Best Beach for finding SHELLS?

[samiandsky]

We are going to Disney in December, and my little girls have never seen the ocean... I've been to cocoa beach before, and dont remember it being very clean.... this was in 1995 however... - I'd like to take my girls to the ocean, and I'd like for them to be able to find seashells... they love to find rocks and seaglass here on Lake Michigan, so I know that finding shells would be so exciting for them.

Where is the best place to take them?

How far of a drive is it from Windsor Hills/Disney Area?

Suggestions would be greatly appreciated.

Thank you in advance.!

 

[canadianjovigirl]

I posted a thread about beaches a while back and the following was a response i got:

I would drive west & go to Sanibel. It is just beautiful & untouched. Plus the sea shell capital of the world.


May be worth the drive for you, no idea where it is as i have never been to Florida, but we decided to add on 3 days at the beginning of our vacation and are staying along the Gulf and hoping to go to a few beaches so our kids can also see the ocean....it will be November but warmer than what we have here so the kids will love it....

 

[Kay1]

We live in St. Petersburg and it takes us two and a half hours to get to Sanibel. My guess is that it would take you about three hours and forty-five minutes. You could try Googling the name of a business in Sanibel to get instructions and estimated travel time.

If you want to do this, try: Periwinkle Trailer Park. We don't stay there but it's one of the first businesses on the island and is fun to visit. They have a small pond full of all sorts of birds and iguanas, plus caged parrots and lemurs.

It's quite a haul and you may want to look into spending a night.

 

[GaSleepingBeautyFan]

If you don't want to drive as far as Sanibel, I'd go to Clearwater Beach.

We stay there every other year and have had great luck finding shells. Most seem smaller than the ones on Sanibel but my kids have always been happy with them. It's only about an hour and a half (2 hours with bad traffic) from Orlando.

 

[tinkerbellmichelle]

We spent 2 weeks in Naples and I must say that Sanibel shells were the best we found! It was amazing.

If you can't make it that far then maybe clearwater beach or even one of the beaches on Siesta Key - most are fine white sand with not many shells but one is more of a shelling beach.

 

[tednvon]

Hi, this is our very favorite for shelling and great natural beach.

http://www.floridastateparks.org/honeymoonisland/

Honeymoon Island is state park with no condos, houses, stores, just nice quiet 3 mile beach with lots of shells. If you are not professional shellers, you and the kids will find all the shells you can put in a bunch of plastic bags to take home and sort out.
If you want a beachy beach, you can do Honeymoom Island in the morning and drive about 1/2hour to Clearwater Beach with all the shops and restaurants.
Honeymoon Island is about and hour and 30 minutes from the time you hit I-4 West to the parking lot by the beach. I think it is about 7 dollars per car to get in. We really loved it. But do watch the weather. No matter what beach you shoose, it will be breezy and if under 70 degrees outside take a jacket or sweatshirt.

Enjoy...Ted

 

[samiandsky]

Does anyone have directions to these beaches if we are staying in Windsor Hills Resort?

 

[Kay1]

Does anyone have directions to these beaches if we are staying in Windsor Hills Resort?

If you choose Sanibel, you'll take I-4 West to I-75 outside Tampa. You'll take that south to exit #131 (Daniels Parkway), and then it's not quite as easy, but not hard either.

Here's a link to the Sanibel Island Chamber. Scroll down and you'll links to maps and detailed directions. :

http://www.sanibel-captiva.org/

 

[Disneyforus]

We will most likely be visiting either Clearwater Beach or Sanibel Island to do some shelling, and for our kids to experience the ocean. We are used to lake Michigan Sandy beaches and never wear beach shoes. Can we go barefoot? I really don't want to buy beach shoes for the 6 of us if we can get by without.

 

[Detailor]

Does anyone have directions to these beaches if we are staying in Windsor Hills Resort?

If you were to go to Honeymoon Island beach, I'd suggest this fairly direct and easy to follow route...

I-4 west to its termination point in Tampa
I-275 South through Tampa
Exit 39 near the airport to SR 60 over the bay
In Clearwater, turn right (north) onto SR 19
Go about six miles, turn left onto SR 586/Curlew Road
Continue about three miles (partially on a causeway) to Honeymoon Island State Park

Dick Taylor

 

[dioxide45]

We will most likely be visiting either Clearwater Beach or Sanibel Island to do some shelling, and for our kids to experience the ocean. We are used to lake Michigan Sandy beaches and never wear beach shoes. Can we go barefoot? I really don't want to buy beach shoes for the 6 of us if we can get by without.

If it is Sanibel you will go to, then beach shoes are a must. There are some beaches there that are all shells with little or no sand at all and the broken shells can be sharp.

 

[polkadotminnie]

We drove from Orlando to Sanibel this past summer. It took about 3.5 hours but so worth it. We found some incredible shells! We did wear beach shoes since there were lots of sharp shells. It was so relaxing on the island. We have lived in Clearwater. It is a really nice beach but there are not many shells.