Shells! Shells! Shells! Â I teased you yesterday with a quick update post of Beth’s beautiful seashells she found at Lighthouse Beach after west winds whipped through Southwest Florida a few days earlier in the week, but it really was just the start of an incredishell couple of shelling days.
A few of you spotted the TRUE TULIP Beth (Ohio) found, which I believe is the prettiest TRUE TULIP I’ve ever seen. It’s “truly” spectacsheller!
Well… on second thought it may be the second prettiest one to the one I found while videoing after a storm on the post Fishing For True Tulips At Sanibel Pier. heehee
I saw Connie Miller and John again and they were having a BABYS EAR hay day.
She was filling her coffee cup with other treasures too but I was amazed with how many BABYS EARS.
Jana, Andrea and Ruth Ann from Tennessee not just found beautiful LIGHTNING WHELKS….
They found The Sanibel Six ….and to my surprise, Andrea found a SCOTCH BONNET! The Lighthouse Beach isn’t really known as SCOTCH BONNET territory.
Later in the day, Ruth Ann posted a photo on the iLoveShelling Facebook page that Andrea found a CABRITS MUREX the same day on Captiva. Shellzam!
I must have just missed them because I was on Captiva watching this major shell pile form at Blind Pass later in the afternoon….
This is where I met Cathy (Ft Myers) after she found two SCOTCH BONNETS while the shells were rolling in. Holy Cowrie!
But wait! after I took that photo of her holding her 2 SCOTCH BONNETS…. I heard her squeal with excitement! She found #3!!! BoomShellalaka!
It was a very happy birthday for Suzy (Fort Myers) because she found her own SCOTCH BONNET too. Here she is shellebrating with her husband Frank. Shelltastic!
In a few hours, I watched lots of the shells roll back into the Gulf Of Mexico but there were so many still at the waters edge and in the pile.
I saw my friend Faye from North Carolina (she lived on Sanibel for years and years) find a huge handful of shells.
Nice, huh?
Faye actually had a little help from Super Sheller Clark as he scooped the water with his shelling backhoe and brought us shells to sort through. Clark is on the far right getting those shells for us! I haven’t even gone through our shells yet to get a photo but I do know that in all of these years shelling Clark had never found a CARRIER SHELL… until now. He found four! hahah It’s one shell that he said he just didn’t have an eye for…. I repeat…. until now. Yay Clark! Â I’ll get pictures and show you later. ;)
Right as I was leaving, Len from Illinois showed me a couple of shells he found.
He found a FULGURATOR OLIVE! Exshellent find along with the very nice NUTMEG.
It has been so much fun to see the beaches change within hours and to witness Blind Pass fill up with shells again. I feel like its been three months since we’ve seen it get shell crazy by the jetty rocks. It felt sooooo gooood.
I have to show you Erin’s JUNONIA again since it was so sweet.
I haven’t even caught you up on all the great shelling holes I found this week! Yes, Lighthouse Beach and Blind Pass Captiva have been fabshellous… but the shelling on Fort Myers Beach has been outragshellous too!
Next post I will show you how amazing the shelling on the south end of Fort Myers Beach. Here is the first pile of shells I stooped over to find my first treasures yesterday on this beach. Just click on the photo to enjoy the CYBERSHELLING! I hope this incredishelling continues through the weekend!
UPDATE 3-20-14 around 6:00pm- I stopped at Blind Pass Captiva to see how the beach had changed. It was wiped clean of shells! Ack! There was still a small and very picked over pile of shells but most was just sand. All of the shells were taken back in the water. Darn it!
WoW! I must say, I loved seeing all those pruned up fingers holding beautiful treasures from the sea! :)
Oh my goodness! Makes me just that much more excited to get there Saturday! I can’t wait!
I’m speechshellous with excitement for you all :)
MOTHER NATURE providing such pretty shells ALL along the GULF….
She must be sayin’ …. “That’s just the way I roll (in) !!”
Shellotte
Yay Super Sheller Clark finally found his carrier shell! woot! And the gal who found THREE scotch bonnets??? wowwwww.
Oh my goodness!!!!!! Wishing I was there. Keep sharing.
Such a thrill to see, happy for all down there.
Mary Ann
East Granby. CT
Can’t believe the coffee cup with numerous baby’s ears… I have yet to find one.
Wish I was still on sunny Sanibel …. Thanks for keeping us in the loop, Pam.
FYI- I just updated this post since this pile didn’t last very long but then who knows what tomorrow will bring…
UPDATE 3-20-14 around 6:00pm- I stopped at Blind Pass Captiva to see how the beach had changed. It was wiped clean of shells! Ack! There was still a small and very picked over pile of shells but most was just sand. All of the shells were taken back in the water. Darn it!
In looking at your 3/20/2014 cybershelling photo, it almost looked like thousands of white tusks were everywhere. Probably just sea weed or some kind of vegetation. Could you please tell me if they could have been white tusks? I teach shell art at Dunedin Fine Art Center and enjoy and share your blog with my students. Thank you, Caryl
Hi Caryl, first of all… I love that you are sharing some of my blog posts with your students! So cool! I learn something everyday from my beach walks so it’s fun to learn together. Anyway, no, they weren’t tusk shells. I believe what you are referring to was a “seaweed” called manatee grass. I wish the photo had been more clear. I tried to do a higher resolution on this cybershot but now that I just looked back at it, it’s really not that clear-grrrrr. Sorry! My next cybershelling photo will hopefully be clearer. :)
Oh my gosh!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Those Scotch Bonnets and the True Tulips- AMAZING!!!!!!!!!!!!!
I can’t wait to get to Sanibel in three weeks!!!!!!!! :D
Thanks so much for posting Pam :D
Sanibel……take me away!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! kj :)
Wow!! Absolutely amazing finds!! Congrats to all. :-)
Three scotch bonnets in a row… that’s really too much fun under the sun, and what a gorgeous cabrit’s murex…
My fingers are sore from drilling shells to make windchimes/wall hangings with 20 4-H kids. I am doing a slide show of all of the interesting critters I found on Sanibel this year for them.
Congrats on the Junonia, Scotch Bonnets and True Tulips. While I have found a few Trues none of them were really nice. Junonia and Scotch Bonnet? Maybe next time. Wish I was there..
I can’t stand it! Wow, Wow, Wow
I found a True Tulip almost identical to Beth’s the last time we were in Sanibel. It was about 6 inches long and absolutely gorgeous!! One little problem though…The little gal was still living there so I had to put her back in her Gulf home and I didn’t even have my phone with me to take a pic! Rats! Congrats to you Beth!! She’s a real Beauty! Enjoy!!
Thanks Shellmama – It was the most fun shelling day I have ever had! Every time I pulled up my net I found more treasures. I love Sanibel!
PLEASE tell me there will be shells like these when we get to Shellibel in May!
I thought that you were the carrier shell queen, Pam! So kind of you to share those skills with Clark. :-)