The "Life's A Beach! What Will You Find On Yours" Story

It was an ordinary day.  Looking at a few of the seashell frames we have in our house that hold past memories of trips to the beach.  Frames from beaches along the New Jersey coast as well as beaches in various locations in the Caribbean.  

This frame has a few hundred shells on it.

A trip to the beach wouldn't be a success if we didn't find a few seashells that we could bring home with us for our collection.  I finally got my brother and sister-in-law to take a trip to a beach with the intent of collecting sea shells.  They picked one of the best beaches in the world for hunting seashells.  They left Lancaster County, PA and traveled to the Philadelphia airport for a two-hour plane ride to Florida for a visit to Sanibel Island.  

The beaches of Sanibel, Florida.

Carol and I have had the chance to travel to Sanibel a few times and told of having to wear shoes on the beach due to the large amount of shells that cover the beach.  Also told them the would have to master the "Sanibel Stoop" which you acquire after a few hours of picking up shells.  Sanibel is a small island on the gulf coast side of Florida that is shaped like a curve so the shells are funneled onto its beaches which make it a premier spot for collecting shells.  

Book and flyer showing the shells of Florida.

They had a great time and may return once again.  If you too would like to find a beach for shelling, there is actually a list of the "World's Best Beaches for Hunting Seashells."  Sanibel naturally is one of the best in the world for shelling, but there are a few others that are in the United States.  Calvert Cliffs State Park in nearby Maryland.  The state park is located on the Chesapeake Bay with cliffs that were formed 10 to 20 million years ago and once covered with water.  Today you might be able to find shark teeth and other fossils on the sandy beach beneath the cliffs.  Calvert also a great spot for hunting scallop, clam and oyster shells as well as beach glass.  

Calvert Cliffs State Park in Maryland.

I did read that you may not walk beneath the cliffs due to danger of landslides.  Another east coast beach is Ocracoke Island at the tip of North Carolina's Outer Banks.  The beachcomber's paradise yields queen helmet conchs, Scotch bonnets, clams, olives, periwinkles, moon snail shells and sundials.  Some visitors have even found giant whelks.  Galveston, Texas has Sea Shell Beach Pocket Park where during the winter or after a storm you maybe able to find murex, marsh snail shells, shark's eyes, zebra periwindles, clams and scallops.  

Galveston, Texas beach for finding shells.

Another US beach is Shipwreck Beach on Hawaii's Lanai Island.  The beach isn't for swimmers, but the currents and winds are great for beach- combers since they drive ashore violet snails, imperial cones and textile cones.  Visit the beach and you might also find bottles, sea glass, drfftwood and even a rare Japanese glass float.  If you care to travel outside the US you can head to the Bahamas where you can find great shelling on Somerset Creek Beach on Andros Island.  Make sure you take beach shoes since the beach is paved with millions of tiny shells in all colors, sand dollars, queen conchs and king and queen and emperor helmets.  

Hawaii shells

On Eleuthera Isalnd you might find netted olives, tulips, conches, murex, West Indian top shells and moon snails.  I have only listed beaches that are fairly close to my home in Lancaster PA, but there are places to hunt shells all over the world.  Search online if you care to travel greater distances.  No matter where you hunt for seashells, remember that some locations do not allow taking shells of a certain variety.  I remember snorkeling and shelling on the island of St. John in the Caribbean and visiting Trunk Bay.  I was stopped when I tried to remove a large shell from the beach.  Another location that may not allow you to take shells is the Turks and Caicos Islands.  We visited the island of Provenciales with traveling friends Jere and Just Sue and the first visit came home with several large conch shells that we found right off shore, but were told on our next visit that we may not be able to take them home with us.  Do some research before you have a problem at the airport when leaving.  Shelling is so much fun and a great hobby.  Type "sea shells" in the little white box at the top of this blog to see some of the many shells Carol and I have been collecting over the past 20 years.  It was another extraordinary day in the life of an ordinary guy.