Hunting the Elusive Uninhabited Conch

This was day 2 of shell hunting on Sanibel Is.
Yesterday with the best intentions we headed out only to wander abit trying to find the beach parking lot. It has been a few years since we were here and then it was a quicky.
But we strolled the beach talking to other shellers and watching the dolphins .
We also met Joyce Matthys an Oregon resident by summer and volunteer at at the Bailey/Mathews Shell Musem by winter but also the author ,narrator and videographer of "Mollusks in Motion" ( pretty neat video about shells, you know the why's and where for's in shell world) So we stopped for breakfast at a really cool resturant that was so dog friendly they about outnumbered customers and then spent a couple hours at the Shell Museum. An absolute must for anyone interested in the sea.
But today we arrived before dawn and were finally successful in finding a Horse conch we could keep(it is against the law for just anyone to collect live shells on the island.)

Here's John just as the sun was coming up. Click on the photo to enjoy some of our other finds.