
The gabbing was the best part. I highly recommend all serious shellers add this activity to any shelling agenda. Hope to see y’all again real soon.
Karen
I came over from the Love the Sea blog…I just had to see your beach combing adventure. I really enjoyed looking at your blog.
I hope the Fighting Conch problem can be solved!