My friend Debbie who lives on Fort Myers Beach sent me this photo of her shell finds near Bowditch Beach on the south end of the island. There are so many things that caught my eye in the photo above (like that row of ALPHIES!)… but also that shell on the bottom middle that looks a little freakish. OMG I think it’s the coolest FREAK FIGHTING CONCH I’ve ever seen! I will get a close up look at it soon so I will let you know exactly what it is soon.
But while she was collecting all of her awesome shells, she met a young gal who was collecting shells but didn’t know what any of them were. She put out her hands to ask Debbie what she had… What??? Never mind the ALPHABET CONES… She found a JUNONIA!!!
Meanwhile, I was at Blind Pass Captiva watching the cutest family having the best time collecting shells. Eli didn’t have a big enough bucket to hold all of the shells he wanted to keep. His mom starting putting some of the shells back on the beach and said “Only put your favorite shell in the bucket so we can take them home with us”. He cocked his head and looked at her with the sweetest voice and said “Don’t put them back! They’re all my favorites!”
Here’s Eli with his shelling friends and family who traveled together to Captiva from Connecticut… Alisha, Remy, Aidan and Skylar.
I was majorly bummed on Thursday. Mother Nature did not cooperate with our iLoveShelling cruise to Cayo Costa and she sent a storm with rain and thunder at the time of our shelling adventure. Grrrrr. But instead of crying about the canceled boat, lots of us went to Blind Pass Captiva like Kaisa, Kan and Kaika from Tokyo!
Sherry and Gracie from St Johns, FL headed straight to Blind Pass from the cancelled cruise and had practically filled their shell bag by the time I got there. Sherry said “The shells aren’t all perfect but since we make shell frames and other crafts with them, they don’t have to be whole”. My kinda gals!
Leslie S posted this picture on iLoveShelling facebook page and wrote “A successful day of shelling at Blind Pass–Look, there’s a nice Alphabet cone and a broken piece of the elusive Junonia!”
Dawn K also posted this next photo and wrote “Three Alpha cones in one hour!!! HAPPINESS!! It was about 1/2 mile south east of Island Inn.”
If I’m not mistaken, most of these shells were found in the water. Although the water isn’t that pretty aqua blue right now because of the releases of Lake Okeechobee due to so much rain, there are obviously still shells out there by seeing these photos. Shellers are wonderfully persistent!
Although we were rained out on this week’s cruise, we also have another one scheduled this month on Wednesday August 28th and more though out the year so join us! We also had 2 cancelations for Shellabaloo 3 so now there are 2 spots available! I know it’s last minute, but JOIN US August 26th through 30th for a week of a shellacious shellathon. CLICK HERE for details.
Haven’t done much shelling the past few weeks and it appears I’m missing out. Gotta step up my game if I’m ever gonna find an Alphabet Cone. ;-)
ELI AND THE SHELLING KIDS FROM CONNECTICUT ARE JUST DARLING !!
LOVE THEIR SMILING FACES AND TREASURES FROM THE GULF :)
You always make me wish I were there. Thank you so much for all the beautiful pictures and stories. I am counting the days until we are there again!
Oodles and oodles of great shells!!!
Eli is so cute-they were all his favorites! Great find that the girl got a junonia and other great shells. All those alphabet cones and olive shells! I think that is a fighting conch that got squished too. Hope you have good weather for the shellabaloo.
Pat
They’re all my favorites too, Eli :)
Acey, love your reply to Eli…
and Pam, you need to realize how many lives you touch !!
no matter how crummy the world around me seems some days….
I need only to go to Iloveshelling.com
to realize how the wonders of nature make me feel grateful.
If I could, I would nominate Pam for an HONORARY DOCTORATE IN HUMANITIES… Pam, you truly are a unique, remarkable human being.
Omigosh, Charlotte! You are so sweet to write such wonderful words. You, my dear, are a big part of spreading the shelling love which inspires me. Thank YOU and all I come across on here, online and on the beach. Yall are my inspiration every day.
wow! all those gorgeous seashells!!! I’m officially shellous. ;)