For me, this is the perfect evening… taking a walk on the beach without any rush, without an agenda and being happy with whatever I find.
That’s how I felt this week. I just want to melt into my beachcombing and have my mind completely focused on… well… focused on NOTHING. Ahhh. It worked. And as soon as I started breathing, feeling the warm breeze and being so happy to have my toes on the sand after a long week…. the rest of the world melted away.
That’s when I found WENTLETRAPS! …And SAND DOLLARS!
I get a little “edgy” when I cant get my fix of the beach. Yes, I know, I’m VERY fortunate to be have access to the beaches of Sanibel and Captiva as often as I do but this week was so busy catching up with life in general (we all know how that goes) I didn’t get to get my normal beach therapy. There is one thing I NEVER take for granted… beach time. That’s why I think it’s important to share it because I loooove looking through wrack lines like this one near LIGHTHOUSE BEACH and knowing you love it too…
I even think it’s cool to see SEA PORK…
I was thrilled to find my treasures to take home but my favorite thing on the beach I found this week (that I couldnt take home) was seeing a mama SNOWY PLOVER and her babies. So sweet!
They are so hard to see because they blend in so closely to the sand but I snapped a few pictures of them without getting too closely to disturb them. And I got a little video! Enjoy the THREE SNOWY PLOVER BABIES AND THEIR MAMA video
But for now… enjoy the SNOWIES!
Love your Facebook posts! But what is ‘sea pork’?
It’s cool stuff!! FYI- If you click on any bolded and capitalized the word … like i did with SEA PORK in my post… so if you click on that, it will take you to the post when I explained it. But know that I explained how I give further reading material links by bolding for next time, here is the link so you dont have to go searching… http://www.iloveshelling.com/blog/2010/08/17/what-is-this-stuff-on-the-beach/ Have fun! ;)
I love your website, and will be living through it until my next visit to Sanibel! :)
Oh my, I have no idea what Sea Pork is, and it looks like I don’t want to know.
But those plover babies…so cute! I have never had the privilege of seeing any, so I thank you.
I completely identify with that feeling of too much time without “beach therapy.”
Thank you for helping me know it has a name!
Thanks for sharing this with us Pam! You’re treasure hunt finds always amaze me!
Thank you.. Thank you…. for the Sanibel beach time…I absolutely love Sanibel and try to monitor daily.. I live 18 hours away and long for the day we can retire in the area. We saw the Snowy Plovers the first week of June last year, and my 15-yr old granddaughter still watches the same type of video you created…They are a priceless treasure and It’s a wonderful connection we share.. also priceless for the teenagers years. Beach time is a life saving time for me also… I do have the luxury of my beach time here in my home state, although it is 3 hours away…
Keep up the wonderful posts of our shared treasures.. :)
You go girl! Rock that blue toe nail polish!! :)
Of course………..’I love shelling’ blue. Way to go, Pam.
Of course, silly me :) Pam should sell it at her shop, haha!
LOL. I painted them “iLoveShelling” blue for Shellabaloo!
Really cool finds! Glad I now have a name for thos strange blobs…Sea Pork.
omg! those little babies are so cute!!!! made me chuckle! I also love the blue nail polish! I had blue toes when I came to Sanibel a couple of weeks ago! I hope I didn’t scare you with my white face!!!!!
Pam – I will be sending you pics of some shells that we can’t identify. As Traci said – “the ocean puked shells at your feet”. You wouldn’t beLIEVE what we brought home!!!!!!!!! woo hoo!
I swear Shell Sistah – you are a WT magnet!
Wentletraps and baby’s ears! A perfect day at the beach!
Looks like a wentletrap bonanza – were they hiding in the coffee grounds? Some nice olives too! Most of the nice ones we saw there were live and busy burrowing at low tide.
I knew you had gone to the lighthouse beach because you found all those wts. Nice babys ears and sand dollars. I tried to take videos of sandpipers, but they kept running away! Have fun on the 19th.
Pat
Beautiful find Pam….we spent the day at lighthouse today….love this place.
Nice babies ear and Wentletraps.
The olives are really dark lately.
Donnie
I will now have to live by your videos and pics as we will be home tomorrow and back to work Tuesday. Have a great day tomorrow and hope you and fellow shellers see lots of wild life and get lots of shells.
What is the small little spotted flat weird looking shell to the right of the sand dollars? Just got home from a week on the Island and your website made it so much more interesting. We are now a family of Shellers from Ohio-
Lisa, I found 2 leopard crab shells so I put them in the picture too. Most of the time I find them, they break by the time I get home so I was happy both made it back home in one piece. There are 2 limpets beside the crab shells just in case that was what you were asking about.
Those baby snowy plovers are so cute!
I want to know about your olive bracelet! Did you make it? I have tons of olives with holes at the top! Looks I found a summer jewelry making project for the girls!
Alicia, yes! I made my bracelet by stringing a tipless olive. Thank you I love it too
What type of cording did you use?
I used waxed linen cord threaded through an olive shell missing the tip then added a few beads. I should do a post on it, huh?
Yes, please. I want to make them for The Flamingos, my beach trip buddies. Been going with them for 21 years.
Pam that still life of shells and sand dollars is so beautiful; it would make a wonderful poster! or maybe a calendar page.
Thank you Susan!
I love the sand dollars!
First, THANK YOU for ‘shell sharing’ with all of us.
Second, what kind of camera and video camera do you use? You take fantastic pictures. You could be a photographer!
Thank you! I use a Panasonic camera. The model changes often because I’m not easy on cameras and sand and salty splashes do a number on them. I get whatever the latest version they have at Costco.
Wow, Wenteletrap bonanza!
My favorite part of our visit to Sanibel was the evening shelling at Lighthouse Beach. The water was so calm and wonderful to wade in. And the beach so full of treasures!
Pam, love the shells….I certainly live thru your website until my next visit to the island….thank you so much for sharing….Have a great day at Cayo :):)
Arrived last night. Trying to decide what area to shell at today. This is where I find my peace. Last night we watched the snowy plovers on the beach. They just tickle us. Been following your post from 2010. You are the one that helped make this our vacation year after year. Thank you!
Hello Pam…what a beautiful post! The snowy Mama & baby plovers, the beautiful shells & your blue toes! Love ’em! Cute olive shell bracelet too. You made my Sunday morning after my busy week too…it’s not quite like being there, but ALMOST!
My Dearest Pam,
There are several reasons I visit Sanibel, one being Shelling & another I’m a Birder. That video was the best. Omg they are so fast. Thank you Pam for fullfilling two of my hobbies today. You are the best. Where was mom in the video? I would expect her to be right with them??
Big hugs
Mary Ann
East Granby CT
Pam:I am glad Alicia also spotted your bracelet. With tourquise and shells, awesome. we have our last real low and hi tides this coming weekend (t5/24-5/28) so I’ll be out to see what I can find.Have to get the sand dollars at a low tide and where there is a running channel from beach to ocean.
The fisherman continue to strip our bay of most precious shells. Now it is the pink and black murex. earlier it was the colorful scallop. You can’t imagine the truck loads that are filled. the meat is packed in refrigerator trucks and the shells so somewhere. We “gringo” can’t seem to get it stopped. so very sad. So enjoy your beach and I look at all your beautiful shells.
Janet in AZ
Absolutely LOVE the video, have never been lucky enough to see the babies in person, could sit and watch all day! Zoom Zoom, off they go, not a care in the world, blessed to be living on a beach! Thank you for another great post, just back from a little beach therapy myself, but the beach was a mess with tourists, shoulda took out the boat but only could snatch an hour of bliss today.
ps …. love the polish also, have worn that turquoise on my toes since I arrived here in heaven almost five years ago…. I’m not myself without it. (of course I have to keep reapplying, lol)
I am in Indian Rocks Beach and found 12 olives and 3 alphabet cones!!!! I’ve never found an alphabet cone before! It’s not Sanibel but I am so happy!
Pam, your website is a Godsend! I met you last Monday morning on Sanibel side of Blind Pass, you were kind enough to take time to speak with me even tho you were late for a tennis match. I know how that is as I used to be a intermediate leage player in my younger years! Shells were not plentiful so as you suggested, I sat and sifted! Actually for so long I had to ask a young man to help me up!!
Been on Gulf City Beach, got some pretty good apple murex, Lighthouse, a nice small welk, a big one was home so had to throw back. Bowman”s yesterday got a good sized whelk i the water that was NOT HOME! Very happy about that.
Walking the beach and just looking for “gifts”brings such inner peace that nothing else can match.
Have a wonderful beach week!
Cindy, congrats on your shelling! Of course i remember talking with you and so glad you caught me before I left. It was my pleasure to meet YOU and my tennis game could wait a few minutes so I could talk to you. I dont play league anymore either so its a little more casual so I could be a few minutes late without causing too much commotion. Glad you kept searching to find your goodies!
Pam, National Geographic is gonna wanna hire you after seeing this video of the Plover and the babies. What a GREAT video and still pic!!!!! Sweet!!
What a fun video of the little baby Plover. Our nesting season is heating up here in Pinellas and I’m headed out to Egmont Key and Indian Shores for bird stewarding this weekend. Love when the babies start running around. :) Great shell finds too. I spent all day Saturday and Sunday at our beaches and didn’t find a shell I “had to have”. I’ve collected every shell (multiples of them) that was on my must have list and now I’m down to only collecting the unique ones that I HAVE to have. :) Keep up the great posts!
Pam, I LOVE the babies! They are soooo adorable! How you managed to keep the camera on them I don’t know ’cause they sure are fast for such little fellas!
I have visited Sanibel twice (I live in California) and enjoyed it so much. We do not have the shells you do, so Sanibel is heaven for shelling. We may be in the area in October. Will this be a good time for shelling and where is the best place for shelling? Also, do you know where you can see the baby turtles that have hatched? Appreciate your help.
Fortunately, the baby turtles scurry to the gulf so quickly after hatching that most people never get to see them. As often as I am on the beach (and also being a volunteer turtle tracker), I’ve never seen a new nest hatch. I’ve only seen one baby turtle on the beach that was stranded- and yes I rescued it and got him into the water- yay! That was exciting but VERY rare. For shelling, check out my tips here… http://www.iloveshelling.com/blog/best-seashell-shelling-tips/
Yep, Lighthouse Beach is beautiful. Have you ever tried wading out to its sandbar at low tide with a face mask? My family and I did that on our trip down there because we had heard that some guy had been snorkeling around between the lighthouse and the zero mile marker and had found a ton of good shells!