I felt like a kid in a candy store yesterday! Steady west winds pushed a beautiful pile of shells rich with colors of yellow and orange. Look at that yummy GAUDY NATICA, sweet LIGHTNING WHELK, delicious BANDED TULIP and scrumptious HORSE CONCH!
Patricia is going to have some really nice souvenirs for her memories of this amazing day… to take back all the way to Germany.
Ericksen, Isabella, Anastasia and their parents Brian and Cheryl were making great memories too…
Anastisia showed me her faves… an ALPHABET CONE and a HORSE CONCH. Candy!
Cheryl was tickled pink to find a GAUDY NATICA too along with some other exshellent treasures…
Becky and her daughter Pam were having a ball looking through that big shell pile while Rich searched the water. Awwwwwe! I loved meeting you Becky!
Since I posted photos yesterday of the huge WHELKS Clairissa found (CLICK HERE TO SEE), I’ve had lots of people ask me if she was snorkeling or if she was working the deep water to find those trophies. She wasn’t snorkeling and she didn’t have a net- she was zig zagging the water with her feet and hands. You can see for yourself because I just realized she was in the background of Becky’s picture above. That’s Clairissa on the far back left … and here she is when I snapped a random photo before I met her….
It’s been raining on and off (for days on end) so yesterday I went home in between rain showers to dry off and get changed. But my curiosity got the best of me so I had to go back around 5-ish. Talk about candy! I found 4 “candy corns” (I havent called them that in a long time!) right away.
I didn’t even dress for the occasion of going back to the beach so my jeans were completely soaked. I couldnt help but get in. LOL
Could you pass this up either?
Ready for the video of the shelling yesterday? Be prepared to have quick vision because as you will see, I’m a little excited … to say the least… so the camera moves a little fast but you’ll see me pick up shell after shell. At the end of the vid, you’ll even see Clairissa still working that water for a split second. Funny, huh? She’s probably horrified I keep talking about her – heehee- but geeez, we all want to know every little secret of finding shells like that. And we are all just jealous!
But…. here’s the sad news. I went back to Blind Pass Captiva early this morning (in the rain) to see if there was even a bigger pile. No! The west winds picked up even more but took the shells out again. When this rough water calms down again, we’ll see the shells again- I’m sure of it so of course I’ll keep you posted. UPDATE: Shells are back!
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Darnit–I missed the shell pile by a few days. So jealous! There was nothing on shore this past weekend so I took my search underwater via snorkel.
Can’t wait until my next drive over when there will, hopefully, be a west wind and a glorious shell pile awaiting me. A girl can dream….
:)
Thank goodness I jut saw this blog. Was gonna head to Sanibel just now (right after work). You saved me the trip. Thanks!! Hopefully the shells will return soon. Glad you were able to enjoy them yesterday. ;-)
Looks like everyone was having fun. Too bad the shells left-maybe they’ll be back for the weekend. Love the video! Wish I was there. Coming in January.
Pat
OHHHH !!!! ***** DROOLING **** Dang nab it , sure wish I was there ! Thanks for bringing a little of Sanibel to this Missouri lady !!!
Hello, Pam… We are here now (fr Minnesota). Kindly give advice about where to shell tomorrow, Friday.
Thanks so so much!
Beverly and Kurt
Blind pass! If u go and the shells aren’t there…. Stick around for a little bit or go grab a bite to eat. Then go back. The shells are washing ashore then going back out but they are there. Also, I just heard the the lighthouse on the tip was good today so if u are close to lighthouse- go by there too. Good luck and happy shelling!!!!
Thanks thanks thanks!!!
Talk about having shelling envy….and I even see an alphabet cone! That must be like being in shell heaven. LOL
We are coming to Sanibel on Saturday. Watching this has me sooo excited to get back to the beach! I sure hope a good shell pile shows up while I’m there next week!!
We can always tell when you make great finds = breaking into song on the video :)
I had to play it back to see what I was singing… Hahahah I guess I do!
WooHoo, nice shelling!
It’s just amazing how rapidly a great shell pile can appear and then disappear again!
Unbelievable… What a difference from last week!! I want to come back!
Is the water still turning that brownish color? We were there in end of August and it was awful! The shelling was the worst it had been in all our years coming there. We believe it was because of the water. we found one beach that didn’t turn that color and it had shells. I was just wondering because of all those shells.
8 more days I hope. My FIL is slowly slipping away from us so I am hoping to still be able to make my trip.
I also want a huge shell pile. And candy I want candy!!!! All those shells are beautiful. Sigh..,,,
I’d love to hit a shell pile like that one day when I’m there. That’s the kind of thing I dream about.
Hey Pam- how can I order a print of one of your photos?
Id love to figure that out with you, how big do you want it and which photo?
The one of me in the water w/ the shelling rake. What sizes can you do? Thank you so much for the memories!