Cool Saturday

Went to a retirement party for a good friend, at Biddle's yesterday evening and then out to dinner at the Crow's Nest on Captiva. The band was good, so we stayed until around mid-night. When we left, we could hear and see the waves crashing on the beach. So, on the way back to Sanibel, we made a stop at Blind Pass to see if there were any shells. The ladies checked on the Sanibel side, while the men walked around to the Captiva side. The wind was terribly strong, making it very cold near the water. I didn't see any good shells at all, and since I was barefoot because I didn't want to ruin good shoes on the beach, I froze out in about 15 minutes. The ladies went back to the car and turned the heater on to warm up. About 20 minutes later, the men came back with their hands full of shells. One of them included a huge sharks eye. There was a large pile of shells and they said it was several feet deep. They didn't have anything the dig with, and knowing we were cold, had quit looking. I wanted to go get things to dig with, better lights, and go back. But, after getting warmed up, I just couldn't bring myself to go back out into the cold again. No, I'm not really complaining about having cold wind for a short time, if it wasn't for the cold front, there probably wouldn't have been so many shells. I'm sure someone hit the mother load out there this morning. Well, maybe next time I'll be up for it. :-)

I think the two big, well worn cones will go into the craft basket. The big sharks eye will be put in a place of honor.


This morning I wanted to go out early for the low tide. I did wake up, checked to see how cold it was; after finding out it was in the 40's, crawled right back into bed. A couple of hours later, I figured I had already missed out on tons of great shells. ;-) Later I called a couple of friends to find out if they had gone to the beach. The one who went out in the Lighthouse Beach area said that other people on the beach told her it wasn't very good shelling. She found a lot of mini shells though. The other friend went near the Holiday Inn area. She found several shells there and also a lot of star fish. So, I didn't feel so bad. :-)

This afternoon, picked up friends and went to the beach on West Gulf Drive, Access 2. The sun was shining, but there were dark clouds all around that were a little threatening. I wore a sweatshirt, capris, and was barefoot. It wasn't too windy and after walking a short distance, I took the sweatshirt off until just before the sun went down.

There weren't a lot of shells until we got between access 3 and 4. A lady came walking by and said she was looking for paper figs. She said her sister had found 16and wouldn't even give her one! :-) We helped her find some and then went on. From there to 7 there were shells piled with the waves beginning to splash up over the top of them, before we left. We dug around a little in the piles and I picked up some buttercups and a few other things, but not a lot. There were plenty of shells there for the taking, but I had too many of those kinds already, so left them for someone else.

For those of you that know Ms Dottie, I saw her and her husband walking near Mitchell's and stopped to talk to her for a while. She asked about those of you who know her. I told her the latest news I had from each of you. She told me that she had found 4 large horse conchs yesterday morning early and she found 3 this morning but they were too heavy for her to carry all the way home. It was getting a little cool and we still had further to go, so we went on our way. I have to say that I really enjoy talking to her, she is full of years of shelling experience.

The sunset was nice. By the time we drove away and got to Periwinkle, I looked back and the sky was orange and purple, really beautiful.





Friends that we called the 'Sanibel Lovers',moved here about a month ago. While they were digging, they said, 'Life Is Good'. :-))


I watched as two birds, one right after the other, came out of the water with a fish four or five inches long. Hmmm, I guess it was dinner time. :-)








Sit back, relax and look for a junonia. :-)


If you go to Youtube you can watch this video is HD and full screen. :-)