Advocate Shelling The Florida Shorelines

Shelling the Florida Shorelines A personal journey in landing the big ones from the Panhandle to Key West By Deborah Burst

Sitting in the sand, I take a break from skinned knees and sand-soaked elbows as the early morning sun warms my back from the swirling north winds. Since sunup, I have challenged the elements trying to get a seashell’s view of the world, my camera just inches from the ground, focused on thousands of shells casting blinding shards of light. I close my eyes and can still see them, waves of seashells, six inches high, piled on the glowing sand of Captiva Island, one of the most premier shelling destinations in the world.

Worshipped since ancient times, shells are considered exotic treasures, and for some early cultures, a means of currency. Bailey-Matthews Shell Museum chronicles the history of seashells around the world in vibrant exhibits that appeal to all ages. If you can’t make it to Sanibel Island, visit their Website, guaranteed to deliver a good dose of shelling fever.

In planning your next shelling expedition, look for a bowed, protruding land mass or a barrier island, preferably one that is undeveloped, it provides a drop-off for shells before they roll on a crowded beach. Talk to a local park ranger or nature guide with knowledge of the area and who can suggest prime shelling spots. Study the tide charts and time your outing one hour before low tide and work the beaches until a good hour after the tide has reached its lowest point. Remember to take time to explore beyond the beaches.

Seashells are the remains of a cold-blooded animal called a mollusk, a soft bodied creature that builds its protective shell until it dies. Some Florida counties and state parks limit the number or prohibit the collection of live shellfish. Many naturalists and shelling experts like Captiva Island’s shelling charter captain, Mike Fuery, discourages live collections. It takes 10 to 12 years for mollusks to mature and with the help of experts, you can learn how to harness your fair share of these priceless gifts from the Panhandle to

Key West.

Captiva Island

Just as the sun begins to creep over the horizon, we head to Cayo Costa State Park aboard Captiva Island shelling charter captain Mike Fuery’s boat. Brisk frontal winds bring in choppy waves, and Mike explains how storms, cool fronts and even the red tides can deliver a fresh batch of shells.

“We’re okay, it’s only a couple of white caps,” he says, hand cupped over the bill of his cap, shading the glare, surveying the sky and water. “We have people who can’t wait for these storms. We had some couples come down from up north right after

Hurricane Charley.”

We pass remote islands dotted with beautiful homes crowned with solar panels and make our way to Cayo Costa. As we walk through a shrouded trail of mangroves, a blue sky breaks through and streaks of light bounce across a creamy white beach laced with swaying palms and caramel-colored sea oats. With no one in sight and our shelling expert at our side, we find palm-sized sand dollars, sunray venus and fighting conchs.

Mike explains that the absence of offshore reefs allows the shells to slowly roll onto the beach in one piece.

Pensacola Beach For 25 years we shelled the shores of Pensacola Beach on Santa Rosa Island, but this day would be different. The beach has an odd look, no shells and a three to four-foot sand dune chiseled from the overnight surf. Frustrated, we excavate the sand dunes, and like a fossil hunt, pieces of larger broken shells begin to emerge until suddenly, I pull a five inch sand dollar from the crumbling wall of sand. With luck on our side, I knell down along the surf’s break line, braving the crashing waves, and dig my hands deep inside the sloshy bottom. The water melts away the sand and a flawless collection of olives, cockles, scallops, fighting conches and lightning whelks break free, filling my gallon-sized bucket. Don’t be shy about digging in and fighting the waves. It’s here you will find the shells before they pound their way to shore.

Amelia Island and surrounding islands

Just 30 minutes east of Jacksonville, a curvy string of sea islands create an epic seascape, carved from the eroding energies of wave, wind and tide. The barrier islands,

Big Talbot, Little Talbot and Amelia Island, provide compelling views. Some of the beaches are rebuilt with a healthy supply of sand and shells, but most are small. However, the landscape commands a visit to all three islands.

We visit the Amelia Island Plantation Resort Nature Center and meet naturalists

Christina Nelson and Rachel Schwab. They provide beach bounty tours along the resort’s

13 miles of beaches introducing native mollusks with tips on shelling and identifying prehistoric shark’s teeth. Amelia Island has a unique tidal range with two high tides and two low tides providing a freshly sifted beach throughout the day.

“You never see the same thing…everyday is different,” Christina explains. “They were blue button jellyfish on the beach the other day, they only wash up once every 10 years,” adds Rachel.

Inside Big Talbot Island State Park, we walk along a short trail from the Bluffs picnic area to a forest of life-size bonsai trees clinging to 30-foot bluffs towering over a beach filled with a boneyard of fallen trees and sun-bleached driftwood.

Amelia Island State Park offers more than 200 acres of pristine beaches and maritime forests. We didn’t shell the beach but got a different perspective on horseback gently rocking to the rhythm of hoofs tapping along shell-covered beaches. And, for the ultimate in seaside solitude, visit the Little Talbot State Park with its scenic drive of snow-colored beaches lined with mountains of sand dunes. With not a soul in sight, you gain an edge in finding gifts from the sea.

Key West—Wilmas’s Key

True island junkies, in a reckless brand of Hemmingway adventure, we travel to

Key West, not known for their beaches. We snorkel the reefs, giving up on shelling until we meet a local wilderness guide, Captain Victoria Impallomeni. She takes us to a small fish-hooked shaped island that locals call Wilma’s Key.

“It’s an island of shells created by the winds of Hurricane Wilma,” Captain

Victoria explains. “We don’t know how long Wilma Key will be with us, another storm could wash it away.”

Surrounded by sea grass, we put on water shoes and carefully hike through the gooey mud in waist deep water. Several feet from the shore, the sand hardens and a veritable treasure trove of large shells sprinkle the silky sand. Hand-sized sea biscuits and pen shells along with alphabet cone, shark eye, angel wings, sea urchin and horse conch consume Wilma’s virgin beaches.

Indian Pass

Our next trip will be the point of the Panhandle in the Indian Pass-Apalachicola

Bay area. Trish Pitre, owner of Turtle Beach Inn, highly recommends the shelling on

Indian Pass shores and St. Vincent Island.

In a phone conversation, she told me the isolation of Indian Pass offers some great shelling finds. “After a storm, there’s no telling what you’ll find on the beach,” she said.

“One day on an island off of St. Vincent we filled up a five gallon bucket of sand dollars.”

St. Vincent National Wildlife Refuge, a primitive island consisting of a 12,490- acres teeming with wildlife and shells, is accessible only by boat. Enjoy wildlife viewing along the trails winding through the maritime forests, but be sure to check with the St.

Vincent Refuge Visitor Center for some well-advised instructions on touring the island.

Shadow Box Within the mollusk family there are three classifications. Gastropods, the largest class, are univalve shells such as the augers, conchs, olives, tulips, lightning whelks and periwinkles. The Pelecypods, bivalve mollusks with two shells held together by an elastic ligament, include clams, cockles, mussels, oysters, scallops, angel wings and pen shells. And the Scaphopods, the smallest group with only 1,000 species worldwide are shaped like an elephant’s tusk and open at both ends.

Tools Tide Chart Rake Sand bucket Bag Sifter Dry T-shirt

Premier spots for shelling Captiva Island Sanibel Island Cayo Costa State Park (north of Captiva Island) Santa Rosa Island/Pensacola Beach Indian Pass (near Apalachicola Bay) St. Vincent Island (across from Indian Pass) Wilma’s key (near Key West) Bowman Beach--Dr. Bruce Neill, owner/teacher of Sanibel Sea School, recommends the bow part of Sanibel Island that hangs further into the Gulf and offers the first waves of shells.

Best Places on the Beach Slight drop in the surf line, where the waves break before rolling onto shore Right at the surf line where shells are deposited by waves Higher on dry beach, use a rake to sift through sand and layers of shell

Best Time for shelling Mike Fuery recommends May through September or after a good winter storm December and January when cold fronts pass through Low phase of the tide when greater beach area is exposed Less populated beaches an hour before low tide up till an hour past the lowest tide point

Side bar

Websites and contact info Florida State Parks, www.floridastateparks.org, 850-245-2157 Lee Country Visitor Convention Bureau, www.fortmyers-sanibel.com J.N. Ding Darling NWR, www.fws.gov/dingdarling, 239-472-1100 Sanibel Sea School, www.sanibelseaschool.org , 239-472-8585 Bailey-Matthews Shell Museum, www.shellmuseum.org , 1-888-679-6450 Conchologists of America, www.conchologistsofamerica.org Jacksonville shell collecting/nature website by Bill Frank www.jaxshells.org State Park collecting guidelines at www.jaxshells.org/guide.htm, 850-488-4676 St. Vincent NWR, www.fws.gov/saintvincent, 850-653-8808 Mike Fuery Tours, 239-466-3649 Kelly’s Seahorse Ranch, www.kellyranchinc.com, 904-491-5166 Cleaning shells, www.goflorida.about.com/od/beaches/a/shells_cleaning.htm. Decorating ideas, www.goflorida.about.com/od/allaboutflorida/ss/shells_decor.htm Shelling locations, www.goflorida.about.com/cs/floridabeaches/l/blshells_find.htm

Accommodations Amelia Island Plantation Resort, www.aipfl.com, 800-874-6878 Springhill Suites/Pensacola Beach, www.marriott.com/property/propertypage/PNSPB, 850-932-6000 Tween Waters Resort/Captiva Island, www.tween-waters.com, 800-223-5865 Turtle Beach Inn, www.turtlebeachinn.com, 850-229-9366