The Essential Beachcomber

Gasparilla Island State Park on Boca Grande by the old Lighthouse My mother has the same tone of  voice for " Publix has 2-4-1 Breyer's " & "Mrs. So-In-So is dead!". She's been my mother for 53 years so I have learned to just roll with it. I have a very busy job so when she calls me at work I have to speed up the process. "Okay Mom, who died?" "No Honey I just wanted to tell you Breyer's is on sale at Publix ". Gotta love your momma.  Since there are no shells to be found on Sanibel I cancelled my plans to go shelling there today. Plan B - take  GeeGee (my mom) to Michael's Craft Store to get a magnifying glass that lights up so she can do her crossword puzzles without her eyes watering. For anyone that chauffeur's their senior-citizen mom, aunt, or grandmother to any store - You know you have to have a plan. I do. I have the drop-off point nailed, I know where the bathroom is, & you have to feed them. In this ...

Semele bellastriata (Conrad, 1837) cancellate semele Shweekie on Tigertail Beach, Marco Island I sn't that a gorgeous shell. My niece Shweekie found it on Marco Island during our shelling trip last week. It is definitely her prize find of the day. We just couldn't figure out what it was. I looked in all my shell ID books & at all the online sites I use - nothing conclusive.  So I did what any social networker in the 21st Century would do. I posed the question to my homies on Facebook. Karen Blackford   My niece found this on Tigertail Beach. Can anyone ID it for me? January 22 at 11:11pm  ·  Like  ·  Comment Alice Treest  likes this. Tana Houston   looking at 1 of my books & it may be a small false donax January 22 at 11:18pm  ·  Like  ·  Karen Blackford   I checked the B-M site & my books and can't find anything January 22 at 11:19pm  ·  Like Nancy Eckert   I'm curio...

"What do you do with all those shells?' is usually the question I get after I go on & on about my latest shelling excursion to a non-sheller. Usually their eyes are glazed over and they stopped listening to me after my first junonia story. (That's the brown spotty shell, right?) This is actually an on-going conversation I have been having with a particular bil from Pennsylvania. To answer his "What do I do with all those shells" question - I send him emails from time to time with pictures of toilet seats made with shells, clothing embelished with shells, & the last time we were together I gave he & my sil a little shell craft I made myself from Sanibel shells as a token of affection and to remind him that there is no end to a shell's usefulness.   It is just not right to leave a nice shell behind on the beach unless of course it is occupied.  For the really serious shell artists & collectors the social event of the Shelling season is  ...

The shells stretch for miles on Tigertail Beach As an avid sheller I have a bucket list of places I would like to visit. Some of my shelling dreams like Costa Rica or Belize will require some planning but closer to home I can now cross Marco Island off my bucket list of places to go  shelling.  The shelling epicenter of Florida is Sanibel Island.  One of the fault lines runs about about 40 miles south to Marco Island.  Tuesday morning about 4am I loaded up the truck and my niece Shweekie & I headed to Tigertail Beach on Marco Island.  We intentionally arrived on Marco Island before dawn to go shelling on the beach with our flashlights. It was an early minus 1.10 foot low tide. That is a good thing for those of you that don't know.  What we discovered is that there are 2 beaches  open to the public on Marco Island but parking is limited. You can frequent any beach you like after they open the gates at 8am.  Until the park opens t...