There are many treasures to be found each and every time you take a walk on the beach. I feel that way about any beach… even when they don’t have gobs of shells like we do in Southwest Florida.
I couldn’t help but find beautiful treasures among the many shells that lined the shore last night at Gulfside City Park but my mission last night was to enjoy the scenery and breath in the salty air to help me collect my thoughts.  Every beach in the world tends to have that effect on me.
After taking in the sights and feeling that curtain of calmness take over, I’m always surprised that the simplest of things can make me giddy. It gave me so much pleasure to see this sweet COCKLE SHELL with a heart etched in its side… or is it a butterfly?
I headed for the high dry wrack line, and saw a few mini shells like this…
If I had spent more time sifting through this one area, I could have raked in oodles of TUSK SHELLS and who know what other minis. That itty bitty KEYHOLE LIMPET, teenie weenei WENTLETRAP, sweet TULIP and awesome little GULF OYSTER DRILL were enough for me for the moment.
I didn’t want to miss the changing sky!
Plus, I knew Clark was collecting some of our faves.
It was such a beautiful evening.
Honestly, I’m so excited for our iLoveShelling Adventure to Big Hickory Island with Sight Sea-R Cruises on Wednesday! That’s the day I know will be a blast and shelltastic shelling day to scour the island for treasures. If you are in the area, you should join us for an awesome day on this new shelling adventure- CLICK HERE to see some of the fun we’ve had so far! CLICK HERE to reserve your spot
Dont forget! With each scheduled cruise through February, each passenger on an iLoveShelling cruise will receive at $25 Gift Certificate to Sealife By Congress jewelry store on Sanibel. Yay!
And…. We had a cool surprise visitor too! A SHARK took a stroll along the shoreline while we watched in silence. No worries, he didn’t want anything to do with us and moved around anybody in the water… not that I wanted to get in his way though- LOL
PS- I took all of these photos and the video on my new iPhone 6. I’m loving it so far!
Did you get a water proof case for the phone? Love the minis!
Jeanne, no waterproof lifeproof case yet for it but my old phone was dying and I couldn’t wait. I will try very hard to keep it out of the gulf- its hard- I’ve dropped wvery phone and every camera in the sand or water so I hope my luck will change..Or the life proof comes out ASAP:)
Beautiful! I am so excited, we might be going to SW Florida over spring break, I hope we drive down to Sanibel for a day! That’s so cool that you saw a shark so close to you. I saw a guy fishing catch a shark one time! Thanks for the amazing posts, you give inland people like me a little bit of the beach!
Somewhere on here, I remember seeing some older comments about Coco Cay, the island that RoyalCarribean cruise line owns. We were there last week so I thought I’d pass on some info. We had planned to snorkel and I hoped to find a few shells. But there were hundreds of jellyfish so that was out! I had seen a quiet note on their info sheet that you were to take nothing from the island, clearly meaning shells. Hummm! Didn’t see any anyway, so no problem. But what surprised me, and what I want to pass on, is that they scan your things (beach bags, totes, etc.) as you leave the island! They want to make Very sure you don’t take any if their precious shells!
Another enjoyable four days at Blind Pass. Rough seas, few shells, but not to worry. Love our visits rain or shine, shells or not.
I’ve got lots and lots of tiny tiny shells – I’ll trade a bucket full for a wentle.
Anyway – I love your bracelet. Looks more like turquoise than shell. One day I’ll rerun your posting on how to make the shell bracelets. have a great day on the cruise and wish I could be here with you all.
Janet/AZ
Just beautiful!!! Thanks Pam! :)
Checked the webcam at Sundial this morning and saw lots of pen shells. Are you shelling right at Gulfside or going east or west? Will be there in about a month starting to get anxious. Richard painted our computer room/seashell room, well we just call it Pam’s room now. It wasn’t the blue I thought it was going to be but it is a seashell room after all.
Saw a shark once and couldn’t believe how close it was, we were down by the Blue Dolphin.
We’ve been checking the beaches but we haven’t been working too hard at it… We have been doing the same as u…. Painting, fixing, gardening, cleaning and do ally getting that honey-do list checked off around the house. So….. Does that mean I can see the pam room when we r in the neighborhood? Lol loooooove that! Feeling So honored!!!!!
Would love for both of you to visit. All of Richard’s work has been because of the water damage we received. Thinking about coming down a week earlier, thinking about Ocean Reach or Sanddollar. Since I’ve seen tidal pools near Sundial I’m thinking Sandollar.
sky looked awesome shore looked good and the fact that you put most of the shells back in alive or not was wonderful.i hope people understand why you share so openly with people you don’t even know I applaud your efforts and cant wait to meet you and clark in January.sincerely R.G. STEIN
Where exactly is Gulf Side City Park?
HI Joyce, I have a map under the tab “Parking” on the top of this page that will show you where Gulfside City Park and all the other beaches are as well. The link is… http://www.iloveshelling.com/blog/parking/
Hi Pam!
My mom and I will be joining you on the Sight Sea-R Cruise on November 26 and we can’t wait!
We love your blog and are so excited to meet you!
Looking forward to meeting u too!
Lovely blog…I too, love to just stroll and breathe the sights and sounds of the beach! Love your bracelet as well…do you mind sharing where you got it?! Thanks for giving us a daily beach/seashell fix!
Hi Tracy, thank you! I bought it in a consignment shop while visiting va beach last month. :)
Well…that’s a bit far from Oklahoma but thanks for the info on the shop! I will keep on the hunt for something similar somewhere!! Happy shelling!
Hi Pam, do you happen to have an idea of what kind of shark it was, when we were at Pointe Santo last Christmas there was a shark swimming along the shoreline (very close, maybe 10 feet out), he was up and down the beach for a good part of the afternoon! Very exciting, esp for my 9-yr old!
We will be back mid-Dec to the 27, do you know if you might have any shelling trips happening?
thx
It may have been a little sand shark but I really couldn’t see it that well since the sun was going down. I don’t see them that often so it was exciting for me too!
Oh! And here’s the link for our iLoveShelling cruise… http://www.iloveshelling.com/blog/iloveshelling-events/
Thanks, Pam, looks like I will just miss the Dec 10 cruise, we plan to be back in the Spring so maybe then.
Question, what is third week of May generally like, is it getting humid by then?
Thanks!
Then there was the first time that I saw a shark swimming off the shore on Sanibel… And I called the police, to let them know….. They were pleasant, but the woman said “Lady, it’s the gulf of Mexico, there are sharks… boy, did I feel like a dummy. I thought they would put out warnings to stay out of the water :)
Sounds like you had a great, fun excursion!
Okay, now your video is making me nervous! Hubby & I will be vacationing on Lido Beach in Sarasota Oct. 8-17 and we’ll be swimming & snorkeling for shells. We usually visit in April and we’ve never seen a shark. When we’re there in Oct. should we be on the lookout for sharks?? Is there a certain time of year that they’re more prevalent? Scary!
I rarely see sharks! But the best time to see them is this time of year at dusk. Just remember- thats what makes this an awesome place! this isn’t a roped off beach like an amusement park. This is seeing living creatures in their natural habitat – its the Gulf Of Mexico- so yes, you should always be on the lookout to see dolphins, manatees, rays, mollusks, fish and all sorts of different sea life out there… including sharks. Honestly, the odds are much greater for a person getting in a car accident on the way to the beach than getting bit by a shark.