It has been an unusual week on Sanibel. The winds are changing directions and speed by the second which makes for an interesting site to see of all the different things that wash up on our beaches. I showed you lots of different EGG CASINGSÂ in my last post but I found another one today… a SHARK’S EYE EGG COLLAR…
…oodles of PEN SHELLS…
but we also are seeing PURPLE SEA URCHINS…
And weird fish like this SHORTNOSE BATFISH
EEEEK! And an EEL! Yall know I love me some BEACH BLING… but EELS? They kinda creep me out for some reason.
Blllaaaahhh, Okay, now that I’m completely creeped out… I have to change the subject because I have some happy, happy stuff happening here too that I dont want to ruin! Okay.. here is a happy picture to get back in the mood of what Sanibel is NORMALLY like… having fun doing the Sanibel Stoop!
I met some awesome folks on the beach this week at the Sanibel Lighthouse Beach! This is Shelling Sister Donna R from NY…
She was on her way to finding the Sanibel Six. Yes, that ALPHABET CONE is pretty beat up but It’s still a CONE and it’s whole and HUGE!
I also met sweetie pie Katherine Haskins with her husband Tom.
 Katherine love the minis so she was finding lots of different miniatures like WENTLETRAPS along with AUGERS, CERITHS and a little perfect WORMIE.
It was fun to see them on the beach together with their iLS shirts on! (teehee) Warms my heart.
I also met another awesome couple while walking on the beach today several miles west of Lighthouse Beach. Here are shellers Linda and Glen from Ohio…
Linda found an ANGEL WING! They also were happy to find their first KEYHOLE LIMPET along with these other goodies. Notice they even collect the broken SHARK’S EYES if the “eye” is still intact. Yep, they really are beautiful. I told them that when the SHARK’S EYE is brilliant blue in the middle that I’ve heard it called “Paul Newman’s eye”. This one is definitely a PAUL NEWMAN’S EYE!
Oh wait… I feel so badly that I never introduced you to Shelly (love that name!) and Kayle whom I met last week at Blind Pass when the weather was a little cooler…
I found a PYGMY OCTOPUS inside a PEN SHELL and Kayle offered to take it out in the water to put it back. So sweet!
Here are Shelly and Kayle’s gorgeous treasures from the sea that they were collecting. Keep the image of this gorgeous PAPER FIGÂ (in the middle of this green bucket) in your mind to leave you with a happy day. See? I told you I had happy happy stuff to show you. :)
Looks like some pretty good wave action happening there on Sanibel, from the web cams I’ve looked at today. Love the Beach Bling, Pam. It’s such fun to get out there and see what the ocean delivers everyday because it’s never the same. I’m always afraid I’m going to miss something…I think I’ve got an addiction to shelling! LOL I can think of worse things tho’. And since I don’t live there, your blog helps me get my “fix”. Love ya, say “hi” to Clark. Maybe we can connect in March/April.
Just tell me you didn’t keep the fish and eel. Ps the fish looks like he has legs like a frog.
That’s exactly what I thought…a frogfish!! So weird looking!
The little eel doesn’t bother me…I am freaked by the moray eels when we dive!
Was that a dextral lightning whelk that Donna R found? Or was it a different kind of whelk? I’m fascinated by anomalous shells; ie sinistrals or dextrals of shells that are supposed to be sinistral! :)
Nevermind, I can see that it is sinistral… the lighting made it look backwards! Hehe.
Pam,
It was so nice that Donna R. and I got to run into you. I really appreciated the “finding wentletraps and rice olives” lesson. I can’t believe that tomorrow is our last day. I thinks I will brave the waves at the BP jetty rocks in the am. Next year can’t come fast enough.
Great finds everyone!! I can’t wait to come down next week even though ill be fighting the crowds (that time of year). Save me some shells friends.
Who else will join me next week!!
Mary Ann
East Granby CT
Saw the same fish on the beach yesterday, my 2 and 4 yr old thought they were a snake and frog… My girl kept running back looking at the froggy one……
We went on the captiva cruise that afternoon but they had to take us back because of the weather warnings (will go on friday). So we went to the lighthouse beach instead…. wow still can’t get over all the beautifull shells we found, had a hard time leaving the beach…. and in all the excitement I left some beach bling for somebody else to find, my girls silver old navy slippers :)
Pam your living in “Paradise” sanibel is truly beautifull!
What an unusual fish! I’m glad I didn’t come across that eel in the water. Hey Donna nice shells-I didn’t even find a beat up alphabet cone or a banded tulip. We got back to LI yesterday to a house at 42 degrees due to a broken switch. Wish we were back in Florida.
Pat
Thanks Pat! I hope your heat is fixed!! All of the ‘bonus’ nature washing up on the beaches certainly made it more interesting. Got very lucky with the cones, found a few more at blind pass later in the week. As Katherine said, there was a nice shell pile at blind pass weds and thursday, but was diminshing on friday and saturday. It changed so often that the pile could be back by now. I cam home last night to light snowfall!! What a welcome home slap in the face!! Oh well, back to reality!
How nice to see the NY folks, Donna and Katherine too looking very happy in shell heaven on Sanibel!
For non-squeamish shellers only: batfish feed by swallowing live shells whole that they pick up from the bottom of the Gulf in deeper water. So… when you find a dead batfish, if it is still fresh, cut the belly open and you will find all kinds of interesting small shells in its stomach, including maybe some rare ones.
Not sure I have the guts to do that.(Sorry had to say that LOL). Now I will have to carry a knife on the beach so hubby can gut the thing.
As gross as it sounds….I have an 11 year old son who would do it in a second! LOL
I am coming down Saturday to stay for a week. Can’t wait to go in search of all the treasures on the beach. How is the Red Tide? Getting any worse or better? It usually affects my voice. Oh we’ll, Sanibel is worth it. Expecting snow here in Tennessee!
The red tide is pretty yucky. Monday and Tuesday were bad. I coughed and sneezed on the beach and it was a little uncomfortable. Wednesday there were dead fish and it was stinky but I didn’t cough and sneeze. I never made it to the pier but I hear its worse than any place else. I’m hoping by the weekend the north winds will push it off our coast. I really don’t know any more than that. All I know is I’m not coughing any more.
Do they have red tide in July? That’s when we are going. What is it?
I agree with Pam, monday was the worst day. Tues we still coughed, but less. Weds still a little coughing, tarpon bay beach was bad. But thursday, big difference, no coughing, still dead fish washing up, but less of them, and friday and saturday were even better. Colder all week than I had hoped, cloudy, but the shelling was soooo great that i forgot about evertyhing else. My hubby found two pieces of junonia, and the highlight of the trip (other than meeting Pam and Katherine) was that a complete stranger we sturck up a conversation with at blind pass found a gorgeous hugh piece of junonia….then handed it to me as she left!!! Woo hooo!!!!! I will post a pic of all my finds on e ILS facebook page, and probably will do a trip report on trip advisor
Susan- ewwwww cut open the stomach….its tempting cause there might be rare shells but cutting open a dead fish…..Id have my hubby cut it open and dig through its innered!!! Hahaha
I love…love…love beach bling!! I can spend hours upon hours roaming beaches looking at beach bling! You find some of the best stuff!!
When we were on our 10 day excursions in January we found many sharks eye collars on Bird Island. It was the first time we ever found them. It was cool…I picked up a couple to keep!
Everyone is finding great stuff!! Yay….keep the posts coming!!!
Love all your posts makes the winter here bearable!! I want to come back. When we were there in October 2012 we found a hammerhead shark on the beach a small one
Eeeeek! Eels creep ME out because they look like snakes!! Thanks for sharing a beautiul day!
Seems like a lot of things washing up that shouldn’t.
Pam,
Thank you for such an interesting day at the beach. One year when we were visiting we had such a day. The beach that day also turned up tons of pen shells, a pygmy octopus, lots of sea urchins and hundreds of whole chattering scallops, along with a baby hammerhead shark! (That certainly got my attention)! Didn’t see an eel though! Thanks for the memories!
Great Beach Bling! This year I found lots of different egg cases and a small Bonnet Shark. I was lucky to run into a fisherman who ID’d it. I never saw an eel like that. Our tiny eels are black here in NJ. They may creep you out but their life story is fascinating. I use all of the my beach bling stories and photos in Adventure Annie stories I write for kids. Annie has only one super power-the power of observation. This persona lets me continue to think like a child at age 68. MEM
I love the worn shells. I have an entire jar of some beautifully aged shells. The alphabet cones are my favorites.
In the air right now on my way to Sanibel! YAY! Hope I see you…although I am usually looking down! Nan
I LOVE this site. We had a house on Sanibel years ago and I probably have more shells in my house here in California than anyone else on the West Coast. I miss shelling so much. But this gives me a “fix” every morning. Thank you for taking the time to do this site!
Pam: how lucky you are to get all those pen shellsl. I can only get whole ones when we have a -4 0r -5 tide and then it is over a mile walk out to rocks. those little octupus come up in the stranges places, love to see them and their eggs and then put them back into the water. I too love the “minis” and have pretty jars filled with them.. Back to rocky point on 3/22 thru 4/1 for minus tides, wish me luck.
PS love to send you pictures of some of my sea glass and turkey shell art work.
janet in AZ
I’ll be on Sanibel next week! Which beach is best bet for the best shelling? My friend Sally will be with me, she’ll be the one in the purple cast. Hope to meet you.
Karla
Heading home in the early am. Today was fantastic. We were at BP on the Captiva side by the jetty rocks and the shell pile was probably 2 feet high. If the waves don’t take them, people will be sitting and sifting for days. I found so many fantastic shells, paper figs, lace murex’s, nutmegs, large orange horse conchs, olives, wormies and countless fighting conchs of every size. I’m sure I am forgetting half of them. After that we headed back to the lighthouse and ran into Donna R and her family again. I got a few more minis to add to my collection. What a way to end our vacation.
Red Tide seemed much better today. The air was fresher and hopefully the winds have taken it away.
Oh Katherine, it was soooo nice to meet you! And thank you for telling me about Blind Pass. I wanst able to get out on the beach today so I hoep to get there some time tomorrow to check it out. Thanks again and have a safe trip home.
Pam, We are all home safe and sound (but much colder – ha). It has only been 7-1/2 hours but I miss Sanibel already. Can’t wait to hear if the shell pile at BP stays around.
Thank you for everything. I’m counting the days until I return – 357 to go (reservations already made). :)
So nice to meet you Katherine! Reservations for next year already? Wow, I’m jealous!
Was that eel dead or alive?
Pam, so much enjoy your pictures and comments!! I see that the “Jenny curls” are still hanging around. Plan to be in Sanibel this July…perhaps I”ll see you on the beach and “amongst-the-shells”…I surely hope so !!!
Melinda