Sanibel Island is located on the west coast of Florida. You have to cross a big bridge to get there and there is a toll.
The way the ocean current passes the area of Sanibel and Captiva causes it to deposit many seashell along the shores and makes it one of the top places in the world to collect seashells.Because many folks visit the Sanibel area for the express purpose of shelling, the act of walking along the beach, bent over looking for shells has been given the name the “Sanibel stoop”. When visiting, be sure to take along some beach shoes, as some of the shores are literally covered in shells and pieces of shells.
I’ve taken a couple of trips over to Sanibel but that was back in the mid to late 1980’s. It has surely changed a whole lot since then. We drove over the old bridge, which was replaced in 2007 by the one that is there now. You will pay a $6 toll to cross to the island these days. Read more about how Sanibel was linked to the mainland in this article.
I’m not even sure I would like Sanibel these days. I don’t like crowds and unfortunately all the beautiful places in Florida have been built up and become money-making tourist colonies. It would be fun to go shelling on a Sanibel beach though.
To see the shells that can be found along Sanibel beaches, read the “i love shelling” blog. I remember when the author, Pam Rambo, used to come and comment on my blog. She lives in THE PLACE to collect shells. We both blog about the same type of things and began blogging around the same time (2009) and often I will link to her posts since she has the ability to find more shells than I do.
I Prefer the East Coast
Florida contains miles and miles of seashore, and the beaches are not all the same. Both sides of the state contain waterways that snake around and through islands in some places, but the East coast waterway contains some unique features, and the Mosquito Lagoon area is known for it’s fishing.
With many shallow, snaking canals leading off the main channel, there are backwater sandbars to search at low tide. The little islands are covered in mangroves and edged with oyster colonies and are without buildings. In fact there are camping sites for boaters scattered around the islands.
We have a flats boat, which has a shallow draft allowing us to travel way back into canals to fish. It also gives me a chance to find seashells and living creatures that not everyone gets a chance to see.
(Sunset image courtesy of Pixabay.)
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