There were lots of shells on the beach and “Bling” at Gulfside City Park to comb through this morning… Yay!  Since we had some nice winds from the Gulf Of Mexico this past week, the beach is littered with lots of white clam shells and there are some nice colorful treasures in there too like these WHELKS, CONCHS, MUREXES and purple SEA WHIPS.
Along with finding some beautiful shells today, you might just see mounds of SEA SQUIRTS too. The winds pushed these TUNICATES (to learn more CLICK HERE) up on the beaches along with plenty of seashells. The birds were loving it! They had a feast at this SEA SQUIRT salad bar…
Even if you combed through the SEA SQUIRTS, there are hidden gems like this double SUNRAY VENUS…
Look how this double SPINY JEWELBOX is camouflaged in the SEA SQUIRTS…
I placed a few of the beauties IÂ found on top of a cool SEA SPONGE but unfortunately I covered most of it with shells… oops!
Gwen from Texas was thrilled to find a few goodies on the beach to fill her shell bag.
As always, its such a pleasure to run into Smitty on the beach to hear about his latest finds. He told me he found a huge empty HORSE CONCH, a SCOTCH BONNET and so many other great finds yesterday. Yep… yesterday. We missed it! Thats ok, I am so content with my finds this morning and it tickled me so much to see him and all of his shelling paraphernalia- he’s Smitty The Shelling Machine.
FYI- Clark’s been wanting a collapsable picker upper shelling tool for traveling (in Smitty’s right hand) so if I find one, I’ll let you know how Clark likes it too. That little blue scoop is great but its just a weeee too long for a travel bag and the last one broke when we took off the basket.
Last night as I was surfing through the iLoveShelling Facebook age, I saw Arthur Lyon’s photo he posted. Wow! Those are some awesome shells. He said “Cool front pushed a ton of shells onto the beaches today…”. He said he found these near Gulfside City Park so of course thats why I was there this morning. I didn’t see Arthur but I did see his cousins and they told me how crazy the shelling was yesterday. Nice haul!
So while Arthur and Smitty were scooping up SCOTCH BONNETS, HORSE CONCHS, FIGS and TULIPS I went to Blind Pass to find thousands of SEA SQUIRTS without the huge shell lines like GULFSIDE CITY PARK had. hahaaha Thats ok- I still found some treasures.
I don’t feel like I was a day late because if I had been there yesterday, I may not have been there this morning to find those sweet baby HORSE CONCHS I showed in the photos above. I looooove those Candy Corns. They are my fave Happy Candy and remind me that we are so very fortunate to be able to comb these beautiful beaches to find so many gifts from the sea every day.
 Let’s go shelling together! This is a perfect week for an iLoveShelling trip to Big Hickory Island.
Join me on Wednesday October 8, 2014 at 8:30am on a spectacsheller shelling adventure! Call 239-765-7272 or CLICK HERE.Â
Dont forget about booking for January 5-8 Shellabaloo- Tickets are selling fast!
i used a grabber tool after my back surgery and it’s a great tool! here’s a link on amazon for one that looks like what i used:
http://www.amazon.com/Folding-Helping-Long-Reach-Pick-Up-Gripper/dp/B0002VUQPG/ref=sr_1_4/190-5433531-2407932?ie=UTF8&qid=1412629502&sr=8-4&keywords=grabber+tool
good luck!
Beautiful finds. Can’t wait to be there …
You make our day with your posts! A couple of pictures are out of allignment-when we try to enlarge them the wrong picture shows up. They are the birds with the sea squirts and the sea sponge. Computer glich. Can’t wait until January. Thanks Pam. Pat
Hi Pam,
A couple of years ago I was recovering from a broken vertebrae and having difficulty picking up shells ,although the stretching was good for my recovery. A very nice fellow felt sorry for me and gave me his collapsible grabbing tool. I was even able to pick up coquinas with it. He said he sold them at his booth at the Ft Myers Flea Market. Hopefully he’s still there and you can find one.
P.S. Do you know anyone who is thinking about making a collapsible handle for shell scoops? The original ones just don’t fit in a suitcase. One that breaks down into two parts would be great. Okay, all you inventors out there……….get thinking.
I agree. Would be so amazing to be able to pack our “shovels” in our baggage. Now I have to buy a new one each time I come to Sanibel and then I give it to a family I may see on the day I have to leave.
That is very sweet of you Cindy.. I do the same thing with our small sand chairs that we buy once we arrive.. LOREE
Beautiful pictures as always, I CAN’T WAIT to get out there over spring break! Same problem as Pat, when I click the one below the spiny jewel box the spiny jewel box shows up. Doesn’t matter, your posts are as amazing as always! Thanks for some shelltastic thoughts to start my week. :)
Oh Pam, I know exactly what you need for traveling and shelling! I’ve had this one for years, it traveled to California and the Bahamas in my suitcase, and to the beach every weekend. It does fine in the water, it’s very strong! I even use it as a bit of a walking stick when I’m pooped. :) Hope this helps!
RTG SUPREME BEACH SCOOP (#702)
Qty: Our Price: $59.95
http://www.rtgstore.com/rtgscoops.htm
Done ! Ordered one for Clark. Thank u so much for the recommendation- Clark will test it out too. I sure hope it works well for our light travel needs and stands up to the Clark test. It’s a little expensive but if it meets all of his needs and gets the best treasure… It’ll be worth it. Fingers crossed!!! Thanks again JoJo!
Aww, Pam, how cool! I hope your Clark is pleased with it.
Haven’t made a beach trip without mine since I found it. I’ve used it for sit down ‘mining’ at the water’s edge, light duty scooping up shells without bending over, even snorkeling with it for added reach to the ocean floor. And it came in very handy scooping up rocks on the beach in Elk, Ca! :)
Recommend to rinse with fresh water after use & occasionally oil the parts that fit together. Not that I do that, but hey!!
I am not certain but I think that collapsible picker upper is what my mom uses to reach things too high for her. You can buy it at the drug stores for about $13. It does fold in half. It is found by the pharmacy with all the other aides available.
Arrived late yesterday. Was too late to go shelling and had other commitments today in Ft Myers. Darn Southwest for changing its schedule! We used to land at noon. That’s not even the worst of it though. The flight back home used to leave around 4:30 pm. Now the latest one is at 6:30 AM!!!! Omg…
Hope to see my dear friends out on the beach.
SHERI Z – are you here?
Pam -hope to see you too!!
Roxanne, we came carols the same things. Terrible flight schedule with SW out of ft myers. Blechk. Had to drive to Tampa to catch a better flight to VA last month. Good luck and hope to see u too!
I’ve been wanting to buy a collapsible picker-upper since I talked to a nice person who was using one last year on Sanibel. The original, best quality ones seems to be the ones made by Arc Mate:
http://arcmate.com/FoldingReachers.aspx
Apparently some of the cheaper ones, which don’t have a metal folding joint, are too flimsy to last very long. Arc Mate does also sell replacement cups, which is a good idea, as apparently the cups fall off sometimes after using the device for quite a while.
You inspired me Pam, so I have gone ahead and ordered this model, which costs $15 plus shipping:
http://arcmate.com/reachmate_Folding.aspx
Fantastic!! I can’t wait to hear how you like it and the difference with the “gopher” I ordered from ace ($9.99 free shipping).
I have a cheap folding picker-upper. It came from Walmart and while it does pick things up it broke the second time I used it. The Blue pin that holds it extended snapped immediately. Duck tape to the rescue. Would not recommend the one with the blue button like pin.
great post Arthur lyon did really good,tell everyone to save some shells for me as I will be there in January sincerely r.g.stein from cold akron,ohio
My husband cut the sea shell sifter in half then added one of those push buttons to it. I can now pack my sifter in my suitcase! Can I post a photo of it on here?
Oh my gosh! we’d love to see that! Do you have a Facebook or twitter? If so, please post to https://www.facebook.com/iLoveShelling or https://twitter.com/iLoveShelling.
I posted 3 photos on your Facebook site about the sifter. I hope this helps everyone!
I hit post for all 3 photos but I don’t see them on your fb site. Can you see them?
Yes! Yeah! They are there and it is brilliant!!! I will have Clark test out the others we have coming and if u don’t mind Id like to do a post on those and what yall did with your sifter… And use ur photos? Thank u for posting- Brilliant!
Post away!
I think everything was explained ok. If Clark has any problems, email me. And like I said, the button was starting to rust a little. It is steel so I don’t know how long it will push in without a problem. I imagine if you wash it off with clean water and then dry it, it would last longer.
Tell Clark he can make his Susick sifter into two parts with a tubing cutter and a pvc repair coupling. Got the repair coupling at ace hardware for a few bucks. It is a compression coupling that you can screw together for use and take back apart.