If anybody was going to find shells on the beaches of Sanibel and Captiva today in the wake of Tropical Storm Isaac (and now a Hurricane), it was Gabriel and Luke. They worked the beach all along West Gulf Drive where they were staying while visiting from Texas. It’s like they found an OLIVE garden!
Then they told me they had found even more shells so they took me over to their shell bag to have a peek inside. Wow! An ALPHABET CONE laying right on top, a FLORIDA CONE, more OLIVES, HORSE CONCHS and so many goodies.
I started out this morning at Gulf side City Park on Sanibel to find a beautiful beach with some scattered clam shells…
Then I moved on to see what was happening at Captiva’s Blind Pass. Yikes! The beach is gone! The sand has eroded all the way back to palm trees and grasses.
The Sanibel side of Blind Pass didn’t have the erosion problems but I didn’t see many good shells piling up so I waited until low tide this evening to check out the lighthouse. The first people I saw on the beach were Joe and Joanne who I met yesterday. They each found an ALPHABET CONE!
I only got a few photos of my finds and Clark’s finds but I’m sure I’ll have more time tomorrow to post. I think we will start to see more piles building tomorrow like this last photo so I’m keeping my fingers crossed that tomorrow is the day like Tropical Storm Debbie brought in June. Happy shelling!
Tomorrow will be fun! Maybe junonia #2!
I live in Ft. Pierce Florida. The Frederick Douglas Memorial park beach where I go had major erosion also. The sea turtle nests were marked and I saw last week a lot had hatched. (I saw empty eggs near the markers not hatched sea turtles. I would have loved to though!) It is a good thing most hatched when they did because the sand was washed away up to some of those nests. I went shelling today. There were a lot of shells on the beach.
Olive garden. Love it!
The scallops r beautiful!!!
Hi Pam
Thank you so much for the updates. We will be there
In 6 wks and counting the days.
Ginger
Pam, thanks for the more frequent updates after Isaac. It will be interesting to see what comes to the Sanibel Island beaches during the next several days. We are so pleased that Isaac did not cause Sanibel any major damage and are hoping that the northern Gulf states are not hurt too badly.
Love your blog!
Thanks for sharing! ;-)
WOW, I couldn’t believe all the erosion on Blind Pass. That’s a whole lotta sand missing. :P
We are on our way to the island this morning! Save some shells for us!
Woo Hoo! Shells are coming! Yay! Me and the niece will be there at sunup on Sat!! (Full moon Friday night so hopefully low tide on Sat will be incredible and awesome!)
Thanks for the updates, and I’m also very glad that you and the island (and other island dwellers) weathered the storms so well.
What time is low time Sat am?
Kim, you can find a tide chart for Sanibel/Captiva/Cayo Costa on the “Tides” tab on the top of this blog. The link is http://www.iloveshelling.com/blog/sanibel-tides/
7:47 AM – at .9 (I believe that means how high/low above sea level?)
Wish I was there. Now is the time to be there shelling! I have to wait till next year! :( In the meantime I will keep looking at this blog and keep on dreaming I was there!!! Happy shelling everyone!
Iam getting so excited to see what Isaac did to Sanibel. Will be arriving on the Island Friday night and will surely be out shelling Saturday morning!
been watching your videos – glad everything is doing OK. don’t worry the beach will come back soon. Like BlackBeach in Hawaii.
And have lots got shells!! My oh my. Even a poor star fish looks drenched. Keep some for my visit next year, I’ll be there, on my bucket list. Janet in AZ
Torture! It’s pure torture not to be there!
In the upper left side of that last pic, it almost looks like a large shark tooth…prob not, but just makes me sigh that much louder and harder…. Have fun, those who can get there now!!
We were so happy to meet you this morning. My boys feel like celebrities! Who says homeschooling can’t be fun too. This is our second trip to Sanibel and all of my boys are learning so much. Thanks for spending time and answering our questions.
Thanks, Pam – for your “finding wentletraps for dummies” session with us Monday evening – that helped! Finding 2 Baby’s ears and a wentletrap This AM (Wed) and lots of tulips, whelks, and nearly everything – even a beautiful lace Murex – now THAT’s rewarding. But wow – the Olives – guess we’ll head down that way tomorrow! Thanks again – Johnnie