Beach for shelling- Honeymoon or DeSoto?

[Brer Chump]

Which beach would be better based solely on shelling, Honeymoon Island or Fort DeSoto? Both quantity and different kinds are important (sand dollars).

In January we did Honeymoon and it was very nice. We were thinking of trying Fort DeSoto to be different and it looks like they have other activities such as bicycle rentals as well. The primary purpose of going to the beach is walking along the beach and helping DD6 collect shells. Swimming and other activities would be a "game time decision".

If it helps, we are going at the end of August and the admission fees and road tolls are not an issue.

Thanks for any and all input.

 

[Jo-Anne]

How far a drive are these beaches from Disney? We are having a beach day during the trip and are trying to figure out which one to head to!

 

[Indiana Rose Lee]

The best we've found was Sanibel. It was a nice day trip from Orlando, and the beach is all shells. We found several large, intact shells, and hundreds of medium, and a huge bag of small. With little to no work. We also saw 2 dolphin.

 

[tripletots]

The best we've found was Sanibel. It was a nice day trip from Orlando, and the beach is all shells. We found several large, intact shells, and hundreds of medium, and a huge bag of small. With little to no work. We also saw 2 dolphin.

We are staying in Orlando for 10 nights and doing an overnight to Siesta Key. How far is Sanibel from Siesta Key? Is there public parking?

 

[Indiana Rose Lee]

I've no clue where Siesta Key is. But there are public areas at Sanibel. We just had the nicest day there.

 

[rebecca06261]

For shelling I would recommend Sand Key- a Pinellas Co. public beach just south of Clearwater off Gulf Blvd, and only about 20 min south of Honeymoon/Calidesi Islands. Ft. Desoto is just simply an awesome beach tho, and not to be missed... but you may be disappointed by the shelling there (I've never had any luck,) but it's definitely worth the trek just for the experience.

Hope this helps!