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.

Sunset Southern Cayo Costa

This past week I stayed on Cayo Costa Island and traveled by boat to work. The first sunset was most amazing. I took numerous photos in Captiva Pass. I drifted with the tide and watched the different light shadow the island. Camping on the island is always enjoyable and full of adventure. Early in the week I took a long walk off a short dock and discovered my I -phone didn't swim as well as I did in my jeans, ugg boots, and fleece. I am still trying to recover emails and phone numbers. I managed to get all my charters in and enjoyed the sunsets, moonrise's, quick swims, and rain showers in the early morning.