Best Florida Beaches for Shelling

For those of you who are like me and love going to the beach to find seashell treasures, this is for you…

Here are my favorite 5 beaches to go shelling on the Gulf Coast of Florida.

A few things to keep in mind when looking for shells are:

*Go at low tide.  More shells will have washed up on the shore and you will be able to sort through them and find the good ones.

*If possible, go to the beach the day after a good storm.  The choppy water will wash up more shells.

*Go in the winter months.  There are less people on the beach to collecting shells and winter storms are good for bringing shells ashore.  Be sure to wear sunscreen even if the temperature is low!

Top 5 Beaches on the Gulf Coast

#5 Fort Desoto
Fort Desoto has been named America’s Top beach by TripAdviser for a few years in a row.  It is a state park where  you can go fishing, swimming, biking, camping, and shelling.  I went to this beach last year in May and there were many shells washed up on the beach to collect.  Calico scallops, fragile surf clams, prickly cockles, and sunray venuses were easy to find.

#4 Turtle Beach
Turtle Beach is only a few miles south of the white crystal sanded beaches of Siesta Key.  The amazing thing to me is how dark and coarse the sand is on Turtle Beach.  This beach is one of my favorite beaches because there is usually very few people there and there are lots of Calico Clams.  On most beaches these bright colored shiny clams are a rare find, but on Turtle Beach you can many washing ashore and even more if you dig in the dark sand.  Kitten paws, scallops, slipper shells, and venuses are also common on Turtle Beach.

 #3.  Sanibel Island

Sanibel Island is usually rated number one for collecting shells.  It does have an abundance of many types of shells, but because of its fame for collecting shells, many of the shells are picked over.  I have heard that shelling on some of the barrier islands is fantastic, but I haven’t been out there yet.  Getting to Sanibel at low tide is your best way of finding the lesser common shells.  One of my favorite spots on the island is at the southern tip near the lighthouse.  I was lucky to have been there at low tide on a cool winter morning.  On the shore line, where island turns toward the pier, I was able to gather many murexes and scotch bonnets.  Also, furthur up on the beach there were piles and piles of shells where I found many augers, lettered olives, and small conchs.

#2 Honeymoon Island
If you don’t mind the rocks, Honeymoon Island is a great place to find seashells.  You can dig through the piles of shells on the store or watch the waves wash of some seashell treasures.  You can find a huge variety of shells on this beach, but most will be small unless a storm has just came through.

#1 Shell Key
This secluded island is located next to the southern tip of St. Pete beach and can only be accessed by boat.  There is a ferry that will take you over for about $22.  The fee is worth it if you want a lot of shells.  My mother and I went in February and we took home 9 grocery bags and 1 five gallon bucket full of shells.  On top of that we collected over 300 sand dollars.  You can find many large shells including Van Hynings cockles, lightning whelks, fighting conchs, lettered olives, sunray venuses, pen shells, large fragile clams, and many more.

Tell us your favorite beach to find seashells.

Good luck shelling!

To see hand made seashell gifts and decor from the shells I have collected, go to www.seashellcrafter.com.

This entry was posted on Wednesday, May 14th, 2008 at 3:03 pm and is filed under Uncategorized. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. Responses are currently closed, but you can trackback from your own site.