While walking the beach on a beautiful tropical island, gorgeous empty seashells wash up to your feet with every wave. Can’t you just picture it? No doubt, this is every sheller’s dream. Ahhhh….
Well, wake up! Because it came true for sisters Jaime and Lauren!
I found Jaime digging with a shovel in this pile of shells just east of Bowman’s Beach…
She was so focused on that pile until I peeked at her tray of shells and let out a big “WOW!”. That sandy ALPHABET CONE was sitting right on top of all of these awesome shells…
These sisters from Virginia arrived for a month’s vacation on Sanibel two days after Tropical Storm Debby blew through. While I was on Lighthouse Beach witnessing the seashell madness from TS Debby’s aftermath, Jaime and Lauren were shellebrating their own dream come true on east Bowman’s Beach. This is what their HORSE CONCHS and LIGHTNING WHELKS looked like before they cleaned them up…
Awesome, right? Okay, maybe I embellished the story a little about the “dream”… these shells didn’t all just roll up at their feet one after another. They had to stay focused and hunt for these treasures for hours and hours. They told me they had every intention of coming to watch the Sanibel parade but couldn’t pull themselves off the beach because they wanted to hunt for more big shells. Ha! They are as shell crazy as we are! Okay, speaking of shell crazy. Jaime and Lauren drove down from Virginia in their little Mini Cooper. Cute! But even cuter was their license plate…
PS- I just have to show you how shell focused Jaime and Lauren were. These are a few shots of the sunset they missed because they did not look up from their shell pile to see this gorgeous site. LOL
Wow! How fun to spend a month shelling with your sister! I know my sister and I would love it!! Those shells are incredible.
Kids and I are leaving in 2 hours for a visit. Can’t wait to see what awaits us! Tides are not very favorable for us so I am hoping we have a few roll up at our feet :)
Great finds and beautiful pictures.
Beautiful sunset, happy shelling! What more could one ask?
How is it that we have the same sun, but sunsets in Ohio pale in comparison to sunsets in Sanibel? Stupid Ohio…..
Yeah, what’s with that! Lol!
That must have been fun! I’m interested in how they cleaned them up. They’re beautiful…
Is that a Scotch Bonnet to the far right of the alphie?
I’m not sure with the way the sun is on it, but I think it’s a true tulip. If it was a scotch bonnet I’m pretty sure Pam would have been jumping up and down! lol :)
Katherine is right on both counts ;)! It’s a true tulip and yes, if it was a scotch bonnet, i’d be jumping and featuring that all by itself. Not that true tulips are anything to sneeze at but they are more common here than the SB.
I cannot wait until my Aunt, Cousin and myself make our way down next week to do some serious treasure hunting!!!
What method were those beautiful shells cleaned? What is the best way? Magnificent sunsets…Thanks again, Pam for your inspiring blog…
I would also like to know how the shells were cleaned so beautifully! Amazing sunsets! To be able to spend an entire month with your sister on the beach would be simply fantastic, we are lucky to get 10 days, so I can trully appreciate what a month would be like!
I “heart” their car’s license plate. These are two true shelling sistas. :)
Quite the shell finds those two found! Awesome! And yes, I would be curious to know how they cleaned them so beautifully. Help!
OK – just too weird – my niece has daughter Jaime and Lauren and the girl on the left could be that Lauren!!!! But they’re from Maryland. How cool!!!! Johnnie
Great story! Do the sisters ever sleep? They did a great job cleaning up the horse conchs. Here’s my cleaning story for what it’s worth. I have a large one that I soaked in a bleach and water solution at about a one to four ratio for about 15 hours. Some of the shells I want removed are really embedded into the conch as if they’ve been living with him a long time. I’ve been using a sharp fork (Be careful!) to pry off what’s still on there. They are small white shells – a type of oyster? I’m considering soaking it again in a similar solution because more brown color has been uncovered. Hope it works!
Sleep! There’s no sleeping on Sanibel especially when there is a full moon & negative low tides. You bee shelling wid the big dawgs now XD
LOL about missing the sunsets :) Sometimes I have to force myself to look up once in a while to see ALL of nature’s beauty on the Island! Whenever I’m on a beach in MI I find myself immediately looking down for treasures- it’s a wonderful madness!!
I mix muriatic acid and water to clean shells. It works beautifully!
How much of each do you use? Thanks!
Sherri
Sherri, see Pam’s video “How to restore color to your shells video”. The link is on the left side of the page near the bottom under the Video section. Be sure to read all the comments too. There is a lot of controversy on using muratic acid.
Yes, those are so soooo beautiful! Like some others, I’m trying to figure out how to clean some of my shells. I know the bleach works, but apparently you’re not supposed to use it on naturally shiny shells. In particular, I am trying to clean the gunk off of my two brown fighting conchs. If anyone has any idea, please, please let me know. Thank you! <3 Gigi
Pam, it was so fun meeting you on the beach the other night! Thanks for blogging about our finds :)
To clean the horse conchs and lightening whelks I did several rounds of soaking them in bleach water and barnacle removal. To remove the barnacles I used dental tools (my dentist gives me some of his old ones specifically for this purpose) and, for the really stubborn ones, a small wire brush (purchased in Lowe’s near the welding tools) helped wear them down. I spent about a hour or so every day over about five days working on getting the barnacles off. It wasn’t fun but it was worth it in the end because they cleaned up great!
Hi Pam,
I am a web developer/programmer, and just went on a whirlwind trip from Jacksonville, through Miami Beach, from Biscayne all the way down to Key West, then up the west end, through Sanibel, Fort Meyers beach, and stopping at baha Honda, and a few others in between. I am a crazy lover of seashells, crazy, and brought back some great treasures. I was wondering if you might be able to help me – I have trouble identifying the difference between Welks (my favorite lightning welks my very favorite) and conchs, most times it’s obvious, yes, but sometimes, it’s a bit hard – any tips for me there? Love your site, =)
Nicole,
Try looking at Pam’e “Seashell Identification” page. It is one of the blue tabs at the top of the page. This might help. Also if you look on-line under the 2 shell names, you will find lots of pictures to help you.
Oh Katherine, what would I do without you??? Thank you (again!) for giving this info. Big hug! xo
Way to go Jaime and Lauren. Looks like a good haul!