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People base their vacation quota on how many shells they've found – it's a status symbol.
Shelling the Islands
Novice and serious collectors alike can find a treasure trove of shells on a visit to the Outer Islands. Warm Gulf waters, white sandy beaches, knowledgeable charter guides and an incredible 400 species of shells make this the ideal destination for shell seekers.
By Juliette Reynolds
Novice and serious collectors alike can find a treasure trove of shells on a visit to the Outer Islands. Warm Gulf waters, white sandy beaches, knowledgeable charter guides and an incredible 400 species of shells make this the ideal destination for shell seekers.
By Juliette Reynolds
It was certainly desire
  Collecting shells is something the whole family can enjoy. |
Captiva Cruises
About a dozen feeding ospreys swoop on the cool morning breeze as we wait on the long wooden dock for the large pontoon boat to pick us up. Eager with anticipation, we, along with about 20 other shelling enthusiasts of varying degree, board Captiva Cruises for the 25-minute journey. As we travel across Pine Island Sound, our informative guide, Capt. Brian, gives a short history of the area and points out landmarks along the way. We also get a lesson in the sound's eco-system and are assured of the abundance of dolphins and manatees to be found there.
 Atlantic Calico Scallop |
Shell Selection
Stepping onto the sand, we marvel at the swath of pinks, purples, deep reds and all shades of brown laid out before us. I found myself choosing olives, tubular shapes with soft spots on a chamois-colored ground. And bivalves – the pretty scallops replicated by artists throughout the ages to represent affinity with the sea (think Botticelli's Venus emerging from her clamshell). My friend, Jacquelyn, a Brit on holiday from her home in Brittany, France, chooses starfish and sand dollars, as well as the delicate, shiny pink Rose Petal Tellin's she fancies.
I brought home various shells, including part of a sea-urchin, a beautiful spotted Leopard crab carapace, a calico scallop, a lion's paw and a whelk. I also collected a couple of shark's eyes and some corkscrew-shaped augers and prickly tritons. Along the way, I encountered a handful of living mollusks on the high-tide line. These were particularly fine examples of their kind as the shell owners, proud of their abodes, were still "at home," but I returned them to the water as it is illegal on The Beaches of Fort Myers & Sanibel to remove living shells from their habitats.
The Ideal Environment
We came to The Beaches of Fort Myers & Sanibel to relax and explore nature's bounty. But some people come for one reason only – the incredible shelling. Why does this area produce spectacular shell specimens? Because the pattern of currents brings shells from the Caribbean and all points in between to the shores of Sanibel and Captiva islands, the Fort Myers Beach area and remote, bridgeless islands, including North Captiva and Cayo Costa. The wide continental shelf provides a slowly sloping incline along which the shells travel to the beach. It's this shallow shelf that permits most of the shells to arrive unscathed. And, the warm Gulf waters provide ample opportunity for the creatures to reproduce – there are nursery areas in and around Pine Island Sound.
You'll find some of the most rare and sought after shells, such as the crown conch, in the sound where the mollusk population differs from that found on the Gulf side because of varying levels of salt in the water. But, cautions Anne Joffe, owner of She Sells Sea Shells and head of the Sanibel Shell Fair, those who come here looking for a particular shell for their collection often find everything but that shell. If you just go looking for shells, Joffe says, you'll be treated to a number of different types you hadn't even considered. "I always tell people, 'Don't close your mind; be open to finding everything.'"
Part of the allure of the Sanibel Stoop, as the bent-at-the-waist position used by many to search for shells is called, is that you never know what's going to be on the beach on any given day. "Sometimes you can go to the beach, and there's nothing, and the next day it could be strewn with shells." It's nature's capriciousness that fuels the collector's fire (and turns novices like me into addicts!) "People base their vacation quota on how many shells they've found - it's a status symbol," Joffe says, half-seriously.
Charter Shelling
For the serious shell collector in search of a customized trip, there's always the charter-shelling cruise. There are about 40 or 50 shelling guides on The Beaches of Fort Myers & Sanibel. We spoke to one of the islands' longtime shelling guides, Capt. Mike Fuery, who's been taking folks out to the best places to shell for 26 years. He also has a column in one of the local newspapers, and has been featured on television programs both here and abroad. Those going on a charter excursion can expect to leave early – Fuery takes his guests (some of whom have been returning for a quarter-century) out at dawn, so as not to miss any shelling opportunity. "I just take them to where I think the best shot is," says Fuery. "Small sandbars off the islands, Cayo Costa, whatever the weather will allow me to do."
Recently, Fuery's been visiting a particular sandbar that's steeped in local lore and covered in shells. Echoing Joffe's sentiments, Fuery says that even for his die-hard collectors, gathering shells is the sideline; it's going on the trip that's interesting. Whether he's cruising the inside flats where all the growth starts or barreling out into the Gulf, Fuery peppers his commentary with ecology and biology lessons and always accompanies his shell-seekers on the beach. "I tell them 'Add one unusual thing to your collection.' That's our goal."
Fuery says the most desirable beach treasure is not a shell at all, but the sand-dollar. After that, the most rare is the junonia. It's so rare that you get your picture in the paper here if you find one! As for the most common, expect to find lettered olives, those sand dollars everyone's after, lightning whelks, Florida fighting conchs, nutmegs, naticas – and all manner of scallops.
Bailey-Matthews Shell Museum
While there are 50 to 80 easily recognizable shells on The Beaches of Fort Myers & Sanibel, the area plays host to 400 shell species. Before you go out on your quest for the perfect junonia shell, stop in at Bailey-Matthews Shell Museum, in its seventh year of mounting exhibits and educating the public about mollusks and the hard exoskeletons they leave behind. You'll see a movie on mollusks, as well as about 30 exhibits. Interpreters are on hand to answer questions.
Many of the museum's visitors say they're glad they stopped by before they set foot on the sands. The shell museum is open six days a week from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. It has the largest collection of shells in North America, and recently added a comprehensive web-based system that allows malacologists (zoologists who specialize in mollusks) the world over to access the museum's collection online (of course, shell buffs of every sort can view the museum's holdings via the web, too).
Did you know?
Sanibel's Periwinkle Way was not named for the delightfully whorled periwinkle shell, but for the pink or white wildflowers found all along The Beaches of Fort Myers & Sanibel.
If you go. . .
The Calusa Heritage Trail (Pineland Complex), 239-283-2062, www.flmnh.ufl.edu/anthro/sflarch/pineland.htm
Captiva Cruises, 239-472-5300, www.captivacruises.com
Bailey-Matthews Shell Museum, 239-395-2233, www.shellmuseum.org
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