Catching Up!

First, let me show you the horse conch before cleaning and after...

Before

After 

It has a hole in it, but it still has good color, so it is proudly displayed on our front porch!

The shelling the last couple of days (Thursday & Friday) has not been very good, but the weather and the beaches have been awesome!

I ran across 3 more turtle crawls, these appeared to be successful!

 

                              
I think this is so awesome, would love to be a 'turtle' person one day, and follow them!
The shelling at Sanibel wasn't so great so I decided to try Bowditch Beach, which is the far west end of Ft. Myers Beach. It was a nice park, with all the amenities....

...and it was beautiful, with very clear water...

...but there were no shells to found here either, and it is VERY touristy!

I got up on Friday, back to my favorite beach at Sanibel (Gulfside City Park). Still beautiful, but no shells on this day either!

I did spy a live sea star...

..and a slow moving dolphin...

...so I left and went to Blind Pass to give it a go. It too was beautiful, and there were LOTS of people snorkeling.

...and there I saw 2 manatees!

But alas, I left there with a nearly empty shell bag.

Saturday I went back to Sanibel, and it was a MUCH better shelling day!

I did find an Alphabet cone, but still not worth checking it off my list, it was a perfect size, but the color was sadly lacking....I did keep it anyway! :)

I can always find beautiful Scallops & Cockles...

and the apple murex (top) and juvenile fighting conchs made an appearance...

found a mini very dark calico clam, kittens paws and a pretty jewel box...

 I also found this Green Mussel shell, it was the largest I had ever found and it was in perfect shape! I love the 'mother of pearl' interior of these shells!

...and last but not least, a small very lightly colored Florida cone...

So I only have one more day of shelling, I will be back out to Sanibel at morning light tomorrow, hopefully I will find something really awesome, if not, I know it will still be a perfect day here in paradise! Stay tuned!!

::Shelllady Hugs::