Our iLoveShelling shelling cruise to Cayo Costa had a rain delay Tuesday morning but just like shellers know how to make broken shells into beautiful pieces of art or jewelry, everybody who was there made the most of our time we had together. Captiva Cruises made our delay turn into something to talk about! We all gathered on the Lady Chadwick boat to stay safe until the storm passed (which BTW, wasn’t supposed to rain until the afternoon) where we could chat about my favorite subject… shelling! After a couple of hours of “shell n tell” and the weather still iffy, we all decided that most of us could come back the next day. Lets go for it!
So yesterday, our iLoveShelling cruise -round 2 – brought us sunshine and smiling faces! Beth, Debbie, Carol, Joyce from Athens, TN were bright and cheery just like our whole crowd.
While boating to the island, I picked a winner for the sterling silver seashell charm that Sealife By Congress gave as a gift to one lucky iLoveShelling cruiser. Carol won!
For everybody else on the entire iLoveShelling cruise, Sealife By Congress gave a $25 gift certificate so each of these shellers could have a sterling silver charm as well. Here is Dena, Stephanie, Mary, Gary, Lauren and Cameron with their Sealife By Congress gifts. An awesome jewelry store with an awesome way to start off the day. Remember, on every scheduled iLoveShelling cruise, Sealife By Congress will give gifts as well!
Then we pulled up to Cayo Costa to find crystal clear water, a beautiful beach with a string of seashells and puffy white non-stormy clouds. Paradise found.
Mary, Gary and Cameron found some fabulous shells including a PAUL NEWMAN’S SHARKS EYE. Yep, its a blue eyed beauty…
Lauren found the cool piece “rock” made of shell fragments which I used to believe were just chunks of cement made by fishermen used to keep their crab traps from moving around in the water. Now that I’ve questioned all of those different shells that are normally in the mix, I realized that they are fossil fragments cemented in limestone called COQUINA LIMESTONE. And yes, the “largest” shell on the right side is…. a COQUINA.
Landon started snorkeling as soon as he got off the boat and in just a few minutes, he showed me he found an ALPHABET CONE. Yay!
By the time we got back on the boat, he and his mom had two big bags filled with shells. They had so many FIGHTING CONCHS and LETTERED OLIVES, he decided to walk around the boat to give everybody any of the shells they had found. So sweet! In October they have another shelling trip planned which they told me was inspired by my post of our trip to Turks and Caicos. We want to hear how it goes!
On the beach, we were finding a few BABYS EARS, quite a few WHITE CRESTED TELLINS, ALTERNATE TELLINS, SHARKS EYES, CANCELLATE SEMELES, ANGEL WINGS and one SPECKLED TELLIN as well.
The larger shells seemed to be in the water so the clear aqua was very inviting to just go for it like Michele from Los Angeles did. Can you believe how clear that water is? Wow! Since her mom Debora (NY) is an artist more than a sheller, she decided to the opportunity to take in the island scenery and do some graphite drawings of her shells. So lovely!
Alex and Tara encouraged Isabelle (Gainsville, Florida) to use a stunning pice of pink pearlized WINGED OYSTER shell she found for the seashell pendant for her sterling silver charm from Sealife By Congress. Perfect idea!
It’s impossible to explain how much fun we all had after almost 9 hours of hanging out together on the cruise and because of our rain delay. It actually turned out even better because the rain gave me more time to get to know these fabulous folks… Sarah and Sandy from Arora Ontario… Grace, Melia and Teresa from St Louis… Pat from Michigan, Carol from Cape Coral, Belinda from Ohio and Kevin and Kerry from Pennsylvania.
Thank you for joining me, it sure was a shelling trip worth the wait.
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Oh I am dying over here! Can’t wait until we come down in 3weeks!!! We will be down for 2 weeks and I plan on spending the majority of it shelling! I just can’t help myself! Last year we got out to Cayo Costa twice… Hoping to get out there AT LEAST that much! Some lucky shellers and the water looks in flexibly clear this year! Last year apparently it wasnt quite so clear because of all the water from the Okachobee river feeding out into it from too much rain inland during the winter/spring (is what I was told). Love your posts and may e one day we will make it on your cruise!
What great fun you had. When we went in Feb, it seemed like such a short time. With the rain delay you had a chance to talk and meet everyone. I like the photo groups you posted-they enlarged nicely on my nook. It was so nice of Landon to give away some of his shells. I hope to make at least one of your cruises next year. Pat
It was so much fun! I’m ready to go again! Thanks Pam!
Loved seeing the beautiful shells that were found. Kudos to Landon’s mother for raising such a sweet, generous son. His smile warmed my heart, and I am glad he was rewarded with a great alphabet cone. Looks like he caught the “shelling bug” at an early age. Counting down for the August cruise!
Well done Pam and all the lucky shellers.
Wow! Looks like the motherload!
The water looks great too. Do you have to wade through seaweed to get the shells?
Sanibel-Captiva is my favorite place on earth. I now live in Tennessee and still have my shells. Someday I want to do crafts with them and I treasure my Junonia that I found below the bridge near the Castaways Resort.
Hey Pam,
Met a wonderful lady today at BP…..Im hoping see sees this post so we can exchange emails…..Hey there Laura ( shell momma)….thanks again for the two amazing shells!
Hey Denise!
It was such an amazing evening of shelling. Am so glad we were at the same place at the same time! Thanks for sharing your “honey hole” with me. I hope so much that you find your Junonia before you leave.
Now, how do we get each other’s email without sending them to everyone in cyber space?!? Haha!!
Laura,
It was such a great time….loved our ” honey hole”! Glad we shelled our way to the same spot! Well, fingers crossed about finding the Junonia….its an on going….(years) search but the hunt is so fun!
Yes, now to figure out how we get emails to each other…haha!
Im so sorry Denise and Shellmama for not connecting you sooner. I’ve just realized that I’m not getting email notifications for new commenters AND email notification for subscribers is not working either. I’m trying to fix that today! I hope that you both have time to get in touch with each other and shell together again. Again Im so sorry! I hope its not too late! Ack!
Thank you so much Pam!! Thank goodness for ILS is right!!! Denise is such a sweetheart! We had a blast shelling and sharing. I love your blog and check it every day!! Can’t wait to meet you some day! Keep up the fantastic job because you make so many people smile with every post!! :)
You are most welcome Shellmama! you are so right, Denise is very much a sweetheart and I hope to get to meet you too soon. its such an amazing shelling community- and Im so glad its not too late for y’all to reconnect. :)
“Carol from Athens TN” is my sweet, sweet sister-in-law who loves her some shells (and LOOOVES Sanibel), so I am so excited to see that not only did she have a great day of shelling, she also won the seashell charm! Once she puts it on, I’m betting she’ll never take it off. :) Now I’m ready to go …
And I looooved meeting Carol. she IS the sweetest! :)
Thanks SO much for re-posting these!!!! When i don’t get them for a week I worry that you are OK!
Oh Connor, that’s so sweet! But NEVER worry about me! Xoxo
keep them coming beautiful