Florida - Seashells by Millhill

Visiting Florida’s East Coast Beaches

Many people head south to Florida this time of year. At least in my area of New England they do. When I lived in Florida, every spring was interrupted by relatives who invaded my life with their vacation plans of heading to Disney (of course) and the beaches. And they always wanted us to tag along. In fact, if you live in Florida, you know what I mean when I say that your home becomes a hotel for the people visiting from the north. Mostly I didn’t mind, and living in the sunshine year round made it difficult to relate to their sun and warm weather cravings, so we did the beaches and that was always fun. (More fun than Disney in my opinion). Who can go to the beach and not have fun?

April is the month that the weather (nights mainly) stay warm enough for the pools and oceans to warm enough to be swimable. I am talking about the central Florida weather, because Florida is a huge state and has a variety of climates from the panhandle to the Keys. I lived in central Florida and from April to October we visited the beach to swim.

Although Daytona Beach is well known (picture below), our favorite beach by far was in New Smyrna. It is easy to get to since Rt. 44 turns into A1A and that dumps you right onto it. It’s a popular place and we would try to get there early in the day to get a good spot to park (parking is right on the beach and on busy days you may not find a spot). We also watched the tide reports and went during low tide if possible since that gives you more beach to keep the kids away from traffic.

florida coastline — Florida East Coast, Daytona Beach

Another beach that we would go to was Bethune Beach. It is south of New Smyrna and there is no driving on the beach. It was much less crowded but there were reasons for that. First, it was a longer drive. After reaching the New Smyrna beach on-ramp you turn and head south on A1A for a long drive. It’s the only way to reach Bethune Beach. You park and have to carry all your gear down onto the sand and then of course you have to carry it all back up when you leave. There are no lifeguards (at least there weren’t when we would go).

Visiting the beach is wonderful and even when it’s full of people, it’s very relaxing and beautiful. Be sure to rent some boogie boards because they are a blast. Vacationing on the beach is even better because then you get to go out and walk in the evening when the tourists, cars and crowds have left. Now I’ve made myself homesick for the beach.

Daytona Beach Resort on Dwellable

Seashell Identification – Is This a Wentletrap? (seashellsbymillhill.wordpress.com)
Ocean Water Save the Date Postcards (sandpiperwedding.wordpress.com)

Plan A Vacation With Good Shelling

The southeastern U. S. coastline, particularly the Gulf coast of Florida, contains some of the best shelling in the world. Sanibel Island and the surrounding area, including Captiva Island are situated just right for “catching” the shells in the current of the Gulf waters and when visiting you’ll find yourself doing the “Sanibel stoop” right along with all the other tourists who are hoping to find the best beach treasures.

When you are tired of shelling on the beaches, take a shelling cruise to the outer islands which are only accessible by boat, where the crowds will be fewer (I assume) and search for more treasures. Taking living shells is NOT ALLOWED – in fact, it’s against the law on Sanibel and in the area.

I’ve never visited the The Baily Matthews Shell Museum on Sanibel Island, – it wasn’t built when I vacationed there and opened in 1995 but every shell collector should find it interesting, and most likely helpful in identifying seashells. The Museum contains tons of seashells (of course), but also a history of the Calusa Indians and how they used shells in daily life. Here is a listing of exhibits at the museum.

Kayaking around Florida’s Sanibel and Captiva Island (theglobeandmail.com)

The Seashell House

A selection of seashells, hand-picked from the... — Image via Wikipedia

Hidden away on Demere Key, just north of Ft. Myers and near Pine Island, is a house covered in seashells.

The story is that a man named Phil Demere built a lodge many years ago and decorated it with whelk shells used from the Calusa Indian shell mounds. Every part of the structure is covered with shells – the walls, patios, fences and tree borders. He named the place “Sea Grape Lodge” and tourists used to flock there to enjoy the peaceful tropical atmosphere and his good cooking.

You can see pictures of the lodge, which is now a privately owned residence, and read more about this story at the source: Small Serendipities.

Read this: A famous and historic Florida fort was built with the help of seashells.