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best island for conch shells in southern carib

shops54

By shops54,
in Princess Cruises

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Toto2Kansas

Toto2Kansas

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Many of the islands frown on you finding them yourself. Although they are for sale in most islands. I will never forget a tour in Dominica where our tour guide saw snorkelers (not with our group) bringing up conch shells and putting them in their bags. The tour guide was screaming at them to put those back, they were not allowed to remove them from the ocean. Not sure if this was the tour guide's rules or the islands. ;)

Same thing happened on a snorkeling tour in Mexico. The tour guide saw some in our group collecting tons of shells, and once back on the catarman, he made them throw them all back into the ocean.

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donna5

donna5

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Many of the islands frown on you finding them yourself. Although they are for sale in most islands. I will never forget a tour in Dominica where our tour guide saw snorkelers (not with our group) bringing up conch shells and putting them in their bags. The tour guide was screaming at them to put those back, they were not allowed to remove them from the ocean. Not sure if this was the tour guide's rules or the islands. ;)

 

Anymore most of the islands frown on taking anything from the ocean. A lot of them also have designated marine preserves. I know from past dives on some island your dive prices incuded the marine preserve license fee. This is also one of the reasons that some dive outfits do not allow dive knives. They are also not letting you wear dive gloves on a lot of the dives too, I guess they figure if people don't have gloves on they won't be grabbing at things. If the islands coast guard or whatever they call their enforcers of their marine rules or laws come to the boat and find you in violation you will be fined and their is a possiblilty that the boat operator can be fined. So it is important to check the laws of where you will be and then also check the U.S. Govt. pages to find what you are allowed to bring in.

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S&M in Pgh

S&M in Pgh

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Conch shells that are still in the water will likely still have a live conch in them. When you pull them out of the water, the conch will retreat to the back end of the shell and die there. About 4 hours later, it will begin to stink to high heaven.

 

Shells on the beach are usually vacant or have an already dead conch in them. From what I have seen, conch are not easy to remove from the shell with out damaging the shell. Do you really want a stinky shell laying around your room for a few days before putting it in your luggage?

 

Mike

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billet

billet

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Conch shells that are still in the water will likely still have a live conch in them. When you pull them out of the water, the conch will retreat to the back end of the shell and die there. About 4 hours later, it will begin to stink to high heaven.

 

Shells on the beach are usually vacant or have an already dead conch in them. From what I have seen, conch are not easy to remove from the shell with out damaging the shell. Do you really want a stinky shell laying around your room for a few days before putting it in your luggage?

 

Mike

 

As a boy in bermuda I used to dive up conch shells, tiethem on the washing line until the shell separated from the conch, dip them in bleach and leave them in the sun to dry. When they were nice and white I would sell them to the tourists. I know a lot ofthem still had some conch and they do stink to high heaven after a day or two.

 

On the Crown last year passengers returning with conch shells were being told to return them or leave them with security to return.

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beachseeker

beachseeker

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Grand Turk has lots and lots of conch shells washed up on shore with no live creatures. Some looked very old, but many looked in good shape. When you get off the boat and are facing the beach walk to your right past all the loungers. There is a long, long, gorgeous stretch of beach. After about 20 minutes, I had the beach to myself. I walked for about 45 minutes and still had a huge stretch of beach left. We picked the Ruby next Thanksgiving so we can go back to Grand Turk. I love a gorgeous, isolated beach.

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jackdiamond

jackdiamond

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Not quite conch shells and not easy to do on a cruise but a few years ago we caught lightening whelks and moon snails in Florida. To remove the creature we boiled them. One was not removed properly and the luggage at the airport stunk to high heaven.

That is also now illegal in Florida. The minimum fine is $50.00, per shell.

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WeBeGone

WeBeGone

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The last three cruises I've been on, the security guys on the ships confiscate them. It is illegal to bring them on the ship (similar to the fruit policy)

 

 

In our 12 Caribbean cruises, we have NEVER had any shells, of any kind, confiscated by ship security. They just look to make sure there is no animal in it. It is NOT illegal.

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Aligator6182

Aligator6182

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in antigua there is a sign at check in at the airport about it being illegal and will take it right out of your luggage if it is scanned. we saw a whole bunch when we were snorkeling there. didn't take any out of the water but husband flipped one over and the conch started coming out towards him.

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britsbest

britsbest

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In our 12 Caribbean cruises, we have NEVER had any shells, of any kind, confiscated by ship security. They just look to make sure there is no animal in it. It is NOT illegal.

 

It is NOT a matter for the ships staff, but national frontier controls

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gawyldcat

gawyldcat

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The last three cruises I've been on, the security guys on the ships confiscate them. It is illegal to bring them on the ship (similar to the fruit policy)

 

My nine year old daughter and I spent several hours picking up a bunch of shells in Grand Turk on our February cruise in 2009. Unfortunately, the ship would not let us bring them on board. Big signs everywhere. DD was crying when she had to throw them back into the water. Biggest shells she has ever found. I wrote on the comment card that they needed to put the "No shell policy" in the Princess Patters so that people understand the rules ahead of time. It killed me to see her so unhappy on our vacation...even if it was short lived. ;)

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