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Where and When to Find Shells
Shell hunting is part luck and part timing. These tips help you find more on the Gulf beaches around Sarasota and Bradenton, where Fun Florida Tours has run night shelling tours at three beaches.
Best times
- Low tide. The lower the tide, the more beach and shallow sandbar is uncovered.
- After wind and weather. Winter cold fronts and storms push shells onto the beach. The morning after a blow is often the best.
- Cooler months. Many local shellers favor late fall through early spring, when fronts are common.
- After dark. Many of the animals that make these shells are active at night, which is why our tours go out at 8:30 PM with an LED light pod instead of in daylight.
How to look
- Walk slowly along the wet line where the waves stop, called the shell line or wrack line.
- Look in the shallows too. Wade in and scan the sand for shapes and edges.
- Check any shell you pick up for a living animal. If it is alive, put it back.
Siesta Key
Siesta Key is known for its fine white sand. Shells collect at the water line and in the shallows, and Sand Dollar Island at Big Pass, at the south end of the island, is the place locals associate with sand dollars.
Our Siesta Key tour meets at 1460 Siesta Dr, in the Sarasota-side bridge parking lot.
Sarasota
Sarasota's bay and island shores have calm, shallow water. City Island Park and the nearby shoreline are places to wade and look for shells, and calm days are the best.
Our Sarasota tour meets at City Island Park, 1799 Ken Thompson Pkwy, at the roundabout.
Anna Maria Island
Anna Maria Island has long, quiet Gulf beaches in Holmes Beach, Bradenton Beach and Anna Maria. Walk the shell line after a front for the best finds.
Our Anna Maria Island tour meets next to the King Fish boat ramp, 752 Manatee Ave, Holmes Beach, FL 34217.
Shelling is easier with a guide
You do not need to know the tides, the beaches or the shells. Pick a location, show up 20 minutes before 8:30 PM, and we handle the rest: gear, the light, the safety briefing and the show-and-tell at the end.
Fun Florida Tours runs a guided night shelling and snorkeling tour in shallow Gulf water at Siesta Key, Sarasota and Anna Maria Island. You wade in from shore with a guide, the group shares one bright LED light pod that lights up the bottom, and the water stays under 4 feet deep, so you do not need to be a strong swimmer. After 60 minutes in the water we spend 15 minutes on the sand for show-and-tell, where guides name everything the group found. Empty shells are yours to keep; anything alive goes back.
Conditions change with weather and season. Nothing is guaranteed.