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Date Posted: 12:35:48 11/24/04 Wed
Author: Lynn
Subject: Re: And finally.....the rest of the story...saved the best for last
In reply to: Kim 's message, "And finally.....the rest of the story...saved the best for last" on 17:37:09 11/23/04 Tue

Great trip report, Kim. I thoroughly enjoyed reading every word. I'm so glad you had a wonderful trip. Congrats on your purchase! Lucky you, owning your own little spot on Sanibel! That's great!
I really appreciate those who have posted trip reports since Hurricane Charley. Before the reports, we had discussed postponing our trip to Sanibel in 2005, but now we've decided to go for it!



>Alright, Alright, I know you are dying to know how I
>filled my big cooler with shells. We stayed on West
>Gulf and that is where I did the most of my shelling,
>up until the last day. West Gulf is know for
>consistent good shelling, when we arrived Sat
>afternoon everyone was saying how great it had been
>since Thurs, that morning they had found some horse
>conchs and alphabet cones. There were several shell
>beds coming in. I got the net and bucket and away I
>went. Scooping, dumping, sorting, running, again and
>again, found some goodies. Nice murex, olives, small
>and large fighting conchs of course, and lot of misc,
>nothing big. An alphabet cone, not great, but still a
>cone. Every day was extremely different than the one
>before, and every wave sure seemed to bring it, or
>take it away. The water was very cloudy, therefore
>making it extremely hard to watch, so the scoop method
>worked for me. I went ot Baileys on the second day
>and bought a sand flea scoop (the metal kind that will
>cut your leg in half if it hits you with an incoming
>wave) my log was scoop more up, find more goodies.
>Nothing big, but consistenly a lot of nice little
>things. I had met Joanne on Sunday when I had found a
>cone and she wanted one so bad, I told her if I found
>another she could have it, but I didn't find another.
>Every morning beginning Sunday low tide was in the
>early am Sunday, I was up at 2:30 am with my light,
>scouring the beach....really no morning at all did
>this pay off extremely well for me other than thinking
>the early bird gets the worm, I didn't set my clock, I
>just couldn't sleep knowing it was low tide. Monday
>the 8th low tide was another hour away and I decided
>to head toward the sandbar heading east. I was in the
>tidal pool about 5 feet from shore, when I looked down
>and saw the knobs of a horse conch!!! I was soooo
>excited as I bent down I was saying Lord, please let
>it be empty, let it be empty, and it WAS!!!! I WAS
>SCREAMING AND SHOUTING,,, THANK YOU LORD!!!
>HALLEUJAH!!!! WHOO HOOOO!! THE WATER WAS SPLASHING, I
>though I had struck gold, I looked back down, ANOTHER
>ONE!!! BIGGER THAN THE FIRST AND EMPTY TOO!! THEN
>BEDSIDE IT WAS A LARGE WELK..then Joanne came
>(previously referenced)I said if I find another, it's
>yours, and wouldn't you know.....there was another
>one!!! I kept my word and gave it to her...so I
>started heading toward to Sandbar, Joanne wanted to
>walk with me, so I told her I guessed the only fair
>way was to take turns if we found more.....AND WE
>DID!! SHE ENDED UP WITH 3 AND I FOUND 5 TOTAL PLUS MY
>WELKS!
>Then on the walk back there right in front of us was a
>nice alphabet, so I played nice and let her have it
>too.
>
> I didn't care if I found anything else....I was in
>heaven, I bleached and scraped off barnacles for days,
>they turned out pretty nice. I love the orange one
>and the white one. Oh I forgot on Cayo Costa we found
>sea urchins also.
>Anyways, the rest of the week was just lots more of
>the same, nice murex, tulips, olives, small cones and
>conchs, the normal. My goal was to find a true tulip
>and an angel wing.
>We really didn't venture far from W Gulf as I was
>truly content to spend my days there, getting up so
>early, we wer in bed every night no later than 10 and
>most nights by 9!
>Janet went home Tuesday, and we stopped at Darla &
>Gordons bought the new cheapo digital ate at the
>seafood market again, and got back to the island after
>sunset.
>Wednesday we decided to just hang out, we went to
>Rosies for lunch and took it to the end of Buttonwood
>and had a picnic. I decided to walk to the pier and
>Garth drove, I walked to the lighthouse and saw a lady
>with a bucket of shells, true tulips, horse conchs,
>and goodies, but nothing much along shore. So
>Thursday we went there early am with my garden
>diggers, and dig we did, we found our first true
>tulip (well Barb had found a small one and passed it
>to me but this was one we found for real) It really
>reeks there....bad...death under the sand, when you
>get to the bad smell you are gonna find something
>descent. I have boiled and bleached and am not real
>sure how I am ever gonna get the stink out! Anyways,
>we found several true tulips a couple really nice
>sized ones and 1 angel wing so I was a happy camper.
>Then I decided to try snorkeling again, and again I
>got chocked! My new friends Dennis & Judy fixed me up
>with a wand that worked, so I followed Judy and
>snorkeled....... 5 more horse conchs for the day and
>about the closest thing to a Junonia.....we had been
>snorekeling for quite a while (hrs actually) and a
>family of locals came with wet suits and not 15
>minutes after they were in the water not 6 feet in
>front of me I heard the boys sreaming....yeppers they
>found the prize! And I had been out there for a long
>time, but I was glad it was kids and they were indeed
>excited!! So the lighthouse shelling was great, but it
>was hard work too. We went back the next day but
>didn't stay as long and didn't find as much, I had my
>last fill along W Gulf when I scooped and scooped Fri
>eve and found 2 cones!! Saturday I vowed not to shell
>as I was boiling stuff until late Friday nite, but
>couldnt resist to go donw and pick up coqunias, as I
>had not bothered picking many of them up even though I
>liked them, so I got a small container full and bagged
>up sand and 2 mixed bags of shells coming in, haven't
>even looked through them to see what goodies are
>there.
>So even though I love to shell and am obsessed, I
>still feel like a novice, I found a lot, I missed some
>nice stuff, but I had the time of my life. My cooler
>is full and probably a lot of it is not the best as I
>needed some filler stuff for crafts too, but I sure
>will have fun this week reminissing as I clean and
>sort...want to come and help me?
>
>
>THE WRAP UP:
>It was a delightfully wonderful two weeks that went
>too fast and can hardly come again too soon. The
>BIGGIE:
>Hubby loves Sanibel now as much as me, and I was
>hesitant about that. We know someday we want to live
>there, but with the prices, owning a home would
>probably be impossible for us, so we started looking
>in the Park on Periwinkle where Russ & Barb live. We
>found a mobile home we could afford, it was an 1982
>and rough, but we have done the fixer upper thing
>before, she was supposed to hold it for us until Fri,
>we called her Mon and told her we wanted it and she
>couldn't meet with us until Thurs. Called her Wed and
>ask her to see it again, she left it unlocked, we
>videoed and pictures to make list of what we would
>need, paint, etc. We spoke to the park owners to get
>permission, all lined up. We get to her house at 6:30
>Thurs, she met us at the door and told us she couln't
>do it, she had gone back on her word andsold it out
>from under us. We were not happy campers, especially
>Garth. He is ready to quit his job and move now....I
>cannot...my Grandma is 86 and in very poor health. My
>Aunt is 86 and not well and I am her medical POA, my
>daughter is a freshman in college and you cannot have
>dogs in the park and my Noel is 9. So I have a few
>years before making a move committment. We were
>really bummed.. Russ had told us Fri of a man who may
>sell, we stopped by before leaving the island and he
>said yes, its 14 years newer, nicer and less money.
>We paid him a deposit and he wants to stay to April,
>no problem!!! If all goes well we will own a place on
>the island..................CAN YOU BELIEVE THAT??? I
>am soooooo excited...so pray for me all goes well, and
>now I won't have to make reservations!! And Connie, my
>chances are better at getting to meet you! And
>whenever we get to move there someday, hopefully I
>will get to meet a lot of my Saniholic friends.....so
>with that I will say so long for this trip report on a
>good note............
>
>The End :) and the beginning of many more stories to
>come :)

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Replies:

  • Thanks - great report and question re beach seafood -- Kayte, 16:42:14 11/24/04 Wed
  • Thanks Everyone -- Kim, 20:03:00 11/24/04 Wed
  • Re: Thanks - great report and question re beach seafood -- Jamie, 23:11:09 11/24/04 Wed
  • report and question re beach seafood -- Jodie, 12:57:12 11/26/04 Fri
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