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Shelling is an activity families can do together.

The June 2009 issue of Travel + Leisure magazine calls Sanibel Island a "shellers' mecca" in its roundup of the 10 Best U.S. Shelling Beaches. The Gulf Coast island's abundance of coquinas, sand dollars, scallops and whelks is due to a wide continental shelf just offshore.

Sanibel shares the honors with beaches on the Pacific and Atlantic Oceans and the Gulf of Mexico, among them beaches in Hawaii, Washington and California.

Searching for "unburied treasure," as writer Ann Shields calls it, is most successful on Bowman's Beach on the island's north end. And you can't go wrong visiting The Bailey-Matthews Shell Museum, home to more than 30 displays of mollusks from around the world.

The ultimate Sanibel treasure is the junonia, a shell in the shape of a twisted cone that has distinct markings similar to giraffe spots. It's so unique that if you find one, the local paper will publish your picture.

Shields writes that Sanibel is considered to be North America's best shelling spot, where some hotels have rooms with special shell-cleaning sinks and worktables. After spending a day doing the "Sanibel stoop," pack your treasures for their trip home, where you use them to decorate – and remind you of the beach, of course.

To read the Travel + Leisure article, click here. To learn more about shelling on Sanibel Island, visit www.fortmyers-sanibel.com/sanibel_captiva.

Last modified on Jul 10, 2009

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