It couldn’t have been a more perfect weekend. The sun was shining, temps in the 80s, low humidity, shells in the surf….. and the very best part….. my family came to visit!!!
Greg and Tee!
My brother and I grew up spending our summers on the beach at Sandbridge in Virginia Beach and vacationing on the Outer Banks of North Carolina. The beach is in our blood so it’s a good thing we both found spouses that have that sand running through their blood too. My sister-in-law (the best a sister could ask for!) is all about the beach too so the first thing after the whole gang got here ….. we hit the beach.
Becky finding minis
Our friend Becky (and part of the family) was the first one to find out how glorious the miniature shell finds can be.
She found oodles of WENTLETRAPS, BUTTONS and BUBBLES scattered all along the Lighthouse beach on Saturday.
Clark and Greg in the shelling zone scooping up the mini shells.
This was exactly how one pile from their scooper looked after Clark or Greg dumped it on the beach for us to sift through. Go ahead, click on the photo above for some virtual shelling! How many WENTLETRAPS did you find?
My cutie niece Kelly spying some seashells too. I miss her already.
This was a mixed bag of minis after getting rinsed at home . Click on that photo too- you’ll love this virtual shelling too!
On Sunday we started the day on the Captiva side at Blind Pass and Becky was thrilled with sittin’ and siftin’ in the shell pile by the jetty.
Looky what I found! Dang! It’s not a whole JUNONIA but I’ll take it. This was good but it wasn’t even the best “part” of a shell found. Look what Clark found…..
A piece of a DEER COWRIE! This seashell isn’t even native to our area but last week I showed another piece that Donnie found on my post last week and a whole one February 15.
We walked over the bridge to the Sanibel side of Blind Pass and saw lots of new shells washing up. I can’t believe what Clark plucked out of the water near the pilings of the bridge….
A SCOTCH BONNET! The man is a Super Sheller!
Okay, it was cracked on the other side ….but still! Since I found part of a JUNONIA too, all we needed to complete the Elite Three was to find a LION”S PAW. Would the DEER COWRIE count? ;)
He also found this ALTERNATE TELLIN and …
This beautiful SUNRAY VENUS.
Greg tried two scoops of seashells to better his chances. LOL
Tee’s in the shelling zone too.
Becky and her daughter (and Kelly’s best friend) Maddy. Do they still say “BFF”…or was so last year?
There were plenty of COCKLES, FIGHTING CONCHS, WHELKS, MUREXES and DOSINIAS along with so many other shells to take home with them. Shelling Success for the family!
Next time can y’all dump those scoops into a box & send it my way?? LOL
Me too Tana!! I love those minis! The water and beaches looked so pretty while they were there.
Come on OCt.,..sigh
Such good pictures today! Only 11 more days for me! Save the good shells!
Really cool finding the Cowrie piece…they are out there for sure. I would of cried had I found that Bonnett like that…man that hurted….lol.
What a great time had by all. We found us some minnies and cones Sunday at Lighthouse…Blind Pass…I will be there soon…so you bonnetts and junonia’s…keep it together till I get there ;-)
Wonderful photos – I especially liked the one of Becky finding mini’s and the one with the sailboats in the background. The shell hauls were fab! And Clark has the shelling touch, thats for sure. Thanks for the cyber shelling fix today!
What a gorgeous family! I’m really admiring Tee’s white hat, classy!
What a great haul! Sounds like an amazing weekend. Happy shelling!
Ohhhhh…….I was all choked up reading this post! It brought back so many sweet memories of my recent vacation on Sanibel! I wanna go back…..so bad……! :) So glad that your family had a great time shelling!
xoxo laurie
We just arrived today! Not sure where to go in the morning….this is one of your best posts ever. Hope to see you on the beach this week :o)
So jealous! We were there on Thursday and had a blast searching the sand bars at low tide. We even spotted a manatee! Makes me want to book another trip back soon. For sand and sun (and to get out of the Minnesota SNOW that’s supposed to fall yet again). Happy Shelling and thanks for the awesome website!
Great pics! So awesome! Everyone looks so happy. Love the blues and aquas in all the pics. Still counting…..
Pam, awesome pics. I can’t believe Clark found ANOTHER scotch bonnet..seriously, he’s a mad man! My family is here this week too…we are heading to Blind Pass today, but the kids have been tide pooling all week in front of Coquina (Nerita st.) They are having a blast and finding all kinds of cool stuff! I love hearing the shouts of kids up and down the beach at low tide “come see what I found!”. I’m already sad at the thought of them leaving :(
I thoroughly enjoyed my beach time via your blog today. Oh, how I miss Sanibel!
I too am longing for Sanibel. I do feel vindicated! The large Deer Cowrie that I found on February 3rd must be legit since you are finding pieces of them. You are the best advertisement for visiting Sanibel and Captiva Islands!
GREAT story and pics! Congrats on all of the treasures.. I still have quite a few collected while there this past winter. Guess what all my nieces get for birthday gifts? LOTS of shells for their creative minds! Can’t wait to come back next year (or sooner!)
My family just came back from Marco island and brought me shells… I couldn’t believe the beautiful array, even on Marco! I was going to send you a pic of one shell I didn’t recognize, but you’ve catagorized it here! The sunray Venus. Never seen one before.
Thanks for stopping by my blog! I love yours, so cool that your nephew goes to UVA, I wonder if I know him? Also, I’m so jealous of your shell-finding skills. I love looking for shells but rarely have the luck you have!
Love all of those minis. When you mention the Outer Banks it brings back great memories for our family. Was just talking about laying on the decking while we were visiting OBX and watching the shooting stars. We won’t be able to visit Sanibel till Oct. 31st till the end of Nov. and all of your shelling photos helps make the time go faster.
Back into “normal” routines after a wonderful, wonderful week at Sanibel, although my best mini shelling day at the lighthouse was one during which I came across piles of minis dumped along the waterline (had Clark been there?). Someone else’s leavings were my wentletrap gold mine :) As we were crossing back over the causeway to go home, I asked when we could come back. I’m going to take the “I don’t know” answer as a positive…
Where is the best place near/on Sanibel to buy the shell sifter scoop? Any local stores you recommend? :)