Recalling my favorite "self collected" stories sure beats "working".
So here goes...

Pan to Key West, FL on the first organized shell trip I had ever
been on, with Peggy Williams.(1991 I believe)  Subject shell ? A triton
trumpet (charonia).

It was the last afternoon of the last day of the trip. EVERYONE had found
a triton, except, of course, me. I had only begun to learn the ropes
of 'in-water' collecting at that time, on that trip. As I drifted along,
carefully turning over and replacing rocks as I had been taught....
NOTHING.  It was soon going to be time to return to the boat and that
would be IT.

I turned over another rock, and I can still image it now - a brownish
triton like shape drifted down, falling over and over within a small
height, and settled on the bottom in the sand and rubble beneath the rock.

Epiphany.  I picked it up. The triton was small ( but decent size) alive,
clean and beautiful.  I will always remember the feeling. The beautiful
Florida afternoon became more so. The water became more blue, the ripples
more enchanting. The sun magically glinted on the surface. I floated and
drifted, with a sense of closure and completion.

When I got to the boat, I happily showed the shell to the others who
shared my delight since I had wanted to find one (my own find) so much.
I still, of course, have the shell safely ensconced on cotton in a US
Air snack box, with a label.

This type of experience has actually be replicated many times
subsequently. (I'll save these accounts for another time).

As a postscript, I have on subsequent trips to FL and Bahamas found
more tritons to the point more recently I don't even take them any more.
But you always remember and prize your first specimen of a particular
special shell.

Karen