Hurray! Today's the day we go to Caya Costa State Park for shelling. I must confess, I did not sleep well last night for excitement. We got off to a great start - no traffic to speak of and we easily made it to the Marina on Captiva Island in time. If fact Kim thinks she could have slept in another 10 minutes. I don't think so!
While waiting for the pontoon boat 'Playtime' to be made ready, we all milled around Pam who was taking us. She writes a blog called iloveshelling.com which I check daily. On this blog she writes about the shells that are being found on Sanibel and Captiva, sometimes Fort Myers Beach. She identifies shells and tells interesting facts about them. The die-hard shellers were ready this morning! We had a wonderful surprise though while waiting. Manatee came into the Marina so we were able to watch them surface and breath. They are so very large but you rarely see their body, just their nostrils and eyes above the water. Maggie and I looked hard last fall to see one and were not successful. So exciting this morning!
On the boat we got the safety talk and started out into Pine Island Sound. The Captain, if you will, told us if we fall overboard to just straighten our legs and stand up. The water at low tide in the Sound was only about 5 feet deep. This is the Sound as we are leaving Captiva...
Pam gave us tips for where to go on the Island to look for specific shells. We had 2 hours with 8 miles of shore. Impossible to shell it all! She showed us various common shells so we knew what to look for. I think the majority of passengers already were quite experienced shellers.
As we got close to Caya Costa, we saw dolphins feeding...
Although it would be nice to have the dolphins leaping out of the water and playing in our wake, the water here is probably too shallow. Must be good feeding grounds though!
Here's the two brave souls who agreed to go with me this morning. Perhaps not completely awake, but mucho excited none-the-less. Kim's oldest daughter Clare, and Kim...
As soon as I climbed off the boat and waded to shore, I started taking pictures of the birds. Osprey and their nests were everywhere, often almost on top of you. I counted 5 osprey fishing at the same time, with one flying off (to his mate?) with dinner in 'foot'.
Of course, as soon as a boat full of shellers throws anchor, the shellers scatter all over, trying to get somewhere 'virgin', meaning a place no one has shelled yet. Certainly people miss shells all the time and someone else comes along behind and snatches it up. You might naturally pick out ceriths, or your eye always can find baby's ears....plus the Gulf waters are continually taking shells away and putting new ones down. Never boring, always changing...
I saws this tree full of Double Crested Cormorants. Stupidly I held the camera vertically but my blog app won't accept those. So look sideways...it's too good a pic to not put in!
Ok, I'll leave the rest of my (excellent) vertical pictures out. I still have plenty to pick from! I seemed to have gotten a little distracted with bird life and, as such, was not the most successful sheller...
White Ibis 
Ok, and maybe distracted by cute little crabs trying to get back in the water and stay there before the waves throw him back on the shore...
Two hours went quickly. My best find was a mini angelwing. Only about 1 inch long. It did make it back to the condo in one piece. Pictures of shells...maybe another time. When we left, the water was such a wonderful color. The camera did not quite capture it so use your imagination.
Got back to Captiva and went to the Bubble Room Restaurant for lunch. They have over 6000 antiques decorating 5 rooms. It's crazy!
Supper tonight at the Fish Place (do you see a common thread here?). Oysters for me topped with blue crab, shrimp and cheese. Good!
However another sunrise behind buildings. Not even a sunrise drink tonight...the margaretta not colorful enough. So I hope a good one tomorrow.
Looks like a beach day tomorrow. I'll let you know how it turns out. See you then!
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