The morning light was biblical. I collected a few shells on Cayo Costa while talking to old friends as I walked my favorite beach. Happy new year to all! I look forward to the new year and spending more time on Cayo Costa. Thank you. Capt. Brian

Cayo Costa

The sea grape leaves are changing, the seas were calm and the skies blue. I enjoyed taking many photos of this bird, the anhinga. The feather patterns are most pleasing to the eye.

Beauty Of The Islands

The beauty of the Islands is that they are always changing. These photos were taken today of the north end of Cayo Costa. I can't help but take photos of this beautiful spot, over and over again. The middle photo is a beach on the bay side of Cayo Costa on the north end where two Augusts ago I saw many starfish. This is one of many special spots on Cayo Costa that I relish every day.

Happy Holidays From Cayo Costa

Happy Holidays from Capt.Brian!

Excellent Shell Collecting

The shelling at Blind pass was so good I just had to go back. I paid for an hour of parking and stayed two. The one person I saw on the beach found a rare Junonia shell 15 minutes before I arrived. The shells above with the green background were all found at Blind pass. After shelling for two hours at blind pass I traveled alone to Cayo Costa. No boats were out. The wind was still strong at 20 to 25 out of the northwest the air temperature was 35. It was a chilly ride. The shells on Cayo Costa were plentiful. I have not seen that many shells on Cayo Costa since December 13th 2008. Today there were hundreds of starfish that washed up on the beach. I have never seen that many starfish in my life. The shelling was outstanding, as I was leaving the tide was rising, and taking the shells and starfish back out to the sea.

Heavy Surf and Good Shelling

Today the wind gusts were up to 46 miles an hour. I was driving out to Captiva and noticed the large amount of shells at blind pass on the Captiva side of the island. The surf was extremely large and the shells on the beach were amazing. I was in a hurry but just had to stop. I was there for five minutes and found a scotch bonnet and two zig zag scallops, also a very nice moon snail. All the shells in the pictures were found today.

December Cayo Costa

A December walk on the beach at Cayo Costa.

Exploring Cayo Costa

The shelling has been good. The surf has been heavy and the tides low. Here are a few shells I collected this week and on Thanksgiving day. I also had the opportunity to take an 88 year old man and his daughter to Cayo Costa. His family was on Cayo Costa in 1870. The day on the water with this sharp man was extremely enjoyable. We explored old trails and made some new ones. I look forward to exploring the north end of the island very soon, in search of the family's home sight. It was nice shelling and exploring the north end of the island.

Fun Exploring with the Johnson Family

The day before Thanksgiving I had the most enjoyable charter with the Johnson family. I always look forward to exploring with them. They are always up for a new adventure. Early that morning on my way to Captiva from Cayo Costa I noticed a large amount of lightning whelk shells on the sand flats. The tide was every sheller's dream with a negative low tide . We travelled out to a sand bar where the shells were absolutely amazing. Most of the shells were alive so we could not collect them, but some excellent species were collected. We observed on the sand flat live lightning whelks, banded tulips, horseshoe crabs, beautiful starfish and unbelievable bird life. Mellisa loves taking pictures of the bird life and on that day she filled her camera with bald eagles, osprey, willets, great egrets. white pelicans, brown pelicans, great blue herons and the elusive belted king fisher (I had to admit I was jealous of that shot for sure).

After spending the morning on the sand flat we traveled to North Captiva for lunch. After lunch we went to Cayo Costa Island for an afternoon of shell collecting. The beach and weather was perfect. Brian found many great olive shells and Nancy found a very nice moon snail, also called sharks eye (her favorite) but she managed to take home four of these beautiful shells. Melissa walked the beach taking great photos of the birds and landscape. She also took a little side excursion in a kayak for the first time and captured some great photos. Both her mom and dad were surprised. I always look forward to taking this family out.