Note to Self: Check off “Find a Fulgurator Olive” on my seashell bucket list!
Oh Yaya! After a weekend of chilly north winds, I found my first FULGURATOR OLIVE at Blind Pass.
I found it washing up in a somewhat small shell pile about 100 yards from the jetty rocks on the Captiva side. I saw only a few shells near the jetty but when I looked down the beach further into Captiva I saw several people perfecting the Sanibel Stoop (or I should say the Captiva Crouch) then saw the small pile being formed…
Wow! When I got there, this is what most of the “Stooper’s” shell bags looked like…
Pretty awesome, huh? Karen (the first white shell bag), Lorrie (the red shell bag with all the beautiful SCALLOPS) and Dave were all from Wisconsin so the 50 degree weather didnt bother them a bit. Especially since they were finding such good shells. Oh and Dave, thanks for taking my picture with my treasure too. ;)
Then I met another Dave (he’s from NJ) scooping up his own treasures…
Take a look at his gorgeous LACE MUREX, FLORIDA CONE and BANDED TULIP. I love the color of the LACE MUREX!
I was watching the shells roll in and snapped this photo of Dave using his “shelling backhoe”. The second I stood up (of course keeping my eyes on the shells), I spotted my FULGURATOR in the corner of my eye but lost it with the next wave. I stood there for less than a minute keeping my eyes on every shell washing up… and there it was again! Snag! Yeeha! I’ve looked for it in this photo several times to see if I could find it but it’s not the right angle. Its in there somewhere…
Karen’s husband Scott returned (to our lucky shell pile) from a walk down the beach…
It must not have been just our shell pile that was “lucky” because Scott found his own luck. Look at those huge SHARKS EYES, his own brown colored LACE MUREX, ALPHABET CONE, BANDED TULIP and WHELKS, CONCHS and LETTERED OLIVES galore…
We moved to Florida because we aren’t big fans of cold weather. But when the north winds bring in shells like this… bring on the cold weather! And bring me more shells like this!
PS- Join Super Sheller Clark and me on an iLoveShelling cruise to Cayo Costa Island on an awesome shelling adventure. The next one is Saturday March 16, 2013! Click on the next image for more info…
Pam, congratulations on finding a fulgurator olive!
Thanks Peg! Are you Peg as in “Peg and Dave” that found the fulgurator and junonia?
Yes, Pam. We are both missing the shelling at Blind Pass.
Excited that you checked off the fulgurator on your “bucket list”
Has the dredging started yet?
You guys are lucky!
Your fulgerator looks almost exactly like mine… :-) congrats
Alright Pam!
Now all the nice shells show up-after I’m back home! Great olive, cone, wormie etc. I see how cold it is-your hand is the color of one of your scallop shells!
When I went to Blind Pass I didn’t see nearly all those shells. Good hunting.
Pat
I was thinking the same thing we left Sunday just as the nice shells started rolling in….. hopefully there be a return trip in the future and all those beatifull shells will be waiting for us to!
Beautiful beautiful beautiful shells!!! :)
That is the good luck spot in my opinion! My husband found a small piece of a junonia on two different days just about 25 feet away from the jetty rocks !
LOVE all the shells!!! Great finds for everyone! Your hand does look “prune-y” and cold! But, it’s so worth it to find your special olive! Congrats, Pam!!
Also really digging the Candy in Orange and Yellow.
Looking forward to the 16th to Cayo Costa!!!! WARM, PLEASE!!!!
exact same spot i found my first-ever paired smooth duck clam two winters ago, the weather was terrible…cold windy rainy, nobody else was on the beach…but the shells didnt care.
Congratshellations Pam!!
Looks like heaven.
Pam, glad you found a fulgurator. Good for you! As for the above comment about being “lucky”, I may have a tendency to take such comments too seriously and should assume that it relates to you living on Sanibel Island and having the opportunity to spend time on the Sanibel beaches, although that also is not really luck, but a conscience decision on your part. You and Clark have spent countless hours on the Sanibel beaches during the past several years. You have learned where and when to go shell collecting. You have learned various methods of collecting. You have found and learned to identify all of the common and most of the uncommon shells that live around Sanibel. That has had nothing to do with “luck”, but has involved much time and effort on your part. In addition, you and your blog were instrumental in having the Oliva fulgurator recently being recognized as coming from Southwest Florida. This was not luck, but plenty of hard work and many conscience decisions on your part. If anyone “deserved” to find a Fulgurator Olive, you did! I wish you many more. Thanks for all you do to promote shell collecting.
I couldn’t agree more and couldnt have said it better!
Well thank you, Ken, for such a nice comment. I do believe in luck and I do feel lucky…. But then, I also believe one has to make their own luck too some times. I had a little mix of all of it!
Pam,
Congrats on finding the Fulgurator Olive!!! Loved your photo with THE shell, all bundled up in layers of warm clothing. It reminds me when we came to Sanibel at the beginning of February during another cold spell. After the first night of shelling at 10pm with a flashlight, then and a hot shower, the first thing I did the next morning was go buy a hooded sweatshirt (used it every evening and early morning-LOL). Hope you are enjoying THE Sanibel Shell Show. I know that you will post the highlights. Hope to see it one of these years.
Pam,
Can you tell us why, all of a sudden, a new species of non-native shell has become “native”? Also, can it only be found at Blind Pass? thanks.
The malacologists call this a “Range Extension”.
Thank you for your blog! I was able to ID the snail I found today and am fairly confident it was Oliva fulgurator. I was a little worried I may have picked up a live cone 🤦🏼♀️
I saw a pretty, shiny shell and dove down to get it just to be surprised when I came back to the surface!
I was about 20yards to the north of The Mucky Duck.