The cool “sweatshirt ‘n shorts” mornings have been the most productive for shelling in the last week with the early low tides. Jason and Carol from Ohio found so many shell treasures this weekend (including 2 ALPHABET CONES) on the Sanibel side of Blind Pass about 3/4 of a mile from the bridge…
The shelling luck continued in the same spot for Parker from Punta Gorda. Yesterday he was walking in about 2 feet of water on the sand bar off the beach when he saw a huge HORSE CONCH. It was completely empty! Great find Parker! You’ve got a great sheller’s eye… and with a great sheller’s eye, you’ll always find the good things in life.
Parker said he wanted to get the black part (the PERIOSTRACUM) off of the shell so I gave him some advice on how to do it which you can find on my post by CLICKING HERE. Here is Parker and his sister Summerlin to show you how big this beauty is. Cuties!
Ashley and Caroline (from Boston, of course) were having a great time filling up their shell bags this morning at the same lucky spot …
I love how they arranged their fave shells in the next photo! Ashley was very thrilled about finding her first KINGS CROWN and look at that gorgeous red TRUE TULIP Caroline found. Well, I could actually name each one of these shells and oooh and ahhh over them… like those SCALLOPS! Love, love those colors.
I met Larry and Christy filling a gallon ziplock bag with shells and CORAL. I mean she had a huge chunk of coral and I cant believe I didnt get a photo of it- so sorry!.
The low tide mornings have been crisp and cool with the afternoons warming to the 70s. Really, it’s been such nice weather lately but you’ve had to search for the shell piles like this in the mornings before they get covered up by the high tide waters coming in.
You see where Ashley is on the top right corner? A few minutes after I took this shot, she found a sweet FLORIDA CONE in the water right there. The shell is a little blurry in the photo but its still kinda fun to see all the other shells around it…
Happy Monday!
Let’s have a happy Saturday March 16th together too on a cruise to Cayo Costa! For more info CLICK HERE
I’m watching it snow yet again. Love all those shells!!! Your site gets me through the cold winter here in Colorado.
Nice pictures! Summer is coming!
Way to go Parker! That Horse Conch is huge and you were so lucky it was empty….when ever I find big shells they are always occupied and I have to put them back!! What a find and it will look fabulous when you follow Pam’s method to clean it up!
Pam, what a fabulous image of Ashley’s and Caroline’s hands and shells! Beautiful!
Boy I didn’t see nearly all those shells when I was there last month! I found a nice large lightning whelk but it was alive. I especially like the orange scallops, true tulip,king crown and nutmegs.
Pat
Oh, I want one of those huge horse conchs!!!!
Oh you lucky shellers you. You go Parker! Hope to be there towards the end of April if not sooner. Looking forward to seeing what the rain and winds wash up on the beaches here over the next couple of days.
Happy shelling to all!
SEE YA SATURDAY ON THE BOAT, PAM!!!! JL
All I can say to the horse conch picture is WOW! Jealous here! Seems like March is a good time to go shelling!
I’ll take a cool morning any day when the shells roll in. Congratulations everyone on your great finds. And Parker, you sure are lucky. I’ve only ever found ones that large that are occupied. Maybe someday….
I am so excited to come in May this year. I usually come down in March to Manasota Key where I find lots of sharks teeth! I am so hoping the red tide will be gone and my family and I can find some treats at Blind Pass and Lighthouse. I have scored big at Lighthouse beach in years past with mini shells which I love!
Pam, thanks to you we knew what we found at Daytona Beach–shark eye collars! They were all over the place and Jim thought they were just pieces of plastic. We have learned so much from reading your blogs.
Great photos Pam! See you on Saturday!
Wow…so many shells!! Everyone seems to be finding great shells from the biggest to the smallest!!! Gotta love it. I can’t wait for May..its time for Shellabaloo #2 and I have two friends going out at two different times!!! Lots of reports!!!
Thanks for posting the information about this spot. Three of us (our son passed in order to get some extra sleep) headed over first thing on Tuesday morning, nd had a great time until high tide came in. We all found some nice shells that day. We enjoyed ourselves so much that our college aged daughter volunteered to wake up before dawn on Wednesday to give the spot another shot after Tuesday’s storms. We were quite surprised to see that the pile from the day before was gone, and were about ready to head to the other side of the bridge to check things on the Captiva side. But when we started walking back we noticed some shells in the surf line. And then all of a sudden, we were surrounded by shells rolling around us. Two hours of surf shelling later, we were ready to leave. Everyone we saw was amazed at the bag my daughter had: probably a good twenty pounds of fighting conchs, murexes, tulips, olives, whelks, and a few other assorted shells. I didn’t get quite as much, since I enjoyed stopping and talking to passerby. A number of. Them decided to join in the fun of the bountiful harvest, whether they were dressed for it or not. All in all, a whole lot of people had a blast that morning.
Hello Waghornes, such a nice note! Isn’t it amazing how the area changes so quickly? So glad you didn’t give up!
Pat, yes, Donna R is right. I did look into the egg cases and if they wash up on the beach, they are done. Dr leal of the Shell Museum told me it was No use in throwing them back. There were some that had already hatched so don’t worry,