What’s your Favorite Shelling Beach?
The results from our Facebook and Instagram polls are in: Sanibel Island is the top choice of our readers for collecting seashells. Take a look at the list of favorite beaches all over the world and pack your shell pail for your favorite destination.
Top 10 Shelling Beaches
- Sanibel Island, Florida, USA
- St. Pete Beach, Florida, USA
- Fort Myers, Florida, USA
- Marco Island, Florida, USA
- Saint Barthélémy, French West Indies
- Liverpool, England
- Ocracoke Island, North Carolina, USA
- Grand Turk, Turks and Caicos
- Galveston, Texas, USA
- Stinson Beach, California, USA
Just in case your favorite isn’t on the top ten list, we received plenty of other votes for beaches in the Bahamas, French Polynesia, Guam, Mexico, as well as from states around the U.S. including Massachusetts, Maryland, New Jersey, Ohio, Oregon, Rhode Island, and South Carolina. We also got one response that said, “Not telling: my precious.”
Read more about the number one beach, Sanibel Island, in So much to shellebrate on Sanibel.
Learn more about seashells
- Bubble Shells
- The Chambered Nautilus
- Conchylomania
- Egg-citing Finds: Whelk Egg Casings
- Hidden Beauty: Quahog Shells
- How to Identify Live Sand Dollars
- Identifying Florida Seashells
- Is That Scallop Shell Broken?
- The Red Abalone
- Top 10 Sanibel Sea Shells
- Shark Eyes: The Cannibalistic Mollusk
- Wampum
- The World’s Most Expensive Seashell
To read more about everyone’s favorite shell beaches, check out the comments on Facebook @beachcombingmagazine and Instagram @beachcombingmagazine. Some readers provided detailed directions to and what to look for on their beaches. Remember, don’t take anything that still has a creature living in it, and happy shell hunting!
This article appeared in the Beachcombing Magazine January/February 2019 issue.
No live shelling: Be sure shells are empty and sand dollars, sea stars, and sea urchins are no longer alive before you bring them home.