Yep. I did it again. I got up at the crack of dawn to catch low tide… but this time I went to my fave beach on Fort Myers Beach. I found SAND DOLLARS galore!
And I wasn’t the only one finding them. I saw Ft Myers Beach local sheller Debbie (from our April iLoveShelling Cruise) with her hands full of SAND DOLLARS too.
But hold on… I’ve got to tell you the coolest story. Being obsessed with shelling reunited these friends after 20 years!
Back in February, Heidi (who follows iLoveShelling!) had signed up for our May Shellabaloo 2  and commented on the iLoveShelling Facebook page … “We did it!! We signed up for Shellabaloo 2! These two Kansas girls will be there with “shells” on!! Obsessed!!!”. Debbie saw her post and recognized her name and wrote her a message. Yes! It was the same Heidi she knew years ago when their kids grew up as best friends. Ha! Moms reunited!  But unfortunately it turned out that Heidi had to cancel her Shellabaloo trip due to a health problem in the family. That’s when Debbie stepped in and told her when the health issues were resolved, Heidi had to come visit her in Fort Myers Beach to shell to her hearts content. She did.. And they found shells! They are two kindred spirits brought together again by the love of shelling. Here are Shelling Sistahs Heidi and Debbie…
Don’t ya just love that story? So it gets better… When Heidi showed up, Debbie told her that the only shell that she really wanted to find while she was there- was an ANGEL WING. It was their last shelling day together when I saw them and low and behold… que the Angelic choir in the background…. Debbie found the biggest ANGEL WING she could have ever imagined. LOL
We all found lots of other fun goodies too… like double SUNRAY VENUS CLAMS.
THIS Really spiny SPINY JEWLBOX…
Woop! There is it. A FLORIDA CONE.
These were all within 4 feet of each other just laying on the beach.
To make the morning even better, I saw Loree and Roy too! I met them for the first time on the June iLoveShelling cruise so it felt like it was old home week on Ft Myers Beach. So much fun to see you both!
Loree showed me that she found a pair of FALSE ANGEL WINGS and also a pair of SUNRAY VENUS too. It was interesting to me that she pulled them both out to show me so I asked her to take a look at their shapes of both the shells… don’t they look similar in shape other than their size? That’s because they are in the same family- Veneridae. The FALSE ANGEL WING is in the VENUS family instead of the “true” ANGEL WING family. Cool, huh?
I’m so happy I made it out for the Sunday morning low tide to catch the full moon over the horizon. Â If you want to catch a low tide any where near Fort Myers Beach, Sanibel and Captiva I would suggest shelling at least one hour before through at least one hour after the lowest tide of the day. Wanna check for the next low tides? Â Check out the Tide Charts HERE.Â
Meet other obsessed shellers or hang out with us to learn more tips to finding shells. Join us for a Shelling Adventure!
Soooo jealous! Love, love, love sand dollars!
Oh I am too,,, all I ever find is pieces, I’d probably faint and miss them all when the tide came in, LOL
Me too! It is such a bummer not being able to come back anytime soon! :( I almost shouldn’t look at this blog until I know I am coming, but that will never happen! Lol… Sherri from MN
Wow! After reading on the I love shelling web page about all the sand dollars at Gulf Side Beach I headed their this morning at low tide and hit the jack pot! If I found one sand dollar while shelling I’d be thrilled, to find hundreds was unbelievable! I did leave lots for others to find and gave some away to some very happy shellers.
What a superb last image with the bird, the moon and the reflections on the ripples.
I could see not only a “Sanibel sunsets” calendar but also a “Sanibel sunrises” one! Or maybe just a book of images, all taken as the sun rises or sets… Lovely.
Thanks for giving us our daily dose of heaven.
I love all the shells, especially, the sand dollars (and the angel wing), but the story about Heidi and Debbie gave me happy tears. Thank you, Pam, for enjoying the way life gives us special times as much as I do and telling us all about it.
Ditto! If you can’t be on Sanibel, Pam’s blog is second best!!!! THANK YOU for sharing! Love the sand dollars! Love the story! Life’s connections make it all so special!
Yes! Wonderful story! :)
Pam,
Will be in Sanibel for the month of November!!! Was wondering about the tide chart. Where is Point Ybel and how do you adjust the time of low tide for the Lighthouse and Blind Pass? Thanks. Joy
Point Ybel is the lighthouse. Check the “Captiva Gulf Side” link for tide info closer to Blind Pass. http://www.localtides.net/captiva-gulf-side-tide.php Good luck!
Point Ybel IS the Sanibel lighthouse. :) The tide doesnt change enough to make a different from lighthouse to Blind Pass- so I just use Point Ybel for both.
Oh wow, I always thought that Blind Pass was a little bit later! Good to know. I never was sure I did it right so I always got there early to make sure. We went out at Blind Pass under the bridge and got tons of shells at midnight last April. It was amazing!
This summer I noticed that you couldn’t climb under the Captiva side of Blind Pass anymore. Does anyone know if they filled in that little path to get down under the bridge or did Mother Nature do that? Just wondering! Sherri from MN
Hi Sherri, Honestly? The tides are so complicated that it’s just as easy to use the lighthouse (Point Ybel) tide times as it is to figure out the exact time by dividing Redfish Pass with Lighthouse to get Blind Pass. Ive realized that That other Blind Pass time table is not accurate. Tide charts and tables are only a PREDICTION of the tide times. I need to write a whole post on reading tide charts but its soooooo complicated I never finish it…but im half way there. So maybe soon. But for now, just go by what i have on my tides page http://www.iloveshelling.com/blog/sanibel-tides/ and be there at least an hour before (or 2 hours before!) and an hour after- you wont miss it! And yes, that was Mother Nature who changed the path at BP. She is always in charge.
Wow Pam, great stuff on those shores. I usually come down this time of year but can’t this year…. & of course I’m missing out on good finds! Ugh.
So keep those pics coming …… Keep shelling all.
Mary Ann
East Granby. CT
How miraculous that Debbie recognized Heidi’s name on ILS FB !!
Followers reunited, what a sweet reunion….
I’m calling this a true ” shellunion” :)
Pam, this post gave me goose bumps !!
Shellotte
Pam, thank you for sharing our reunited friends story. We had great chit-chat time as we strolled N Fort Myers Beach, Blind Pass, Lover’s Key and S Ft Myers Beach–all while walking with our heads down on the hunt for treasures from the sea! That heads down stroll with frequent stooping along the way makes Shelling such a great ‘sport’; check your tide chart, brush your teeth, and you are ready to hit the beach!
I just love reading your posts. The sand dollars are wonderful. I so need a trip to the beach. My grand-daughter and I are shell freaks and when she gets home from school today I will be showing this to her. She won’t believe the sand dollars you found. When we were there in August she and my son snorkeled and found a couple but they were few and far between. This made my day. Keep up the good posting–those of us that are not near a beach love hearing about the finds.
Sweet story about the friends reunited by their love of shelling. Loree and Roy, it’s good to see you’re back in town and finding great shells!! We met on the June iloveshelling cruise also, in case you don’t remember me. Happy shelling and I hope you find tons of treasures while you’re here. ;-)
Genine, I sure do remember both you and Jake. Roy and I are having a fabulous time and was so shocked when I heard a familiar voice say, ” you have alot of shells” only to look up and see Pam. Roy and I are celebrating our birthdays. Hope you are finding many shells in Marco ( I think that is where you moved)
Now that is an awesome story!
When you find really beautiful shells, do you know how to get away the animal and put in another shell?
On Sanibel you are only allowed to take empty dead shells, no live shells. It’s against the law.
In any case, the shell is part of the body of the live animal, just like your skeleton is part of you, so you can’t separate the animal from the shell without killing it.
On the other hand… hermit crabs like to live in empty shells, and a hermit crab will move from one shell to another when his shell is too small for him, or when the shell becomes old and broken.
One of your best posts…..and that moon photo is fab!!
As always I look forward to coming to this site daily just so I know that Sanibel truly exists. I’m trying to plan a trip in April by driving down. I hope and pray I can, because I know where I’ll be from sunrise to sunset everyday is on the dream island of Sanibel (even if I’m staying in Fort Myers). Keep up the beautiful blogging Pam :)
Love this post!!!
I have to start planning my next visit before I go into full mourning…..lol
Today in the beach of Barcelona i found many shells:
babylonia spirata, mitra mitra, 2 junonias, an harpa major, 3 queen helmet, 2 cyrtopleura costata, a murex troscheli, an astraea heliotropium and i found a small argonauta hians in good conditions but than it is also wonderful. If you don’t know this words of this types of shells, you can go to watch them on google. Did you find anything good today? if you know the words can you write them? Bye bye
alex
where is barcelona beach? Spain?
I’m curious where Heidi & Debbie got the mesh shelling bags they have on their waists in your Oct. 22nd post?
Looks like Debbie got hers at Captiva Cruises (its the logo!) http://captivacruises.com.
Thank you so much! Couldn’t zoom in enough to figure out the logo, although I tried! :-)
Pam, where is your favorite beach on Fort Myers Beach?!