Nice ALPHABET CONE, Denise! She found this incredible shell (incredishell) while beach combing with her family Devin, Paul and Gwyneth (they found awesome shells as well!) at Big Hickory Island on our iLoveShelling adventure earlier this week.
I had such a great time seeing everybody find ANGEL WINGS, WORM SHELLS, SUNRAY VENUS shells and some much more. It’s what makes it so special to me.
It was so much fun to talk to Sarah and Catherine about their shelling trip to North Caicos they took last year. After I posted about our trip to Turk and Caicos in 2013, they followed our same trip and loved it just as much as we did.
I’ve “met” Jason and Twyla on iLveShelling Facebook page but I finally got to meet in person on our trip. It was a blast to hang out with y’all!
Jason showed me the KNOBLESS FIGHTING CONCH he found compared to the regular “knobbed” FIGHTING CONCH. And of course one of a few SAND DOLLARS he found.
Subreda and Sumita came all the way from Mumbai, India to visit local sheller Menju and to join us for our shelling day. They are awesome they even shared some yummy Indian snacks – deeee-licious. Thank you so much for shelling with us, y’all.
These are some of Sumita’s shells…
The shelling girls Mickey, Becky and Carolyn came out to shell with us too.
Mickey found her first SEA PEARLS…
Sisters Robin and Sue went for totally different shells.
Sue found an awesome ALPHIE, ANGELS, TULIP, KINGS CROWNS and cool Beach Bling like BRYOZOANS and SEA PEARLS.
Robin found happiness in the mini shell pile… look at that sweetest lintiest SAND DOLLAR omg.
We were in the presents of lots of other mini shell lovers too like Cheri.
Hey Hey, They are back! Jerry and Livy are learning their way around Big Hickory better than anybody on the beach and in the water. They’ve been on this same cruise quite a few time and it’s so dang cool that Jerry shares his knowledge with everybody too.
On our boat ride to the island, I saw Jon and Bob with snorkel gear so I asked Jerry if he would give them any tips. While Romaine combed the beach her men, Jon and Bob snorkeled around the water and used some of Jerry’s advice… Oh yea. Happy faces!
Most of our shellers found their treasures on the beach, like Diane and John…
… and Laura, Mike, Paula and Jim
… and Wendell and Liz .
On the return boat ride after our fabshellous shelling adventure, Bob and Romaine had mentioned they find Fulgurite pieces (fused quartz that happens when lightning strikes the sand. Remember the movie “Sweet Home Alabama”? ) on beaches of North Carolina and they thought they found some FULGURITE on Big Hickory too. Since shellers are so like minded, I showed their pieces to our whole boat of shellers … come to find out, we all collected similar pieces. Ok, so…. these are the pieces in the photo below. We are still trying to figure out if they could be FULGURITE. Last year on this iLoveShelling cruise, we had a geologist on the boat and he thought it was wave tumbled concrete from an old concrete structure. He thought the holes were old shells that had crumbled over time. Hmmmmmm… the mystery continues. Concrete? Or FULGURITE? Whadaya think?
In the comments below, I believe Jon had the winning answer along with the geologist from last year…. it is fossil sediment that over time has hardened into rocks that the BORING PIDDOCK has drilled into. So the holes are from a mollusk in the family of the ANGEL WING. Isnt that awesome? Those sweet little fragile shells can sure make their mark in such hard rock. So cool!
It was an amazing day with awesome folks. Thank you for coming!
Hi Pam! Will you be scheduling any shelling trips in July? We would love to book one, just hoping you schedule them the week we’re there. Love ALL your posts and hope to meet you in a couple of months.
Sharon
I was also wondering if you’ll be scheduling a shelling cruise in July. My friends and I are planning on going to Sanibel July 29 – August 2 for our friends 40th birthday. The whole purpose of our trip is to go shelling :)
Ack! Im so sorry haven’t done that. I’ll make new cruise dates ASAP!
Thank you!!!
I am by no means an expert on fulgurites, but these look nothing like the ones I have seen that my friends have found. They are usually tubular shaped with a hole down the center with an inside that looks like rough glass. Those actually look like worn rock, not sure what kind. I’m sure someone would positively know. Hope to see you again soon :)
Hi Pam! Romaine and Bob’s son Jon here and I may have solved the fulgerite mystery. Looks like it may be the work of piddocks and other rock boring organisms. Here’s a link. https://the-hazel-tree.com/2013/08/21/piddocks-anything-but-boring/
Wow Jon! That MUST be it! I see wood boring piddocks all the time but had no idea they bored in something so hard as rocks… Or concrete (from the jetty) as the geologist on a previous iLS cruise had concluded. That is so cool the mystery is finally solved and an ANGEL WING is behind the mysterious holes!!!!
Oh My Gosh, The angel
wing, who would have thought such a sweet thing would be so aggressive. Thanks for the read, very interesting :)
Looks like piddock illustrations in “The Living Beaches of Georgia & the Carolina’s” (mentioned in I Love Shelling in early April or late March). I ran out to purchase & love it! So glad Pam mentioned it.
Jackie!!! I just looked in that book- of course its in there! why didn’t i look in there? LOL I just loooooove that book and the florida one too by the same authors. Ok so its the Oyster Piddock that bore into shell and rock. thank you so much for sharing the info….sooooo much fun!
Nice to see so many happy shellers!
I had a good shelling day in St. Kitts and Nevis today.
I found three broken flats that were so big I could not believe it — I am going to go look for a whole one!
Happy Shelling everyone. :)
So glad you are ha ing a good time in St Kitts an Nevis. I’ve wanted to visit st Kitts :)
Looking forward to being there in August, hopefully you will have a shelling cruise during the time I am there this year – missed you last year 👣.
Looked like another great shelling day for everyone!
The rocks that might be fulgarites could also be rocks that are drilled out by Piddocks aka Angel Wings! Here is a link to an article that I just read about them. I love your blog and I thank you for sharing your shelling adventures with us! Here is the link: https://the-hazel-tree.com/2013/08/21/piddocks-anything-but-boring/
So fun for Twila and Jason making the rounds in Florida. Thanks for taking good care of them Pam. I so have to book with you when I can… can’t wait – some time, some time….
We had a great time on the shelling cruise and are now back home in Ontario Canada…came back to unseasonably cool weather but are enjoying looking through our shelling treasures.
Thanks Pam!
Denise, Paul, Devin & Gwyneth