Even though Hurricane Joaquin has been churning in the Caribbean hundreds of miles from Sanibel and Captiva the last few days, those north and west winds have effected our beaches and churned our gulf coast as well.
This weekend Clark and I combed the beaches (through intermittent rain without lightning) finding some cool broken brick/concrete chunks with turquoise paint (maybe an old floor?), lots of incredible “sun beam” SCALLOPS and other assorted shells and bling getting tossed up by the rough surf on the beaches closer to Captiva.
Clark found lots of dreamy creamsicle shelliciousness at Bowman’s Beach.
The gulf was much calmer near Gulfside Beach which made for a beautiful sunset to show off Ray’s perfect little juvie SAND DOLLAR.
Although Ray (from Nantucket) is visiting Sanibel for a fishing trip, he found his first SAND DOLLAR (he called it a sand nickel – heehee) along with some other shells. He noticed it was still a little dark so he knew to search for any signs of life by looking for any “fur” or cilia anywhere on the body. He asked me to check it out to make sure as well…. yep, he was right- no fur. It’s a keeper!
At Lighthouse Beach, the wind was kicking up and the shells were starting to roll in…. but you had to fast to snag them or the waves would take them right back out as fast as they came in. Dale and Wayne (Jacksonville, FL) were lucky enough to catch a few good ones but Dale said this ALPHABET CONE was the best of their collection. Awesome!
Just like this weekend, each SW Florida beach this week will probably be changing by the hour. That’s why we love to be out there and it keeps us coming back, right?
I can’t wait to see what we find on our iLoveShelling Adventure to Cayo Costa tomorrow with Captiva Cruises- So excited! If you won’t be joining us tomorrow, check out more dates by CLICKING HERE
I love reading about your adventures on Sanibel! It’s fun to see what you find! I have been to Sanibel twice. And absolutely loved it. My sister and I will be there next June. Hoping we can catch one of your shelling cruises the week of June 4th through June 10th! Hint hint! Last summer we missed you by just one week! We would love to meet you next summer!
Ditto! Just what my sister Dianna Mooses said. We love to go shelling and don’t know when to stop when we go! Can’t imagine anything better to do!
What wonderful, colorful photos! Thanks for sharing your post storm adventures. We look forward to meeting you on the cruise to Big Hickory in January!
Love that first photograph!
The shells are beautiful!! We stayed at the Hyatt and went to Big Hickory everyday. I treasure my shells from there and hope to go there again.
Pam,
Love your blog for many months now. Found you after I went to Clearwater FL in May. The shells were great, but Sanibel sounds like it has more variety.
I can’t get a few links on your site to work. Saltysams shelling tours, contact you, or favorite places in Sanibel to stay.
We are headed your way Easter week 2016. Do you know the dates of your tours in March? Last week in March?
Thank you – looking forward to shelling.
Sarah from San Carlos, CA
HI Sarah! i just checked the link for salty sams- hmmmm- it worked on my end- did you check this page http://www.iloveshelling.com/blog/iloveshelling-events/? anyway, i haven’t organized dates yet for march- I’m so sorry. i will try to do that soon!
i’ll check into the other links as well- thanks for the heads up! ;)
Pam, your top 2 photos are just beautiful. I guess it takes a storm to bring out Mother Nature’s amazing colors. You are so fortunate to experience them first-hand. End of Feb can’t come soon enough. Until then, your photos will have to do. Thank you for everything.
Hi Pam, I posted a pic of a 13″ horse conch that I found in Sanibel on your facebook page on October 1st. You had asked me for an “after” picture.(Actually I found 2). I posted a sequence on my facebook page (Patrice Duffy) and tried to share it to your page today of the “after” pic but couldn’t. So I went to the original Oct. 1st pic on your facebook page and added a few pics of the finished shells. I used the screwdriver and hammer on the barnacles which worked great!! I very nervously used a dremel with a wire wheel on it to take off the periostracum and it worked like a charm!! No damage to the shell at all! I’m thrilled with the results!! :-) Pat Duffy
Patrice- I can’t find it- ugh! Which post was your first pic on. I remember you said you would post again after u cleaned it up… But errrrr… I’m having a hard time finding both pics.