SEA SHELLING—

My favorite Florida pastime

Tuesday’s photo was of Sue Brooks at the John Brooks (no known relative) Park south of Fort Pierce, FL as we were exploring our way south toward a favorite shelling beach;  the “dog beach” near the Port St. Lucie power plant on the outer-banks.

I was armed for the first time that day with my Susick Seashell Sifter acquired during our Florida “off-season”.   It is a nicely engineered, 6 inch or so wide, mostly triangularly square, plastic basket with ¼ inch, square holes.  You drag it across the sandy bottom toward yourself, then shake it just below the water surface which clears the sand and smaller debris; revealing whatever treasurers you might have uncovered.

The nifty little rascal in the above photo is a West Indian false cerith about 3/8 inch long and 1/8 inch in diameter; my smallest find of a complete shell that day.  It is lying on a dime in the picture.

My beachcomber’s guide to “Florida’s Seashells” regards this find as relatively uncommon.

Even more delightful was the Lion’s-paw (right).  My guide book says, “Lion’s-paws are impressive and rare enough to be a quest shell for many beachcombers.  While bits and pieces of these are fairly common, “whole shells are an unusual find.”

Woohooo!

These can grow to a maximum size of 6 inches across.  This specimen is 3 1/8”.

My collecting project is to finish filling the tubular glass base of a table lamp for our camper.  The collection (below) will do that and is representative of the variety of shells commonly found on area beaches.

With that project done I hope to refine my technique with a more selective harvest while enjoying the surf breaking across my legs and the breeze quietly pushing billowy cumulous clouds across the deep blue sky.

Of course the surface view on the beach can be very pleasant as well.