Sanibel sea shells. Two beaches, one fun day of exploring beaches and shelling techniques.

hi beach friends today we're headed back to one of my favorite islands sanibel island but we're going to visit a brand new beach i haven't been to yet so i'll give you all the info on the beach the parking the facilities all that good stuff today we're also going to try two different shelling techniques because i felt like it was time to take out my sand flea scooper and we're also going to have a dolphin visit along the way we're going to check out some shells so let's head on over to the beach [Music] so [Applause] [Music] we're going to start our day over at tarpon bay beach but let me tell you a little bit about the parking it actually was way more awesome than i thought it was going to be there are 76 spots here there's looks like to be brand new facilities and the parking is pretty easy just standard like all the other parking down here you pay for it you leave a little slip in your car i decided to go for two hours so i spent ten dollars it is five dollars an hour to park anywhere on sanibel so i decided i'm going to try this beach for two hours see how it goes the walk it's a little bit of a walk however um the walk from bowman's is actually pretty substantial too so it's maybe about a quarter of a mile and along the way they have the signs posted at these other areas i don't know if it's because alligators do pop out from these areas but just a sign telling you that you could go to jail or be fined up to 500 if you harass or approach an alligator so just leave them alone i don't know who on their right mind would do that but they're just trying to reinforce that so here you'll see there were water fountains there are more restroom facilities so this is over by the actual beach entrance i've already walked just a little bit and then over here there's more facilities there's a foot shower there's some bike racks a couple of picnic tables so actually kind of a real nice place to hang out for the day here we are at tarpon bay beach and here's my struggle do i walk to the left or do i walk to the right i've never been here before so i wasn't really sure i figured all right let me head to the water see if there's any clues whatsoever i can gather from being here and i really didn't know so i walked toward the les shellers so i headed to the left and all right pick up a piece of a broken lightning milk lots of shells there's lots of stuff on the beach here and we have a scallop i shouldn't be surprised santa bell always has pretty good scallops what else we got all right another this kind of poke there the color kind of intrigued me it's a spotted slipper snail kind of a neat color lots of stuff in the water but to me it really kind of looks the same stuff that's on the beach i don't see anything great rolling rolling around in there but it was really windy and pretty choppy so my chances of really shelling in the water were pretty much nil so i was going to be sticking to the beach for this portion of our walk lots of common stuff and we'll take a look i'll bend down we'll kind of pick through what are we what are really all those shells that are sitting there all right here we have a spiny jewel box he's not all that spiny but that is a spiny jewel box and they're kind of neat because sometimes they'll have that kind of rust color on them kind of interesting and here we have a calico clam i think they're so pretty they don't get to be that big maybe a little bit bigger than that but they don't get to be all that big and yay the first turtle nest this is turtle season is here may 1st through october 31st and so volunteers and or i guess employees will go out and find these nests and make sure that they stay safe by marking them off so they're here's what we're looking at this is tarpon bay um there's some hotels and whatnot not too close to the beach so it doesn't feel like bowman's um but there were a lot of shell piles i mean it wasn't you know well it's a scallop i mean it's not like crazy awesome stuff here's a crossbar venus but still depending on what you were looking for tons of shells there's a ponderous arc and those really are almost always there along with a couple of slippers you're always going to find those shells those particular shells will always be there and scallops like i said sanibel is quite good for finding scallops and another yeah this guy was trying can i get that stuff off i wasn't really sure okay there's something i couldn't push off with my thumb but i'm gonna hold on to that and see if i can pick that stuff off here's another one another that's a base gallop with some stuff on it and another scallop and what do we another one the calico scallop so i typically um if i see those kind of shells i don't really usually slow down um that's because i can be picky i'm not here on vacation i live here so i get to do this all the time i'm so lucky i believe me i know i am here i found a broken angel wing and i know it's busted up yeah and i i washed off really kind of get a better idea of what condition it is in and it's not so great so i'm gonna leave that for somebody else so i decided that walking to the left wasn't doing me much good so i decided to walk to the right and what again i'd like to just kind of point out if you're here visiting i could see picking up anything and everything and if i did that i would need a bigger house a much bigger house so i'm a lot pickier about the things that i pick up i don't bring home everything i do like to check out a lot of different things like this like this channeled duck clam also known as the sailor's ear so i like to check the stuff out um i don't always keep it and bring it home oh calico scallop and a prickly cockle but these different shell they do interest me they're i find them really i find them interesting and here's a broad no i'm sorry that is a cross barred venus clam everywhere you will absolutely find those everywhere there's another one of those spiny jewel boxes the kitten paw that's another one that's pretty ubiquitous and another kitten paw whoop if i can hold on to it so that's really what we're looking at every once in a while i'll find a pretty guy like this this calico scout oh i like this the lady in waiting venus clam nothing too interesting on the other side i just i don't know if it's the name i like the shell i like them both actually here's a yellow prickly cockle that bright yellow color and another calico scallop oh that's kind of pretty oh and a pelican man sometimes they look like planes they're huge those birds but that's a brown pelican and a disc dosenia which is hinged you find those hinged all the time oh this is kind of interesting this is a corrugated jewel box i don't find those all the time i know it doesn't look like much does it but yeah i'm actually interested in that so that's something believe it or not i'm gonna keep okay and this guy just the colors it's a little bit different it's a calico scallop but it's a little bit of orange which is not typical well at least in that pattern so that was interesting and another kind of got that sunburst pattern on it oh i like the little heart on the bottom of that one that's kind of cool it's amazing the patterns and colors and all the things you can discover i want a coquina little tiny baby clam and the colors on these shelves are just gorgeous and another kitten paw and a pen shell i i don't know you know what i don't normally collect these this is a half naked pen shell i know other people keep them and it seemed kind of perfect so i did i took it i decided to keep this one half naked pen shell and another scallop ooh that's pretty lots of whites pinks and purples on the scallops those are relatively easy to find now this kind of jogged my memory with something i picked this up this is a cat paw and i remember somebody asked me are cat paws or kitten paws the same shell are they the same as a jewel box a spiny jewel box and i didn't understand the question like to me they didn't look very similar but all of a sudden i picked up that cat paw and i kind of clicked and i said wow that actually does look like a spiny jewel box so once i found that particular kitten paw i decided to look for a spiny jewel box and kind of see do they look similar and holy moly they kind of do and it was just really interesting so guys if you have any kind of question just throw it at me i might not answer it right away it might kind of hang around to the back of my head but look at that a cat paw and a jewel box that do somehow look similar crazy okay this is what i think of as a cat paw on the left and a jewel box on the right so i i found that interesting a slipper snail these guys infuriate me because they look like so many other things they look like moon snails and all sorts of other things so they kind of drive me a little crazy they're tricksters those slippers snails and oh another one of those lady and wading venus clams i wish they got bigger but that's just about as big as they get still think they're kind of neat oh look how fun is this i'm collecting an alphabet my friend had sent me a picture of these crossbard venus clams with the bristle worm dig outs in them and looks like i got myself a t i've collected the i is easy l's you know but yay got a t all right here is a disc docenia a hinged disc dosina and another one of those sailor's ear channeled duck clams so when you're looking at a shell pile a lot of times this is really the stuff you're looking at that's a buttercup blue scene you know you'll have your jingles you have your broad rib carditas like here yeah broad rib cardita that also looks like it had a run in with a bristle worm so there's lots and lots of shells oh what do you know i already have a j i'm good i'm going to leave that alone so a lot like lots and lots of shells not necessarily anything i might want to keep oh and here we have a white atlantic semilee it's a delicate pretty little shell oh and it came across some horse conch egg casing it looks like the little babies got out these are like these little triangular looking egg casings and there's little holes on the bottom so those little babies are out there hopefully getting bigger maybe i can encounter one one day maybe okay here we have a giant atlantic cockle also known as a heart cockle if you can close it look looks like a heart kind of fun and since it's hinged i decided yeah what the heck i'm going to keep it it's kind of a slow shelling day anyway ooh pretty calico scallop of the pretty variety some color popping out at me relatively typical coloring but still pretty pretty nonetheless and these guys can also be orange those calico scallops love the orange it's not in perfect condition but it's perfectly bright and pretty i'll keep it ooh fine it's like the best find of the day and typically you'll find these all over the place that's a lightning well that kind of grabbed out of the uh the surf there but it it was it was rough only because probably that shell was as big as it was i was able to kind of snatch it so it looks like there's stuff in there but i am not here on this beach to go scooping i'm going to do that at the next beach so i gifted that lightning well to the woman in blue there she was working hard she had a little net so i wanted to give that to her and before we go i'll just appreciate this little broad ribbed cardeta i thought the coloring was real pretty on that guy so i spent my two hours over there and now i'm over at bowman's where i have a parking pass and i can spend as much time as i want i don't have to worry about getting a ticket for not paying so here we are at bowman's beach and i got it the last time i was at bowman's beach i was here with my girlfriend i was not making a video we were in the water shelling and we were in the water showing i want to say for i don't know a couple hours so we had done our thing kind of starting to get hungry we're about to go get some lunch we get out of the water and the woman not 15 feet to our left pulls out this horse conch i'm just standing there with my mouth like dropped open like i was so close but i wasn't making a video and i really do want you guys with me when i first find my big horse conch so i came really close but it really hurt i was thinking about that for a couple of days so i really do want that big horse conk i'll get it i will get it so here we are we're over at bowman's and i have my scooper so now i'm going to scoop stuff up here it looks like i found no that's a florida fighting conch and that guy is just your standard run of the mill florida fighting conch but at least it was something a little bit different and it looks like i scooped again all right i saw that apple muric's that's what i was going for i had no idea what kind of condition it was in that's actually pretty rough i'm going to keep it anyway but um that's a beat up apple mirrex so take a peek at the shell piles that are over here too just like the shell piles at the other beach but you know what it wasn't as windy and and the water wasn't as as rough here we have a giant atlantic cockle that's that heart cockle but i only have half and it's kind of pretty in fantastic condition i decided to keep it i again don't normally but i decided i was going to do that so it looks like i scored a little there we go caligo clam like a huge calico clam that's beautiful oh and this rough scallop that's what i saw that color gorgeous gorgeous rough scallop so now we're talking now we're finding some different stuff i'm not just stuck and i saw this rolling around in the water oh look how beautiful the color is on that horse so now now i'm having fun now finding some different things pretty calico keep that too pretty on this guy this is also a lightning walk but the color is really unusual i'm not it's very light it's just very different ooh an orange oh it's a little beat up but that color is so pretty and another base scallop and i that stuff that white stuff picked right off i just chipped it right off with a dental pick it popped right off oh and there's another horse conch but it was broken so pretty i really liked the way you could see all the intricate channels of the other side so i decided to keep that oh and now this was a bonus for me okay that's what i was going for i wasn't sure what i was scooping and then i got a bonus nutmeg i didn't even see that there that was fun so we got ourselves a little cockle and a cool nutmeg yay and another lightning walk it's actually in pretty pretty okay shape sorry it's a little bit chewed up on the edges but otherwise that's in pretty good shape i have a feeling somebody might be gifted that as well now the little scooper that i'm scooping is meant to get those guys sand fleas or mole crabs they have a couple different names but i kept picking them up and then i felt bad i wanted didn't want to go back in the water buddy go oh there you go so that's my tool so i am using this it's for the most part it's more difficult for me to kind of scoop and video and and show you but i was kind of desperate after seeing there wasn't all that much on the beach so yeah we're going to incorporate this into some of our future walks just kind of mix things up a bit here we have a moon snail a little hole in it it's a shark eye not in great shape but the only one i found today so yay okay what do we got here scooped up something there it is looks like another lightning walk yeah that's pretty good shape i'll keep that lightning look oh look at this fabulous florida fighting okay what i thought about was all right see anything different you kind of notice it's kind of shaped different it's knobless it doesn't have knobs see those that's usually the florida fun and conks have knobs like that but this guy doesn't and it's got a super cool pattern to it so i thought that was really cool all right looks like we're taking a close look at a shell pile there's a dry calico clam funny another broken buttercup blue scene and a ponderous ark and a surf clam i just had to pick it up make sure you can kind of see through a piece of it there's a surf clam and a prickly cockle so really kind of again most of your commons lots of shells and depending on what you're showing for you could be in luck here's another lightning walk so it really just kind of depends again there's like vacation shelling where you should pick up everything because you don't really get a chance to come here all the time or you have shelling like what i do and i like to check things out but i don't necessarily keep everything look at that how cool is that that is a juvenile florida fighting conch so he's still got his ribs the little ones will have ribs those lines and it's just beautiful and here's another one not quite as striking as the previous one but still very cool it's got some neat patterns on it another calico climb oh well i got a couple i'm just gonna leave that one and another juvenile florida fighting conch with really cool patterns super cool like that shell and okay another lightning walk he's not perfect but that's okay i'm gonna be keeping that guy anyway oh and another looks like a kind of like a half knobbed floor to fighting conch really like the pattern really like the color oh that's neat yep definitely gonna keep that guy too all right looks like we're going to do a little show-and-tell even though i'm the one that scooped it we have a calico clam a little paper fig and a juvenile floor defining conch that you care you go see the top a little bit better okay just a quahog a looks like a rough scallop and another corrugated jewel box some more cool finds and on the left we have a scallop and another florida fighting conch so yay i do like those florida fighting kongs a lot so this was fun i'm standing there and i watched this boat go by and in the wake you see dolphins that little dark thing that's kind of right there it's kind of flying around those are dolphins so it was a whole boat full of people watching and this is one jump let's take a closer look look at that that must have been really fun so i thought that was super cool you always got to make sure well i'm constantly appreciating the beauty around me and every now and then you're gonna see a critter like this little dolphin that was really close to the water it was just me and him or her hanging out i think she's looking for something to eat so she's chasing some fish around here she is so that was really exciting to be so close to the water's edge there you definitely could have gotten in the water i i definitely would recommend against that i don't know how good they can see and i would not want hundreds and hundreds pounds of muscle coming right at you so i thought it was beautiful to be so close and to kind of appreciate it and then it went on its way to go do whatever kind of things dolphins do i guess eat sleep you know they only sleep half their brain sleeps at a time kind of interesting so it's time for me to leave the beach i was thinking about all the horse conks i did not find but that's okay i will find one one of these times and it was nice to kind of try a little bit different of a technique i do like shelling in the water so i will be doing more of that now the weather is getting a lot warmer here so let's take a look at what we found i separated it left and right the ones that we found at the first beach over here at tarpon bay were mostly scallops and bivalves um kind of neat nothing to they're not terrible it was kind of cool but i have to admit i found the finds over at bowman's with the scooping technique a little bit more fun lots more the florida fighting conchs actually got a murex and a nutmeg and the scallop and that little baby horse conch which was really pretty so that was really fun again i'm not sure where we're gonna go the next time we go out showing but i would like to give a special thanks out to my patreons my producers because they help make videos like this possible i did purchase a foldable kayak that i can put in my car and kind of assemble so i'm going to be trying that out and hopefully that's going to open up a whole new world of different little islands to explore so thank you for coming along with me thank you for your love and your support and your comments and i'll see you guys again next sunday