Another day, another fabshellous SAND DOLLAR on our iLoveShelling Adventure to Big Hickory Island with Sight Sea-R Cruises yesterday.
It was a blast and an amazingly calm, beautiful day to hunt for shells.
Patti Goodwin (Nova Scotia) found a perfect SAND DOLLAR just moments of stepping on the beach. That’s her SAND DOLLAR in the first photo with the shell bracelet similar to mine. We both go them from the Sealife By Congress line at Congress Jewelers. Love it!
Erin (Chicago) had great luck with ANGEL WINGS and WORM SHELLS…
It was so much fun to meet Megan H and her dad Peter (Illinois) after reading many of her comments here on iLS. Such a lovely time hanging out with you!
Her favorites from the trip include a SAND DOLLAR, ROSE PETAL TELLIN, ANGEL WINGS, KEYHOLE LIMPET, MAUVE MOUTH DRILL and a BUTTON SHELL.
I’m always thrilled to meet such great shelling families who enjoy being out on the beach together exploring. Fredrik, James, Michael and Jinny from VA were such a treat to talk with and shell with.
I was so happy to see that they loose to collect minis. Can you see how big that TUSK SHELL is in James’ hand? He even found a WENTLETRAP!
We had lots of other families too. Like cutie shellooties Pearl and Becca from Sarasota.
Marlene, Max, Emily and Ryan found a few keepers too.
Charles, Ava, Andrea and Charlotte came to Southwest Florida from Ohio to enjoy a little shelling…
So happy Liam, Rosamary, Jillian and Mike drove from north Florida to join us on our shelling adventure…
Liam and Jillian have quite the shell eye. I wish I had shown a little more of Liam’s LACE MUREX (it’s just peaking out in between the OLIVES and WORMIE)- it’s gorgeous!
Teresa, Reagan, Daniel and Mark were visiting from Kentucky to have some fun shelling.
Reagan is another Shelling Sister that loves JINGLES and aqua nail polish (I do too, Reagan!).
So good to see Tim and Mary again as well…
Time showed me a few of his favorite finds of the day and I couldn’t help but notice his SHARKS EYE had a rough texture on the surface.
A little closer look at it… Aha- That’s SNAIL FUR! SNAIL FUR ( Hydractinia echinata) is a HYDROID (related to JELLYFISH) that forms on shells that have HERMIT CRABS occupying them. Hmmm, I wonder why? I’ve never been able to get it completely off a SHARKS EYE shell without it looking scared but it’s kinda cool just to know what it is that coats SHARKS EYES because I normally don’t see SNAIL FUR on many other type shells.
But anyway, there were other shells that we found that will clean up beautifully!
It was an amazing day on the beach combing and collecting in the cool, blue, calm waters surrounding Big Hickory Island on our Sight Sea-R shelling cruise.
And of course each passenger on this iLoveShelling Adventure received a $25 gift certificate to Congress Jewelers- Yahoo!
New Cruise Dates Are Here! I just posted new dates for summer Shelling Adventures – CLICK HERE for reservations and schedules or click on…
Looks like you guys had another great day shelling with Pam. I’ve learned a lot from her. So much more to learn though. I never knew there were so many different species of sea life and shells.
That was interesting to find out about the snail fur. I have found a few shells with the fur, but didn’t know that the hermit crab was connected with the fur. I love learning new things. The angel wing that Megan found looks a little like a mud piddock-is it? Hope the nice shelling continues through the Easter weekend. Pat
Hi! Pam told me it was a fallen angel wing, but it certainly could have been a mud piddock. I’m hoping I packaged it well enough to get it home safely.
It turns out fallen angel wing is another name for mud piddock. I hope you get it home in one piece. Pat
Oh, what do you know! i didn’t know that! Thanks for the info!
Looks like a great day!!
another great day on the gulf coast with shells for all big ,small,and inbetween but fun, sun ,sand, and a love of shelling great post and pictures as usual thanx to pam and clark for sharing another day. r.g.stein
What a beautiful day you had! And lots of great shelling, to boot! I’m really hoping that I get to go on one of your shelling trips with either my hubby or sister sometime this summer or fall, Pam. I’m keeping my fingers crossed because it always looks like such an awesome time resulting in lots of great finds.
I had so much fun on the cruise- it was a perfect day with lots of great shells. Thanks so much Pam for a great experience and for including my dad and I in your post! i couldn’t believe it when I saw my name :D Thanks again!
Pam, We will be staying at Castaways, Fri night, sat and sunday. leave Monday noon time. Will be making Easter Egg on Beach. If you are around would like to see you. We were on your web 3/13/13 , That’s when we met. , Will have grand children this time. Carol, Sandusky Ohio
Pam, Just booked your Shelling Adventure Cruise for July 7th to “shell-a-brate” my son’s 15th birthday. The whole family is excited! See you in a few months:)
I would take Easter shelling over candy any day!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! I am wishing I was there and drooling over all the pictures! (Sigh)…shells! Love it!!
What a wonderful day we had(April 1st 2015)Big Hickory Island was the bomb!Thank-you Pam for making our vacation a memorable one!
Shelling with you was the highlight of our trip! Thank you so much for answering all our questions, especially about all the minis. We absolutely loved finding the shells, but also enjoyed seeing live sea creatures at low tide at Gulfside City Park – fighting conchs, horse conchs, pear welks, apple murex, banded tulip, sea cucumber, and sea urchin! Sanibel is a wonderful place! On our last day, our younger son broke down in tears and said “I don’t want to leave Sanibel!” Hopefully, we’ll be back soon!
Sorry, kidlet, I still cry every time I leave…it does not get better. But visits with Pam here are a big help. Next best thing to being there.