Dear shellers,

Since I raised the topic, I should try to start it off.

My experience so far in North Carolina has mostly been at Ft. Fisher, Ft.
Macon, and Caswell Beach. Each one has yielded some good specimens from
beach drift but generally my early hauls were my most productive.

I know that there are fluctuations from day to day in shelling conditions.
But recent visits to Ft. Fisher have been disappointing and Caswell Beach
has zero drift, apparently there's been "renourishment" there. Ft. Macon
continues to have drift, but the quality and quantity has declined since my
first day.

The first good shelling I did was when I was 9 years old at Long Boat Key in
Florida. I remember jumping out of the car and finding a large Oliva sayana
in fairly good condition with a bluish overcast. That hooked me for life, I
guess. Recently, I returned there (39 years later). The beach looked
completely different than I remembered, much steeper. Nothing too much
there, either.

Every beach I've been to around St. Petersburg has fairly good drift. Marco
Island has been mentioned as equal to Sanibel but this is no longer true.
Virtually nothing in sight when I stopped by.

On the bright side, John U. Lloyd  Park in Dania, FL, recommended by some
kind people on the list, rivals anything I've seen in the Caribbean,
especially for micro shell diversity. (Maybe I'll post a list of what I
found in 6 hours there). In spite of the damage that renourishment usually
brings to intertidal life and shelling, Harry Lee told me he believes much
of the diversity at John U. Lloyd is due to what is dredged up for
renourishment.

I could give more examples but what are others finding/not finding?

David Kirsh
Durham, NC