Thursday, November 12, 2009

Captiva Wind, Surf and Shells

The temperature was down to 61 last night and 70 was the high today,with wind from the NW. Many of the island shellers, say that shelling is best on a West Gulf beach when there is a NW wind. It seems to me, they are right. Pam who is also from Florida, and frequents this blog, left a comment about my post yesterday. She was at the Lighthouse Beach yesterday and there wasn't even a hint of Red Tide there. During low tide, from around 2:30 pm until about 5:30 pm, the shelling was wonderful. I think this woman must have a great eye for wentletraps and baby ears, I only find one now and then. I think I need lessons from her. She went home with 307 wentletraps, many of them quite large, 24 baby ears, some venus clams, lots of apple murex, dosinias and other kinds as well. She was told that someone had found a perfect Junonia while they were there. So, the moral to this story is, if conditions aren't right or shelling isn't great at one spot, try another. You just never know what you will find. Shelling conditions can really vary from one area of the island to another. Some of my friends try four or five different locations, looking for good shelling.

We went for a drive out to Captiva this afternoon and on the way back, stopped at Blind Pass, we walked out on Turner Beach to see if any shells were piling up by the rock jetty. The waves were certainly in the right direction to carry them in there. As we walked from the parking area, I could see a bunch of people all bent over, so I knew there had to be shells. There were some shells piled there and people had been digging through them. I just quickly looked around and only saw a couple of shells that I picked up, a scallop and a turban. It was very windy and a little chilly with water spraying around from the waves, so not seeing much of interest to me, I left. I'm sure for those with the stamina for it, there may have been some treasures to be found. I didn't notice any signs of Red Tide there.









This was all that I could see of a sunset this evening. But, it was very nice.

1 comment:

Unknown said...

Your sunset pictures today are stunning, Tootie! The person in the last one really sets off the whole thing and the one above it really makes me hear the sound of those waves coming in. I wish I could take photos that good.