All along the jetty rocks at Captiva’s Blind Pass, there are still bucketfuls of shell jewels to be found at low tide. It was so much fun seeing Michelle of Buckingham, Florida wading and working the water to pluck out so many beautiful gems. She found a shellacious ALPHABET CONE and too many other perfect shells to count! I also saw Steve and Karen (MI) with their grandsons Noah and Josh from Lakeland, FL with a tons of shells ready to pack up in the car after a great afternoon shelling. It was really good to see you guys again and seeing you had another successful day at Blind Pass.
Mark had lots of great luck finding shells with his snorkel gear! He and his mom Brenda were so cute enjoying everything there was to enjoy about looking for shells. They get it! It’s a treasure hunt! If the shells aren’t on the beach, you’ve got to get in the water to look for them.
Then I met the rest of the family and fell in love with every one of them. Here’s (clockwise) Brenda, Mark (Mark Senior … but lets just call him BigMark), Mark, Conner, Renee, and Aiden. See? Happiness.
And they had major success! This is just a few of their jetty jewels…
Over the weekend, Clark and I hit just about every beach and had success at each one but only brought few home (there’s only so many shells one can find room for!). This FLAT SCALLOP Clark found is our favorite shell that made the cut. I actually think this one is the prettiest one we have in all of our collection. I didn’t get a chance to take a close up but it is rich purple with a detailed line then light purple on the bottom.
Everybody always asks me where they can find SAND DOLLARS but like all shelling, it’s timing, tides, currents and just being darn lucky. Our friend Mary was lucky at the Sanibel Causeway Beach where she found this SAND DOLLAR. Wow! I had no idea SAND DOLLARS were there. Something surprising every day.
Okay, one more surprise. At dusk last night at the Lighthouse Beach…. we saw a SCREECH OWL! He was in the parking lot right next to the beach path. Can you see him?
Hmmmm. Where’s your sticker or hang tag, dude?
Thanks, Pam! I miss Sanibel!! That looks like a five gallon bucket in the first picture, wow!!
It was a great day shelling!!
I live in Ft.Myers and am normally a sunset low tide sheller. I (politely and lovingly) forced my boyfriend to take me to Sanibel bright and early Sunday morning to shell because I’ve been reading your blog and it makes me jealous, in the nicest way possible. :) We started at Lighthouse Beach where we found nothing but trash. Not the treasure hunt I wanted, lol. Then went to Blind Pass and again found nothing! But we did meet another blog follower of yours :) from New Jersey and not happy to be coming up emptyhanded either! It was a fun morning though! I am now officially a afternoon low tide sheller. Thanks for tempting me out of bed with all your treasures!
Erin, sorry you came up empty handed! Ok, But I have to ask…I’m just wondering since you said…. “forced my boyfriend to take me to Sanibel bright and early Sunday morning to shell because I’ve been reading your blog”… did you think I’d been saying early morning would be best shelling? Ack! Not that any time of the day is bad shelling (I think any time you can get to the beach to enjoy the walk is a good thing), but I’ve been posting about the evenings being so good. We found that the higher tide during the mornings and middays this past week has been trickier to find the loot too. Sorry if you thought I said mornings!
Well I sat here one night and read lots and lots of old posts and saw some early morning treasures and having never been in the early morning, thought I needed to give it a shot. So no I’m not blaming your guidance at all! :) I agree, any time spent on the beach is a good time!
Love all the shells and the happy shellers! 4 more days and we will be there!!!
Amazing shells! Hoping for these low tides in July :) ! By the way, love your bathing suit Brenda!
Thanks, Lisa, it is bright and colorful. We had soooo much fun shelling.
Super sheller Clark!! Good find!
Incredibly cute creech owl! Can I have one? :)
Well done Clark with finding the fab flat! Nice and large as well as very pretty! I mean the shell of course!
Beautiful clear and sharp pictures. I was wondering what camera you were using to take these?
Thank you! Panasonic lumix point n shoot
Wow..I can’t wait to be back in July for another shelling week..I see there will be a full moon on one of those days we are there..So happy we are able to come back twice this year..I love shelling!!!!’
wow…now this is a touch of the OLD Sanibel….lots and lots of shells. and here i am in tn….oh well….good to see others enjoying it too. i’m bringing my scuba gear next time! And my grandson!!!
Nice finds!
I love your blog. My husband and I are in captiva for 2 nights. We just left blind pass this morning. My husband found a “live” crab in the shell. Very cool find. Snapped a photo and dropped him right back in.
Thanks for the great updates!
Charlene
Wow…have to get over there soon.
Wow – shells and an owl!! We live in Cape Coral where we have a lot of burrowing owls that are cute as can be. Since I have an owl collection (not real ones!) it would be heaven for me to see one on the beach when I am doing my most favorite thing – collecting shells!!
Hi, I have been reading your blog for a couple of years and am totally obsessed with shelling now. It’s the hunt I love. Store bought shells will never touch my fingers.
I have always had an ignorant fascination for shells but, I have learned so much from your blog that I have to thank you. I now know their names, where to find them, how to clean them and what to do with them. Your blog has prompted me to buy numerous books on shells and sealife, the scooper thingy that Clark likes to use and a plane ticket to Florida so I can use my new found knowledge.
I am counting the days until I too can stand on Blind pass beach and pluck beautiful shells from the ocean. May 10-15.
I hope we get a chance to meet. I’ll be asking everyone I see stooped over if they are you.
Look out Sanibel here I come!
Congratulations, Doris, have a great time, so happy for ypu!! :)
Doris, after reading your comment…. you made my day! Thank you so much for all of your kind words- I’m thrilled you have been learning right along with me. Maybe we’ll run into each other on the beach while finding lots of treasures.
Doris, my husband and I are from Indiana, and will be down May 11-18 for our fourth visit to Sanibel. I hope to run into you all! Come to think of it, we need to have like a sheller’s club with photos or something, so we can ID each other on the beach! ;)
Heather,
That would be cool, Let’s touch base next week to see where the shells are coming in then maybe we can say let’s meet at that beach, at evening low tide and pick a date. Or make it morning low tide or whenever the best shelling time/place is according to Pam.
How does that sound?
Sure, we can try to do that. And Pam, I’m sad to say I don’t have a tee yet! Is there any place to pick one up on the island?
Shoot. I don’t have tees yet available on island… Only online!
Wear your shelling sistah’s iLoveShelling tee! :)
Lots of sand dollars in between the beach and 1st sand bar, from just past the lighthouse to the half mile mark.
I just returned to Cleaveland from a two week stay on Sanibel. The owls are very active on that end of the Island. Especially in the morning.
Two weeks! I’m so jealous.
I may need Clark’s expertise in finding a home there too – someday. Said the dreamer.
Just out of curiosity what’s the ‘go to” place if you wanted to look for a job in the Ft. Meyers area? The newspaper? a certain website?
For example:
Here, for a local job you’d go to Peoriahelpwanted.com
Clark would love to help you whenever you have questions about a home! As for the job, there are tons of local job sites out there for our area. I’m not sure which one is the “best” website for your field but there are quite a few to choose from. My best advice would be to google “Southwest Florida jobs” and go surfing. Good luck!