The Essential Beachcomber

The Marco Island Shell Club  held it's annual Shell Show on March  8 - 10 on Marco Island, Florida. I am a super resourceful person.  Whenever  possible I like to kill two birds with one stone.  I try to save gas by combining shopping trips instead of going to the store for just one item on sale.  If I find a shirt or pair of pants  that actually fit well & in a color I like I will buy several and stash them for later use.  So you can imagine my ingenious sensibilities going on overdrive when I figured out I could combine a shelling trip to Marco Island with the Marco Island Shell fair.  I had passed on the 75th Annual Sanibel Shell Show a few weeks back.  The Sanibel Stoop Guinness World Book of Records had been enough shellabrating for me.  I also wanted to check out a new shell show that I had never been to before.  Marco Island is a 2 hour drive south from my home base camp.  The public beach access on M...

One of my favorite places to go shelling on the planet is Tigertail Beach on Marco Island in South Florida.  Tigertail is not for the casual beachcomber.  There is a 50 yard wide, 3 foot deep lagoon to be crossed to get to the beach.  The good shells are at the north end of the beach which is another 2 mile walk out & 2 miles back.  No concession stands, no potties, no kidding.  My shelling buddy last year was my niece Schweckie.  We had an amazing time &  would have liked to have gone again with Schweckie this year but she's been a little busy being a new mommy. I'm re-posting my visit from last year & am hoping I will have new pictures soon if I can get the tides & the temperature to cooperate. (Originally posted January 19, 2011) The shells stretch for miles on Tigertail Beach As an avid sheller I have a bucket list of places I would like to visit. Some of my shelling dreams like Costa Rica or Belize will require some p...

The shells stretch for miles on Tigertail Beach As an avid sheller I have a bucket list of places I would like to visit. Some of my shelling dreams like Costa Rica or Belize will require some planning but closer to home I can now cross Marco Island off my bucket list of places to go  shelling.  The shelling epicenter of Florida is Sanibel Island.  One of the fault lines runs about about 40 miles south to Marco Island.  Tuesday morning about 4am I loaded up the truck and my niece Shweekie & I headed to Tigertail Beach on Marco Island.  We intentionally arrived on Marco Island before dawn to go shelling on the beach with our flashlights. It was an early minus 1.10 foot low tide. That is a good thing for those of you that don't know.  What we discovered is that there are 2 beaches  open to the public on Marco Island but parking is limited. You can frequent any beach you like after they open the gates at 8am.  Until the park opens t...