If you only like to shell at the lowest tide of the day, then you might be missing some great opportunities to see a shell pile from on the incoming tide. These Sanibel Stoop-ers caught the perfect incoming tide to snag some great shells being tossed up on the beach.
Actually, we met one of the Stoop-ers a couple of weeks ago. It’s Heidi from Kansas I blogged about while at Fort Myers Beach a couple of weeks ago! This time her family joined her in the shelling fun…. Jim, (Heidi), Pat and Heidi’s dad and newbie sheller Harold (Washington state) …. who, I must say, looks like he was tremendously enjoying his first time shelling.
He absolutely loves the SURF CLAMS! The plastic bag on the right is filled to the brim with them. They all kept saying “We don’t get shells like this where we live!”
Heidi definitely doesn’t get ALPHABET CONES where she lives so she let out a yelp when she plucked this beauty out of the water.
I took a photo of their hands with all of their favorite shells and for some reason… the photo didn’t take. Grrrrrrr. I hate when that happens! I’m so sorry- I wanted to show off all of your great finds! But this next photo basically shows the treasures that were filling their hands too- these are some of my finds. They had a few chips of JUNONIA as well…
Where did we find these you ask? This was about half a mile down from Blind Pass on the Sanibel side. See that palm tree in the background of this next photo? That’s right where that exposed old wooden sea wall is so we were about 75 yards further down the beach.
Along with the exposed sea wall, there are now lots of exposed tree roots too from erosion. I’ve never seen these exposed that much! These are perfect areas for shells to caught so I always like to search around any debris but this morning they were bare. I took this photo more towards the lowest tide when the shells had not even began to wash up on the beach. I didn’t have time to check them again after the big wash up… hmmm that might be my spot tomorrow.
I was thrilled to see Wendy again too! I met her last year after she found a gorgeous LIONS PAW and a huge HORSE CONCH … and she’s having just a good luck this year.
She found the SANIBEL SIX! Along with her SANIBEL SIX (with 2 ALPHABET CONES), she found SAND DOLLARS and a huge WHELK this time. The WHELK looks a little beat up now but it’s going to clean up nicely.
I hope these shells stay here for a few more days. Please Mother Nature? I’d like to find the rest of that JUNONIA!
I’m so excited for our boat ride and shelling adventure to Cayo Costa on Thursday morning! Come with us! You can still join us by calling Captiva Cruises 239-472-5300 to reserve your spot on the iLoveShelling cruise November 2, 2013 at 9 a.m. Or CLICK HERE for more info and future Shelling Adventures…
PS- I know I promised the video of my low tide shelling the other morning but I still can’t get it to work. More technical difficulties… but no worries. I’ll give it another try tomorrow.
Pam, When you arre shelling a pile or a wrack line….perhaps finding bubbles , wentletraps and buttons..and someone comes walking down the beach…NOT on the sand, but right on the line of shells you are shelling..and you hear that terrible sound..crunch, crunch, crunch….what do you do? It drives me nuts for non-shellers to squish the shells instead of walking on the sand..;)
I hear ya Debbie! I see it so often but especially on the mini lines I can’t help but get …errrr…peeved. Most of the time they are walking so fast, I can’t even say anything because they are going so fast and its useless. But if they are walking slowly, I’ve mentioned to them “Oh my gosh, you should see why I just found in this shell line on the beach”…. and then I show them what they can find. 9 times out of 10 they have NO CLUE whats on the beach and they like to learn.then they might not crunch right on that line again. But I always assume first that they don’t know but then if they do and they still do, I figure they have every right to walk the beach too. I just work around those big clunky footsteps (after I give them the stink eye LOL)- but there’s normally enough shells to make us all happy.
After saying something nice…and they turn around and crunch back , I feel like giving them the teacher look!! ;) Be there Jan 18 for 10 days! It soon has to be my junonia time!! I am from NC..the Scotch Bonnet is our state shell…I sure don’t know why. I have found 2 here my entire life and I have always been a serious sheller. I think our state shell should have been the turkey wing! Do you ever find jingles with the top and bottom still attached? I have a few.
So jealous! Love the massive Lightning Whelk! Looking forward to more updates and photos. Cheers! (reader from Aussie)
Hey, you have my name! So thrilled to meet another Lydia! <3 (reader from Buford GA)
You have a lovely name ;) *thumbs up*
I can’t wait to meet you on the iloveshelling cruise on Thursday!
Oh goodie, those beautiful shells are rolling in! Hope we get the right wind direction during the time I will be there, in less than a month… I can’t wait.
As a kid in England I saw pictures of Sanibel shelling in National Geographic magazine and thought to myself… wow, that place must really be shell heaven. It took me half a century before I actually got to Sanibel in person, but yes indeed, it is shell heaven! :)
Oh my gosh, I was all set to take a day for me and drive the nearly 5 hours(I’m in central florida) spend the night and go on your tour on Thursday…and then I looked at the weather! BOOOOO! Only day calling for thunder storms. So…I canned the idea for now. Then I looked at the weather and the weekend is supposed to be fabulous…so for my birthday I am going shelling all weekend! We are staying just off the islands and I would love to meet up with you if you are going out at all this weekend! I am playing hookie from my first grade classroom friday, so I am calling it an educational trip in which case I will take back treasures and new knowledge! Any heads up would be greatly appreciated! I will be watching your facebook page and your website for any and all updates. Let me know…I think I have the sheller’s stoop down pat! I am an east coast sea glass finder of the very best sort!
jessica
Jessica, it’s supposed to be a beautiful morning for the cruise! It’s not supposed to rain.
Here the best shelling is after a storm, we don’t have much tide.
Yes that is the one drawback with the Caribbean Sea: it has only a teeny tiny tidal range! You can barely tell the difference between high tide and low tide.
Oh My Goodness, I can’t stand it…..seriously, I am going to have a meltdown….I want to be in that water snagging those shells. You got a couple of great horsies and olive and whelk and it looks like everyone else were getting really nice shells too. Oh…,…….sigh………….sob…………..sniff….(wipe the eyes and get back to work)….
When I am fortunate enough to get to Sanibel, I shell ALL the time. Some of my best finds have been in knee deep water on those incoming or high tides when it’s calm. Don’t limit yourself to low tides. You just have to look in different places when the tides are changing!
How many junonias have you find?
Pam,
That is where we were today, but we did not see you. What time were you out? We went at around 7am and left around 11:15. We were at that very shell pile, and then the tide came in and washed it out in a blink! I guess it came back?
I found 5 – FIVE Crown Conchs!! That was the shell on my shelling list this year because the few I have found have been faded and in bad shape. The ones I found today were a good size, color, and they all had their spines! I am so happy with the shelling so far this year. We’ll see you on the cruise on Thursday!
I know just where that wooden sea wall is cuz I was standing right there talking to you last May!
Last weekend when I saw Moira for lunch she gave me a beautiful shadow box that she made me with the Sanibel Six inside and it made me think of you. Its a gorgeous keepsake.
I really want to be there! By the way, which end of Blind Pass is the sea wall on?