Breathtaking. This is what I love about low tide shelling on the evenings of spring and summer. The reflections from the backdrop of dramatic skies on the shallow water from the receding tide is magnificent.
This is where colors can change in an instant with a splash of yellow or pink.
It gets even better to mix in a few seashells and….
My favorite addition to any beautiful sky background would be …… Shelling Sistahs!!! Jean, Anna and Linda drove down from Ohio to spend time relaxing on Sanibel and to hunt for WENTLETRAPS. Okay, maybe not just wentles…. any and every beach treasure they can find!
We all found plenty of minis in the surf just about the same way as I showed in my video yesterday (Seashells In The Surf).
Darcy and Mary (MN) were finding a few nice FIGHTING CONCHS and a nice size APPLE MUREX.
I saw a very cool live LETTERED OLIVE making a curly q track in the wet sand…
I got a little closer look at the OLIVE to see its siphon pop out. When an OLIVE buries itself, it uses the siphon as sort of a snorkel. I’m so good with technical terms aren’t I? Ha! NOT!
Wow, take a look at this…..
We always love to see live, healthy shells and hope they breed, breed, breed more beauties. But we also like to see empty ones…..
I found a TURRID shell on Sunday night that I posted in the first picture yesterday but I didn’t name it because I tried to take a close up photo but it just didn’t show properly. Low and behold, I found another one last night (the one on the left) so I can show you what a TURRID shell looks like.
Super Sheller Clark and I started making our way back to the parking lot…..
to find (you’re gonna love this!) Linda, Anna and Jean’s car driven all the way from Ohio…..
14 more days until I’m done with grad school for the summer and 20 more days until I’m in Sanibel! I am beyond excited, since it’s MAY and still only 43 degrees and rainy. I think its time to build an arc.
It wa 39 this morning here and rain is on the way.
Love the license plate! I too have a personalized plate related to the Sanibel / Captiva! Must be an Ohio thing! Ha!
Beautiful photo’s as always! Love the Olive pics especially, Olives are one of my favorites!
Personalized plates are fun! What is your plate?
I wanna personalized plate too!! Cool!
Cool pics, Pam!! 21 more days!
Beautiful pictures today! How low was that tide? WOW!
Just Beautiful… wish I was there. Love the Plate!!
Spectacular picture of the lighthouse. Looks like a Thomas Kinkade with the light rays streaming from behind it.
Beautiful scenery. I so miss the beach!
You never fail to amaze me with your gorgeous photos. I love your “eye”. Have you taken classes?
I love photography and I take hundreds of photos on vvacation but I only manage to get a few that I consider stunning. You have several each time you post.
As always, I end this post with ” Thank you for sharing! This is the highlight of my workday!”.
There is no better beach in the world than Sanibel…..thanks for the pics. It gives me a calm just looking at them….hoping to get down there sometime this year. I need my shelling fix!!
What do you do with all your shells?
Too funny, Pam….that car was in front of us (me & my husband) yesterday and we were trying to decipher the license plate!
I love your blog so much, great job and awesome pictures!!! Can’t wait to see more and come back to beautiful Sanibel Island very soon! I really miss the beach…
I’m your newest follower. Greetings from Germany, Jutta
The license plate is GREAT…and so are the pics!
I don’t know what you use to take your pictures but, Pam, they are always breathtaking and painting-like! Awesome and inspiring…can’t wait to return! Love to you and the island.
Ahhhh…this is why I live in Florida. Great photos, Pam!
CK- I use a Panasonic DMC-ZS6 point ‘n shoot no brainer camera and I edit through iphoto. I wish I had a big fancy one but they are so expensive. I would love to find a good gently used digital camera with a nice zoom lens if anybody out there has one for sale for a reasonable price. I could really knock your socks off with some photos! wooh!
RR- I’ve never taken photography lessons. I know what a shell aperture is but I couldnt begin to tell you anything about an aperture for camera.
Kim- the tide was at a minus .4 . Nice!
Min- We give most of our shells away now but I do have vessels, wire baskets and all sorts of things to display our shells. I’ll do a post this summer on my shell displays.
…and thanks all of yall for the great feedback! Oh and welcome, Jutta! ..or should I say “whelk-ome”! Kind of looks German, right? ;)
Thanks for stopping by and leave a comment, Pam! Unfortunately, my English is not as good as my German, so i have to do my blogwork in my mother tongue. But I’ll work on it…:-) Greetings from across the ocean, Jutta
I’ll be there on Sunday- but I’ve been shellin’ in my mind since I left the Island of Shells in February! Ihave only 5 adys, but I will LOVE every moment! :)
5 DAYS- oops!
These pictures are awesome. Four friends from Ohio will be joining me on Sanibel next week. Hopefully we will run into you somewhere on the beach. Staying near Algiers. Can’t wait to share with them.
I have found some of the turrid shells lately too! Thank you for identifying them for me! And that tag on the car is Priceless!!
As usual, your photos brought back emotional memories for me about my time spent on Sanibel. :) My sweet, beautiful Sanibel….. ♥ Thank you for that, Pam!
xoxo laurie
The Apple Murex is fabulous and your photos of the sunset are just divine, Pam!
Pam, I wanted to thank you for your super shell identification on my blog! What would I do without you and Shellbelle?
I don’t know if you accept blog awards, but if you do, you can pick yours up here
http://delsshells.blogspot.com/2011/05/versatile-blogger-award.html
Love this! Brings back so many great vacation memories!!
The skies overhead are awesome!!!
Wentletraps AND an apple murex?!? You’ve just made my day!
OH love the pics , thanks so much for making me smile!
and even MORE love the license plate !
Awesome !
Still hoping for my 1st trip there this year -maybe in the fall.
~Serena
oh and Pam – next time you blog about shell decor for the home – I want to ask you and the readers in a comment- ask you about if anyone has any ideas for mixing oriental decor and beach decor . I ‘m not a professional – i’m just interested in how I might accomoplish mixing the 2 because SOON I am a 1st time home buyer ! (hurrayz!!!!!) – So i am trying to think how to mix my shell collection into my oriental style decor . I know you can use an eclectic approach and just “blend” all the things you like together into a room. But i was more wondering if anyone had pics or articles or anything that would show what I am going to attempt to do . Any pics might help me visualize. All helps appreciated! ~Serena
I just wanted to say that any fabrics or decor items that are hand-made (from whatever country) usually look very good along side of seashells! I don’t know if your “oriental” decor means very formal, polished-looking Chinese items like lacquered screens and so on, or more down-to-earth design items from Thailand and other countries that have a more relaxed style… But I suppose in either case if you can find bowls or baskets or other attractive containers that match in theme the rest of your decor, and put your shells in those, you should be good. Chinese or Japanese decor is usually not too “busy” and might require a “clean” look, but other Asian styles can take a lot of decorative items and still look good.