40 Miles North of Shell Mountain


Shell pile @ the North Jetty in Nokomis, Florida

Has anyone been following i Love Shelling blog? Pam has been giving us the blow-by-blow of all the shells rolling in on Turner Beach a.k.a. Blind Pass.  For dedicated shell lovers the sight of that big honkin shell pile growing upward on Blind Pass makes you want to call in sick to work, grab your shell shovel, & head south or whatever  direction it may be for you to Sanibel.


 For those of you that are a plane ride away in the cold & snow; looking at those shells has got to be painful & my heart does go out to you. I live 2 hours north of Sanibel via I-75 or about 40 miles as the crow flies.  I've sat at my computer for 3 days now looking, drooling,  enlarging the pictures, looking again at my work schedule....ratz - I'm not off till Monday.


Where I live in the Venice/Englewood area we have some spectacular beaches. Each has their own personality. Englewood's beaches are more rustic & laid-back. Venice beaches are closer to shops and restaurants. They all have their moments when it comes to sharks teeth & gorgeous shells.
 North Jetty to the left - Venice Beach to the right 
You can park right up to the water


 An Intercoastal waterway separates Venice Beach from Nokomis Beach. Those are called the South & North Jetties respectively. Both sides have spectacular views of the water and the boats going in & out of the channel to the gulf.  You can park your vehicle right on the water and sit in you car and just enjoy the view.  The North Jetty in Nokomis faces NW like the Blind Pass jetty on the Captiva side of Sanibel. I had a little light bulb go off in my head about 3am last night as I laid in bed stewing & plotting my exodus to Sanibel. I got to thinking - "If there are shell piles on Blind Pass there is a good chance the North Jetty has one too". But I had to be at work at 1pm. Could I squeeze it in before work? Maybe.
None of the fisherman paid any attention to the lady
 shelling in her work clothes


The tide was coming in pretty quick
Even the birds appreciate a good shell pile
A few goodies. I love to find fishing lures.


I'm sorry to disappoint those of you who thought there would be pictures of the big blonde lady with a garden hand rake excavating through the big shell pile in a dress shirt & khakis. Nobody at work even noticed when I came in that my shoes were squeaking from being slightly wet. The tide was coming in and whacked me a good one. Trust me, I knew that if I saw a Junonia in the water - work clothes or not I was jumping in. Well, no Junonia today (yet :D ). It took me 20 minutes to drive there and it was 15 minutes back to work so I had 30 minutes to plough through the shell pile and I enjoyed every second of it.

Comments

  1. WOw - I have been reading Pam's blog and wanted to get in my car and drive over....so I dont blame you for stopping at Nokomis Beach on your way to work. I would do the same! Looks like you got a few little treasures.

    I am coming to ste. pete beach next week - but I am flying as I am going onto Atlanta...so no stopping on this trip...but I will be back in January!!

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  2. Your shell pile looks as good as Captiva! Weehoo! You got it there too- so cool. That's so funny, I had completely wet shoes at work too... well worth it. Blind Pass is filling in a bit with sand but the pile is so deep we'll have digging to do for weeks.... i hope.

    I've gotta go get ready for the Captiva Holiday Village golf cart parade! Wanna be in it with iLoveShelling next year????

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  3. I just realized I'm sitting here pouting a little bit. Dang, you girls are lucky to live in the land of plenty (& beautiful water). What's that little fat, striped shell just above the lure?

    BTW, google finally let me add you to my blog list again, don't know why some of my list keeps disappearing. Let's hope Essential Beachcomber sticks this time :-)

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  4. Oh my goodness......I'm seriously drooling over these shells.....your little side trip.....the fact that you can go to Sanibel whenever you want. You are SO blessed, Kaybe!!!!! :) Save some shells for me when I get there in March, ok? lol!

    xoxo laurie

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  5. That's a nice lure you have there. Were you using it to catch shells:)

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  6. I've never seen anything like this here in California. I'd love to visit a beach full of shells. I agree with the shovel idea :-)
    Blessings,
    Marcia

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  7. Now that shell pile reminds me of the one Christmas Eve that we discovered all those years ago, what, about ten or eleven? But, it disappeared the next day. Very cool, wish I were there. Sitting and shelling is a good thing for me right now. I can't believe you braved the cold, actually I can, but I stayed in when the low tide hit at 6am and it was in the 30s. Brrrr…………! Supposed to be 29 here on Monday morning. Another cold winter? Not fair!

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