Friends and Family Week in SW Florida!

 Jess, our daughter, flew down to spend the week with us! I've always wanted to get her down here in February for the best shelling month! She flew in Friday on the day with the lowest tide, and I had scheduled a special shelling trip for Saturday to Keewaydin on the Hemingway Shuttle! 

A panoramic view of Keewaydin from the point

From Left top row: Liz, Dianne, Cindy, Jess, Me and Lynne
Front row: Teresa and Cheri

I was So excited for her to see the great shells this time of year and to meet many of my friends! 8 of us traveled down together! I didn't take as many pics as I wanted, but I did get a few!

She got several pics of Live stuff out there, which is always so good to see, It's been a while since she has seen this!

a Live Banded Tulip....

and a NICE pony Horse Conch! (pony refers to the size, it just means mid-sized, not too big, and not too small, Just right!)

...and the Mama Horse Conch....

a live Scallop...Notice all the deep blue eyes around the edges of the shells....

I found this Lightning Whelk having a fine lunch of Sunray Venus...

Jess got this great shot of the Terns hanging out at the point with us!

When we got to the island, we all kind of went our own way...The other Cheri (Bird-nerd) as she is affectionately called, says she was going birding this trip, not shelling!  Look what she picked up!!!! 

Yep!! A Junonia! Not bad for not shelling, huh?? She also got a Rose Murex!

and quite a few other treasures!!! Way to go Cheri! She won the prize for finds this trip!! Cones, Flats....Perfect!!!(and she says she didn't see many birds!)

The shelling wasn't as great for me this trip, I did see this pretty dark Cone, peeking out at me from under the sand...

Cindy did well with the cones

...and lots of other treasures!

Dianne got a couple of Cones too......and a Bucket full!!

Jess found 2 Brittle stars that weren't alive that she took home to her boys!

You may have read or heard that the night before this trip, on Friday night, a plane crash landed on Interstate 75 near naples. It was on the route to our trip, so the interstate was closed...we regrouped, planned to leave a little earlier and chose our detour. It was still an easy uneventful trip, thank goodness, we traveled together in 2 cars, and even had time for breakfast!! On the trip back, they opened the North bound lanes and we had an opportunity to see it, I cannot imagine how three people in that plane walked away! The pilot and copilot didn't make it, but appeared to do a great job of keeping the fatalities down!! 

My prayers to their families!

Monday, Jess went with me to Shellcrafters at the Community House, she fit right in, finished one Shell Tree like I always do, and then created her own! 

She used Gar scales and Bubbles...I think it turned out Great! Don't you?? 

It will be for sale at the Sanibel Shell festival, along with lots of other creations....come on down and check it out on March 7-9th! (Okay, enough advertising!! :) Again, I forgot to take pictures!!

Liz lives in Cape Coral, and it is known for burrowing Owls! Jess, I figured since Jess is a veterinarian, she would enjoy seeing them! As it turns out, she had never even heard of such a thing! So Tuesday we headed out on another adventure! Owls! Liz and her Hubby had scouted out where we could find them within walking distance of her house, and she did not disappoint!

These guys are so cool to watch!! Thanks Liz for a great adventure!

We did Keewaydin and walked Lighthouse point on Sanibel, but Jess had never been to Fort Myers Beach! It has recently been a great beach for shelling for us....she had a great time with some great finds!

We saw another Brittle Star....

This time he was alive!

It was her turn to get a Rose Murex!

and what a perfect one it is!!

She had the eye for cones....she got these three pretty close together!

The Lace Murex at Fort Myers Beach, are particularly Lacy!

and who doesn't love a Chocolate True Tulip??

She enjoyed it so much, she wanted to go again on Thursday before it was time to catch her flight back home!!! So we did!! (That's my girl!! ) :)

Here are her finds....

The little black container was traveling home with her, some of those shells are earmarked for her own Hermit Crabs at home in Virginia!!

We had planned on snapping a pic or two of us together, again, I forgot! We had a GREAT week and I miss her already!! Thanks to all my friends that made her feel so welcome, she said she likes my retirement life....and you know what???....me too!!!

Stay Tuned!!

::Shelllady Hugs::

Keewaydin Trip!!

A little bit north of Marco Island is a long narrow island called Keewaydin. It is only accessible by boat & has become a favorite shelling spot for me!! 

Yesterday I met 3/4 of the Shell Raisers in Marco  to take the Hemingway Shuttle to Keewaydin! Jolene and Cindy came down from Tampa/St. Pete and of course, I came from Fort Myers (about an hour drive). 

The 4th member of the Shell Raisers, Liz, is home in Oregon in the snow!!! She should have felt like she was there, as we 'carried' her with us, even gave her a call and talked with her! We tried to face-time from the island but it wouldn't work!

The weather was a bit chilly for us Floridians ;) about 52 degrees with a light wind, so the trip over was a bit cool, but pretty quickly, I forgot that I was cold....we hit the beach at low tide and there were immediately treasures galore!

2 Alphabet Cones, and a nice juvenile Horse Conch....

followed pretty quickly by a sunray venus pair (for painting) and 4 more little Alphabet Cones, notice the one to the far right, we call that a 'Chocolate Cone'! It just means the coloring is much darker.

A few more steps and I have a Shark's eye for my dad, another Alphie, and a pretty big Lace Murex....Ok, I feel like I've been on this island only a little while, and I'm already satisfied, anything else would just be amazing! 

At this point I decided to stop taking pictures and do some serious shelling!  Cindy, Jolene and I all kind of went our separate ways while shelling for a little while, I found Jolene walking along the surf line to see how she was doing and she showed my this MASSIVE Alphabet cone and a beautiful Albino Fighting Conch, 2 of her favorites!

Notice the vertical line on the cone, it's a growth line, it began making it's shell bigger and the color and pattern changed, I believe it means it was on a different diet at that point.....

After we finished shelling, Jolene showed me more of her favorites...

a pretty Florida Cone, a True Tulip, A Flat (zig-zag scallop) and a beautiful Lace Murex. We have found very few Flats on Keewaydin...this is definitely a special find!!

She also found a nice sized Gaudy Nautica! Beautiful colors and pattern on it too!

Cindy had some special treasures too!! The find of the day for her was this Baby's ear, (far left) I don't recall ever hearing of them on Keewaydin, in fact, the owners of the Hemingway Shuttle had never seen one, so they were in awe of it! She also found a nice cone, a tiny spiny Jewel box, Nutmeg, she also found some beautiful Gaudy Nautica and a Turkey Wing. 

We brought chairs and hung out at the beach after we were tuckered out from our beach walk, and just throughly enjoyed chatting and the beautiful view!

Jolene and Cindy have Matching hats....

The boat we came in on is directly behind me, with the blue sides....

Jolene is just Chillin'!

It ended up warming up to the 70s or low 80s and was just perfect weather! 

We reluctantly said goodbye to Keewaydin until next time....

We went to the island of Capri on the way back toward the interstate, Captain Matt recommended checking out the Island Gypsy restaurant for lunch on our last trip. Jolene and I tried it and enjoyed it so we took Cindy....it's an outdoor restaurant with GREAT food!!! The lunch afterward is just another part of the adventure!!

Here are Jolene's finds for the day!

Here are my finds...I went crazy....found quite a few shells for painting/crafting...but I'd say it was a good day, wouldn't you??

Of course the Alphies were my favorite...19 of them this time!! (Notice a few Chocolates in there)

and I also found a few beautiful Gaudy Nautica!! Don't you love that pattern??

We had a great day, if you're down here, look up Hemingway Water Shuttle and take a trip to Keewaydin....they are an awesome, family owned business and you will not be disappointed! 

Stay Tuned!!

::Shelllady Hugs::