beach shells

Pictures of Seashells on Beaches

Why is it that we enjoy seeing pictures of seashells on beaches? One guess would be that we dream of walking along a deserted beach, either all alone or with a special love, and come across a fabulous shell. It makes the walk all that much better, right?

The beaches I walk are mostly deserted, but they are along the Indian River, which is saltwater, and they are beaches without waves, unless made by a passing boat, or from storms. I do see lots of shells, in places, but they are not extraordinary like the helmet shell pictured on the beach in the photo below. Most photos online, like the one below, are staged. At least I assume the photographer didn’t just happen to come across this beautiful shell lying on the beach. But it makes for a nice photo.

Some beaches have few shells and lots of sand. Others can be mostly made up of shells. I suppose there are places where one can find big beautiful shells that have washed up, but I don’t know where that would be. Big shells are heavy, and the snails that live inside crawl along the bottom of the ocean. It would take a lot to wash that empty shell onshore.

My Photos of Real Shells on Beaches

I took the photo below while walking on a very windy day. The sand was really blowing and shells were being covered and uncovered by the wind. I was walking at Ponce Inlet in New Smyrna Beach.

shells in the sand — The wind was covering, or maybe uncovering, shells along the beach

seashell berm — Shells left by the high tide

In the image above, lots of tiny shells and broken bits have created a little berm at the high tide mark. This was on an island beach in the Indian River. It’s one of the camping islands, but I love to stop here when we are boating to search the shoreline for interesting shells. It’s where I once found two olive shells, a beautiful knobbed whelk, and always see lots of hermit crabs in all kinds of shells.

Below: I do not recall where I took the photo but probably on the dog beach at Smyrna Dunes Park. It looks like a dog print and foot traffic that have walked past, and over, these ark clam shells, which are by far the most common to see on this beach.

Photo below is not mine, but is typical of something you’d see walking along a Florida East coast beach.

ark shell — Ark on the beach: Photo credit: Free Photos @ Pixabay

grass on island — My photo: Sea grass and small shells on island near Ponce Inlet

olive seashell buried in the beach sand — This is an olive shell partially buried. It would have been easy to bypass this little shell, which is a rare find where I live.

More Pixabay Free Photos With Shells on The Beach

Visit Pixabay to find these images and more like them.

Little Shell Cut in Half Among A Million Others

Found a little shell which looked cut in half and added it to my collection. It was among the millions of shells piled along an island beach.

I haven’t been boating, fishing or beach-combing for a while. Sometimes life gets in the way of those things. Also, it’s been cool here in Florida – which I love, but my son with the boat thinks 60 degrees is “freezing”.

Continue reading “Little Shell Cut in Half Among A Million Others”

Shells I Found on New Smyrna Beach

sharks eye seashell on the beach in florida — Sharks Eye Shell with Mollusk

I took advice from the research I’ve done about shelling and pocketed some little seashells from my recent trip to New Smyrna Beach.

I found living mollusks inside their shells, like this little shark’s eye shell, which I photographed and left alone. There were only a few shells down by the water, so I did my searching up near the dune line where high tide may have deposited some goodies.

We went onto the beach at the Flagler Ave. entrance and headed north to park the car. I saw a few sea turtle nests roped off with yellow tape, up near the dune area where cars are not allowed. After swimming and boogie boarding for a bit, I took a break from the water and went in search of treasures at the high tide line. Continue reading “Shells I Found on New Smyrna Beach”