When girlfriends get together for a beach vacation, you can feel the sisterhood happiness and excitement all the way down the shore. The “Sistahs” are actually newbie shellers but are definitely not newbies at finding the best treasures life has to offer. Deb, Lizzi, Baba, Becky, Karen, Sharon, Betty, Roxie and Sandy each live in different parts of the world so they have a reunion each year at a new destination … so this year they picked Captiva to “shellebrate” their friendship. They even wanted matching iLoveShelling tee shirts to commemorate the occasion. I feel so honored! Here’s Karen with her cute tee and showing off the best find of the morning. A reeaaally big LACE MUREX…
That’s an exshellent find!
Talk about “exshellent” finds… these guys have been shelling for over 20 years together and know how to find the good stuff in life too. Ian, Brett, Brett’s brother Jeff (who also happens to be Ian’s dad) were also shelling near the Blind Pass bridge on the Sanibel side and as you can tell… a very happy shelling family. Look at those smiles!
They told me they had great luck fishing all day yesterday and today they will be shelling all day and already had great luck this morning. My faves are the amazingly dark LIGHTNING WHELK, huge orange CHESTNUT TURBAN, and of course… the WORMIE! (heehee- they even called it a “wormie” too) And I didn’t even take pictures of the rest of their favorite finds… like the NUTMEG, LACE MUREX, bright orange CALICO SCALLOPS and TURKEY WINGS.
Brett even shared his finds with the “Sistahs”. They were thrilled!
We had a pretty good shell pile to practice the Sanibel Stoop… and the Sit ‘N Sift…
I feel so fortunate to be part of such an amazing community of people brought together by shells. Oh, and sometimes a GREAT BLUE HERON joins in on the family fun too.
Just arrived in Periwinkle Park, Sanibel with my husband Richard. We are at site 204 and would love someone to help get us started with finding shells. Any help appreciated.
Love Periwinkle Park! :) They’ve got a cool shell display at the laundry mat/bathroom area. I’ve been there a few times; I know that you can get to a beach within a 15 minute walk from there and there are usually some smaller shells. Pam I bet would suggest hitting the lighthouse Pier or Blind pass :) It might also help to know what direction winds are coming in and when the lower tides are (this weekend there are not great tides; starting next Wednesday there are some good tide swings on the west coast though.) When I first shelled on Sanibel, I actually had a lot of luck at Bowman’s, but that was years ago. Back then, one of the shellers at Sanibel said, “If you wanna find shells, walk past the crowd to where nobody is at” :P And once you find a hotspot with shells stacked, keep diggin for a minute ;)
I feel so fortunate for having you to share it all with us!!!
Lovely Finds. That Lace Murex is huge!!
Great to finally meet you after all these years of viewing your website/blog. I’m sure we’ll bump into each other again on this beautiful island that we share such a fondness for. Best of luck finding beautiful shells! We’ll share some pictures with you after our trip ;) ;)
P.S. Great snook release! ;)
That was my first snook release so I’m glad I had witnesses! LOL it was so much fun to meet you guys and yes… Definitely post pictures. I want to see those Wentletraps!
Everyone who runs into you on the beach is fortunate Pam! :)
Awe, Susan that’s so sweet!
Wow! Nice lacie (my favorite)!
Pam, I wanted so badly to run into you with my “class of 63” friends – 5 of us together for the 1st time on the beach…..but we had a delishellous time together shelling and seeing the sites. I found 2 baby’s ears, and a beautiful brown lace murex and a white one. Lots of small whelks and fighting conchs, and hundreds of pairs of coquinas, of course! Wow – best shelling in a while for me. Be back in a couple months with my grandson….can hardly wait to introduce him (age 7) to the island!
Wow, great finds my friends. Can I join this group next year??
So jealous gals! Looked like a great time.
Mary Ann
East Granby CT
That’s so wonderful for these ladies to all come together once a year like that. Next year a group of us Sanibel lovers who haven’t actually met will there on the island!! Can’t wait. We have known each other for years on the internet and talk all the time so it will be sooo exciting to meet on Sanibel, the place that brought us together via internet to begin with!!
Hope the group of ladies had a blast! They are off to a great start with that lacey murex!!
Looks like a good haul today!
Loved the yellow shirts, ladies! Also that lace murex (that being one of my favorite shells)! I wonder if that blue heron is the same one who was kind enough to pose for me at Blind Pass a few months ago?
Seeing those shell piles makes me want to run on down to the beach all the way from Nebraska!
Great smiles on those SHELLER FELLERS !!
Shelling “Sistahs” is the best!! Next month several of my high school classmates from 1960 Linda, Carol Sherry, and Carole will be joining me and my “bestest” friend in Sanibel for a “baby reunion”. They were here two years ago and wanted to come back!!! Looking forward to doin the “Sanibel Stoop” and sharing “tiny treasures” with them.
Wow, wow, wow! What great finds and an awesome group to boot! Sure looks like everyone had a great time with great finds. I can’t believe how far down the water is under the bridge! When we were there the week after Easter the water was up to those supports, not much beach then…I held on to the pylons/supports whilst looking for goodies. Thanks for the great post, Pam!
Just noticed that along with the yellow shirts the “sistahs” are also toting bright pink shelling bags…cute!
Hi Pam, Thank you so much for all this wonderful information that you provide. I finally got my husband of 30 years to go to a beach, Sanibel!! We stayed at the Shalimar for only 3 days, but what a haul of shells we came home with. I’m not picky, and was picking up anything interesting, which was quite a lot. I was loving the pinks in the scallop shells, the kitten paws, and thrilled with finding an alphabet cone. I was so amazed at the bounty of shells on the beach. We loved looking through all those smaller shells. Our biggest haul was from the lighthouse beach sandbar of Atlantic giant cockles. I could feel these half shells beneath my feet, and felt brave enough to pull them from the sand (thanks to the lady at the shell museum saying none of them bite). Going to the shell museum is a definite must. The lady giving the talk was very informative and funny! We had a wonderful time. I have two plus coolers filled with shells. I have many pieces of lightning whelks that I’ll put in my garden. Shells are so beautiful!! And the pecan mudslife at DQ became a daily treat. Thank you for all the encouraging information, Nancy from PA (and hubby says he’ll go again!!).
Penny is right…….can’t wait to return to Sanibel next month to enjoy our friends and everything Sanibel has to offer. Want to learn the “stoop”. Nothing like having friends for 50 years.