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::

A Little work and Play...

We had another Hurricane....Have you heard? Nicole (Cat 1 for a short time) came in on the East Coast and then turned North, adding insult to injury to Florida. We saw very little, a day or so of off and on rain and a little wind. So again, we were lucky here! We got the garage door fixed, it was only minor. I worked on getting the cardboard boxes out and replaced them with plastic boxes and cleared half the garage of stuff....and Hubby got it cleaned up while I was on a shelling trip!! So we are progressing back to normal pretty quickly. 

We also celebrated our 25th Anniversary, we weren't able to head out to Sanibel, where we went for the first time on our honeymoon... but we are close! It was a nice quiet day, we spent it together and then went out for a nice meal at one of our favorite restaurants! Perfect!!

Before I came down, I found out from Jolene that she had booked a shelling trip to Keewaydin on Veteran's Day. Keewaydin is an island that is reached by boat, from Marco Island, about and hour south of Fort Myers. So I called and booked it too, I barely got in as the boat was full! We've been on this trip before, but following the latest 2 hurricanes, Ian and Nicole, we were hoping that the shelling would be great! We stay out of the water, as the water is full of bacteria from the storms, but there is a lot of beach to shell!!!

We book with the Hemingway Water Shuttle, great company, Family operated business and

I highly recommend them if you ever have the opportunity! They start out at Rose Marina in Marco, a BEAUTIFUL morning...

and It's just a short ride to the island...

This is Jack, the first Mate....He greets everyone as they board, and is the first on and off the boat!!

There were several areas like this with just clusters of shells....you have to look very carefully so you don't miss any treasures, 

Everyone tends to rush to the same area, so I usually find my self rushing through...I finally slowed down and began to find stuff...Like this Alphabet Cone peeking out of a pen shell...

and this colorful Nutmeg! Look how dark it is!!

There were several live shells also, we don't take live shells, so it's important to check carefully...like this BEAUTIFUL Rose Murex....one of my favorites!!

But Alas, it was alive....

So into the Gulf it went!

But it paid off! I found this one also!!!

and it was not alive!!!! Wahoo!!! Score!

This Horse Conch, my favorite size, was hugging onto this pen shell, obviously alive...

But this one was not!! Score...again!!

I tried to save this little Pygmy Octopus, but I don't think he will make it, there was very little movement but I did get him into the water.

Another great find of the day, and a first for me is this Cabrits Murex!!

It has a small hole in it, but if you look closely it's still a little pink on the top! This is what they look like. I'm tickled with it, it will be kept someplace special!

Here are all the finds for the day! 

and my Favorites....

From the left, A Florida Cone, Rose Murex, Cabrits Murex, Lace Murex and Horse Conch, at the bottom is a mini Alphabet cone! Some who have been since the storm, including Jolene said it was not as lucrative this trip as it has been, but I can't complain... after all, it's beach therapy!

Stay Tuned!

::Shelllady Hugs::

 

Another Trip....Keewaydin!

The 'Shell Raisers' planned this trip right after our last one to Keewaydin, but unfortunately Jolene couldn't make it as she has had to stay home taking care of her family as a stomach virus has been spreading at her house! We missed her terribly! We did have a fourth come with us, a friend of Cindy's named Diane and I think she had a good time!

It was a beautiful Morning....

That's Cindy closest to me....

We were the first on the island so we had very high expectations! At first glance, the shells seemed pretty plentiful and there were several 'wrack lines' (Thanks Cindy for this pic!)

This was my very first find, and it ended up being one of my favorites of the day! It's a VERY lacy Lace Murex....

Isn't it beautiful? So Delicate!!

Right after that, I started picking up Alphabet Cones....

The first two were what I call Chocolate Cones...much deeper...chocolate colored spots! Jolene (The cone whisperer) was definitely with us...Cindy even said she was going to start calling me Jolene!! 

The next was a little bigger and more the coloring we are used to....

Liz found a small Golden Olive!! I believe this is her third she has found...I've been with her for each one...now it's my turn Liz!! ;)

I found some very colorful True Tulips...

quite a few Worm Shells....this one was a favorite! (sorry it's a bit out of focus, was very bright out there and I couldn't see detail very well!)

and check out the coloring on this Florida Fighting Conch!!! These guys come in all different colors!

Doesn't this look like a picture postcard?? This sailboat was anchored offshore...what a life, huh?!

Liz also found a Flat! We didn't know they were out there so that was a nice surprise!

Lori, another passenger on the boat found one also!!

Cindy found this beautiful Gaudy Nautica

Liz and I decided to stay around the point and shell it really well and Cindy and Diane walked way up the shoreline....

Talk about the Cone Whisperer!!! Check out what Cindy got!!

7 Cones!!! All big 'uns!! She was so happy, it was Awesome!

Diane ended up with 6 herself!! (I missed getting the pick when she got them all out of her shell bag)...but here are 4 of them

she also got this BEAUTIFUL Neon Orange Horse Conch...

I found something really cool....I spent some time looking online and in my books, and the only thing I found that is similar is a yellow tube sponge. It was very dense and so unusual!I have never found anything like it before!

We bid this beautiful Island a fond farewell around Noon, with our shell bags full of treasurers, and happy for another beautiful warm Florida day!

Here are my finds for the day...

Not bad, huh?! I even found a Wentletrap out there!!

Here are Liz's treasures....

So Stay Tuned as the adventures continue! The Shell Raisers are hitting the road again and I will hopefully have new stories to tell!!

::Shelllady Hugs::