Best beaches for shells?

[momtokendantom]

Hoping someone can recommend a beautiful beach that my three boys would enjoy. I don't mind a 2-3 hour drive, but definetely am not interested in driving all the way to the keys!

Any suggestions for an area to watch the sunset that might have some fun activities for the boys (9, 11 & 12)

Thanks! We leave in 2 weeks


Michelle in MA

 

[SB in KY]

Sanibel or Captiva are definately the best shelling places and nice beaches too.

 

[lUVTOGO]

I also have to say Sanibel or Captiva. When we stayed there we came home with tons of shells. It is a beautiful area!!!

 

[denisenh]

You are correct about not wanting to head to the Keys. Its not known for it beaches, although there is a nice state park beach there, Bahia Honda, as well as Smathers Beach, which is too narrow and busy to suit me, and it is a very, very, very, very long drive.
You would be pushing it to allow 2 days for a keys side trip to your Disney vacation and as I guesstimate it would be about 12 hours of driving, round trip, at least. We found this out by trying it one day. Yes, my bright idea..."Lets drive down to the Keys!" thinking that we could do it as a day trip from WDW. DH being the good guy he is, tried. Well, many hours later, we wound up in Miami, sick of driving, with a long way still to go. We found some street metered parking and walked through an old park, over a wooden boardwalk/sand dune and saw the most gorgeous turquoise water I have ever laid eyes on. Maybe 2 other couples there on a long stretch of white sand beach.....very nice, but still a long, long drive. We did, soon after, dedicate a vacation to visit the keys and loved it.
I have not been to the Captiva area, but have heard it is awesome.
But for a not too far away beach trip, I suggest that you visit the Clearwater area or on the other coast, Cocca Beach. I have been to and enjoyed those beaches last year, and our kids had a blast.

 

[JC Butterfly]

I am not at ALL familiar with beaches in Florida but I was interested in this information too.

How far away are Sanibel or Captiva?

Or Clearwater and Cocoa Beach?

Is there an advantage to visiting one coast over the other?

Thanks,
Brenda

 

[Bonnie40]

Here's my humble opinion...beaches on the gulf side tend to have more shelling as well as the water is usually a little warmer and more beautiful. Every year we take the time to drive to Venice Beach, which is just south of Sarasota on the gulf side. Venice Beach is a nice, quiet community, with some main street shopping which you can walk to from the municipal beach. Parking is free, and my kids just love it there! Venice Beach is known world-wide as the beach where, along with shells, you can find fossilized shark's teeth in the sand. It's so much fun to dig around and find all different kinds. As well, they have a large souvenier shop where you can buy larger teeth as souveniers. My kids still cherish the ones they found and bought from 6 years ago! Venice Beach is about a 2 hour drive from Orlando and one year we did it as a day trip. This year we are leaving Orlando and will book a motel there in order to have a couple of beach days. It's that nice! Not alot of motels and the ones on the beach are pricey, but if you are at all interested, I can let you know the different ones around. There is a great restaurant in Venice called Sharkey's and it's got a beautiful fishing pier. The sunsets are beautiful!

Can't you tell I'm biased!