Seashell Excavation
Shells were rolling on the shore of Captiva Island all last week at Blind Pass. You can see the gradual changes in my photos since Wednesday and this is what the shell mound looked like yesterday afternoon. It looked like a archeological dig for Mayan ruins… or for dinosaur bones….. nope, they were digging to China for shellicious seashells.
Cheryl digging for shells
Cheryl has been a sheller all her life and made her own “backhoe”. She is a fossil hunter so she knows how to dig deep to get the best specimens. Last Wednesday she found 8 CONES when the shells were rolling in!
Shell excavation at Blind Pass
Some people were doing the sit ‘n sift or the shelling shoe shuffle while others were digging with their shell backhoes.
Bruce (Oregon)
Bruce, a member of the Oregon Shell Club, was tickled with a piece of JUNONIA, COCKLES and CUT RIBBED ARK shells.
Bruce's Cut Ribbed Ark shell
Emma (Canada)
This is Emma with her piece of JUNONIA she had just found. Those JUNONIAS are teasing us! She and her mom Barb came all the way down to Sanibel/Captiva from Canada because they have been seeing pictures and reading about the fabulous shelling on our islands from….. YES! ….. This Blog! She really told me that! Thank you Barb, that’s such a compliment. I hope you and Emma will find a whole JUNONIA while you are here.
Emma enjoying every view of Captiva
I am a day behind getting pictures to you because of the parade but I will post today’s photos of the every changing beach at Blind Pass and the shelling. The best shelling now is under the bridge of Blind Pass on the Captiva side. Stay Tuned!
I just can’t stand it! I’m soooo jealous! How stinkin’ fun,
I saw the change in the shell mound, too, in the last few days of last week when I was there! ~ Maria
I am on my way to Sanibel from Texas. This is the best shelling month. I was there in June. I love your website and have sent it to all my family and friends.
WOW, a veritable mountain of shells! I LOVE IT!!!!! That is so exciting for you all. You go, girl, that Junonia is just waiting for you to find it and rescue it!
Oh, that would just be heaven for me.. the plop right down there with toes in the sand, sifting. Hoping to get there soon.
I shared your site with my husband last night. He was in awe of the beauty & bounty. And I got a kick out of the golf cart parade… such fun :-)
I predict the sea will give you a Junonia soon…
wow how exciting. i just love it. i could live on a pile of shells i think.. :) except i wouldn’t want to break any
We arrive Saturday – cannot wait to join in the fun. Still have yet to do anything from my August finds. I do enjoy the dish of small shells that I have at work. Such miracles of nature bring a peace to the soul.
Thank you so much, we haven’t seen a shell pile like that in months. Oh how I hope to see some on our next trips, we have 2 planned 3 weeks apart and this cold weather we love.. The only thing helping with the waiting is checking out your blog.
Now that’s a new way of looking at it–shell excavating…excavations, hunting for fossils, archealogy!!! Love it!
I sure hope things are still that good or at least close to that good next week when our daughter will be here from San Antonio. We’re going over to the Loggerhead Marine Life Center in Jupiter (daughter used to work there) on Wednesday or Thursday so on our way back we’ll plan on doing some diggin’ with all you lucky people. I know you do your shelling in the a.m. Pam, so I’ll have to meet up with you another time.
Anybody going thru Ohio…? Please stop and pick me up…We have a mountain here,
but now of shells, it is snowing like a snowglobe, pretty….but lets face it, it is NOT shells..Oh to live the dream…..thank you for the visual….it is, as I say the stuff dreams are made of.