It’s another Super Moon weekend! This large full moon made for a super low tide to let us peek at more of the beach and expose sand bars that are usually covered with water. The photo above shows a few of Super Sheller Clark’s faves which includes 2 teeny tiny KINGS CROWNS and the cutest little ROUGH SCALLOP I’ve ever seen. He loves the ALPHIES of course but he also is so intrigued by the different color patterns of the FIGHTING CONCHS. This one is pure white (with some PERIOSTRACUM still on it) with a bright orange mouth.
But… even with all of that coolness, I think Jennifer from Maryland played a better hand. Â She found a CABRITS MUREX! Boom Shellalaka!
Jennifer and her son Chris were at Blind Pass Captiva at low tide when Jennifer found her awesome MUREX and some other goodies like those two perfect PAPER FIGS. She “Whooped” it up even more when I told her that I consider her CABRITS a pretty rare find- more rare than a JUNONIA. Whoop!
Vera from St James City was happy to find COCKLES, WHELKS, CONCHS and lots of OLIVES to put the finishing touches on a shell frame she’s been making…
Lorie from Pittsburg found a gorgeous GAUDY NATICA (I always feel like I need to also add…”also called a COLORFUL MOON”…one day I’ll decide which one I want to call it- haha). I loved her coral piece, the dark LETTERED OLIVE and the SHARKS EYE too but she was too shy to have her photo taken with them. That’s okay, Lorie! Glad you shared your shells!
We also went to the Sanibel Lighthouse to see what treasures that beach would offer us. I saw Marin and Ava finding dried up SAND DOLLARS on the highest wrack line…
Instead of searching in the low tide line, they were clever to look in the dried SEAWEED along the vegetation by the beach accesses to find dozens of them.
At low tide, we searched Lighthouse Beach, West Gulf Drive near Tarpon Bay Rd and Blind Pass and found fun treasures at each beach so I think you’ll find shells and bling at most beaches in the evenings the next few days as well. Here’s my shell bag and a few of the prizes I found…
My favorite one was this BROAD PAPER COCKLE! I love this shell!
Love all the shells you and Clark found! One of my favorites is the broad paper cockle. Plus the shells everyone else found. Hope the super low tides continue. Pat
Wow. I love the cabrits murex and the colorful moon!! Went to Lowdermilk Beach in Naples yesterday and there were NO shells. Sorry I missed the shells on Sanibel. May have to shoot over there after work tomorrow. Thanks for this great post. ;-)
Lovely shells. Wish I were there.
This answers my question about the Supermoon and tides. Should have hopped a plane. So shellious!!!
Hi Pam!
This is Christa Deal from Texas, we met on the shelling trip. We enjoyed our trip so much! On the last evening we were there, Robert found an interesting shell at Blind Pass..I am going to send you a photo of it. If you can identify it, I would love to know what it is. At first I thought it was a white fighting conch, but it’s too different..and then I thought it was a milk conch..but I don’t think it is now. First one of its kind that I’ve seen!
Fantastic shells! Love that paper cockle! And the Cabrits murex of course — would really love to find one of those, or a Rose murex! Sanibel is shellifluous :)
We are enjoying the “supermoon” shelling but haven’t found anything of size…almost all really cute mini’s between checking Blind Pass and the Lighthouse but my husband wants to know if I’m on your payroll cause I tell everyone about you site!
hahah Thank you Parker! Did you shell on the inside of the pass near the jetty rocks at low tide? Thats where most people were finding the bigger ones. Good luck and maybe I’ll see you out there!
That’s the one place I didn’t look….I looked on the Sanibel side of course. I was keeping my eye out for you and recognized Mike instead when we were at the lighthouse (which further convinced my hubby that I’m nuts!)…I think I startled him! He was very nice to talk to me so I hope I do run into you somethine this week!
Hi pam,
Reading your blog has made me learn so much more about shells, its so amazing how many types of different Murexes there are I think I currently have about 4 different kinds but…I have a cabrits Murex and I had no idea it was that rare to find one! I actually have 2 but the second one is in rough shape! I definitely “Whooped” it up when you mentioned they are even more rare then junonias (which I have yet to find). I found both of mine on deerfield beach in Boca Raton two years ago, at first sight the you would never guess the beach has many shells but once you get in the water there are so many great rare shells! i just love shelling there! Thanks for another awesome post!
-Emily
wow Ive never shelled at Deerfield Beach, Emily. Good for you for finding a Cabrits. Whoop!
Pam, What is the shell on the bottom right of the Alphie that has the white and brown stripes? It’s gorgeous!! I can’t wait until September when I’m back on Paradise again!!!
Thats a Kings Crown, Deborah. Isnt it beautiful? The one right below the alphie is a juvie kings crown too. Its so much fun to see them that small.
Pam,
Please make a trip to the Tarpon Beach area during this super low tide. My daughter, Anna, and I walked the low tide yesterday (Sunday, June 23rd) and saw hundreds of live olive shells! In fact, we couldn’t even find one without a mollusk inside! The sand was marked with their trails. It looked like a proof-readers edits on a page. Comma shapes, circular shapes, and more! Lots of Florida conchs, too! We have been coming to Sanibel for several years, and have never seen anything like this. Amazing.
Linda, Mardi Gras Bead Lady, from Pensacola
Oh Linda! You are so cute! Thank you! I did walk near Tarpon Beach over the weekend and I have a video but it took too long to upload to I’ll put in on my next post. The low tide gives you such an opportunity to see so many wonders. glad you got to experience it!
Thanks for the reply. Our entire family will experience the wonders of this low tide tonight again at Tarpon Beach. Perhaps the rains will come and go early today and the early evening will be clear again. Linda
We were sitting on our patio Saturday night and one of our cousins said that there was going to be a super moon that night. And I immeditly said “the shelling on Sanibel will be great”. Wish I was there to enjoy it but, being able to come to this web site is the next best thing.
I love the sand dollars and those are the cutest girls, ever! :)