On Friday, October 5^th, Betsy and I met Claire Newsom and Barbara Moon at the intersection of Interstate-10 and Lane Ave., for a caravan trip to Panacea in the Florida Panhandle. In Panacea, we joined up with Selma and Andy Hutchison at the Oaks Motel. After checking in, we left for the known and unknown scallop dumps.

    The first stop was at the scallop boat docks in Carrabelle, for picking around the parking lots and driveways. Selma learned of a new dump, which we immediately headed to, which happened to be not too far from the old original dump. (Shells found at all the dumps are listed below.)

    After picking this dump ?clean,? we went to Apalachicola and, after checking with Buddy Ward, started to his dump. On the way, we went by the dump at the shrimp boat basin. It still looks the way I remember it from several years ago, no bigger, no smaller, just a lot of shells. On to Buddy Ward’s. Not much change there either. The selection of shells at all the dumps was good, but not as plentiful as previous years.

    By this time, it was dinnertime and we went back to Carrabelle and dinner at Julia Mae’s. Not much change there either, still an excellent place to eat.

    On Saturday morning we were joined at the Oaks by Mary Reynolds. Tide was falling so we went to Alligator Point for sand dollars. Other than sand dollars, augers were also plentiful. Andy found a beautiful double giant Atlantic Giant Cockle. After some discussion, it was decided to go back to Buddy Ward’s dump Saturday afternoon. While digging in the dump, a large dump truck came up the road and we thought sure he was there to dump. No, he was there to load. The holes he made loading scallops left areas that had not been picked over. Even with this added help, we did not find any Junonias at this or any other dump.

    Shells that were found in the dumps were tulips (true and banded), cones, Florida Fighting Conchs, nutmegs, Apple Murex, olives, slipper shells, Pear Whelks, Lighting Whelks, Sunray Venus, venus clams, Common Sundials, Scotch Bonnets, Shark Eyes, Distorsio and jewel boxes.

    After this stop, we headed back to Carrabelle, with Claire, Barbara and Mary, stopping in Apalachicola for shopping. We had dinner at Antonio’s in Carrabelle, where plans were made to go by Hagens Cove, near Steinhatchee, for more shelling. Selma and Andy had been there previously and found Crown Conchs. Mary did not stay the night, but headed back to her brother’s in Tallahassee.

    When we arrived at Hagens Cove, the tide was extremely low and Crown Conchs were abundant, the majority of which were less than two inches in length. Periwinkles were plentiful and some live whelks and tulips. One area at Hagens Cove is similar to the mud flats at Cedar Key but further down the exposed area is sandy. Shells were found on both mud and sand. This is a great place for a future field trip.

    After everyone got the shells he or she wanted, we sat around the picnic table for cokes and snacks and then headed home. Selma and Andy back to St Augustine, Claire, Barbara, Betsy and I back to Jacksonville.

    This was Claire and Barbara’s first shelling field trip, and they really got initiated, particularly in the distances we drove each day. All in all, I think everyone had a great time – wish you all could have been there.