Everything We Did in Sanibel Florida

This Christmas Adam surprised me with the gift of a weekend away together. It would be our first in the 14 years since we began having kids so we were long overdue for a little time away.

I’ve always wanted to go to Sanibel. It’s known for having the best shelling in the world and is just a half day’s drive from us. Shelling is meant to be leisurely, slowly walking down the beach looking for treasures would have delighted some of our children, but certainly not all so it was the perfect choice for a little getaway without the kids so we were guaranteed hours of beach walking without complaints.

We passed everyone off to my parents for a few days of “Grandma & Papa Camp” (they planned a whole host of camp activities for the kids to do from carnival night, to arts and crafts, to field activities so they were not sad at all to be rid of us.)

Here’s everything we did while in Sanibel

The Drive Down

We’re lucky enough to be just a short drive away (relatively) from Sanibel. But spending 4 hours in the car is still a ways to drive which gave me a bit of time to play one of my new mystery puzzle books. I had an absolute blast with the Montague Island Mysteries. This is a book of logic puzzles much like my beloved Murdle books but even more tricky. It combines some of the most clever, challenging clues and puzzles that I’ve played. It’s very fun to read aloud (much of the book includes a narrative element; you’re one of the characters in the story) making it fun for both myself and Adam who was driving.

Highly Highly Recommend!

Where We Stayed

We stayed at the Sundial Beach Resort & Spa which was absolutely lovely. They had everything we wanted to do. Beautiful beaches, impressive pickleball courts, bike rentals, and even a heated pool. My only regret is that we couldn’t stay longer to enjoy the resort even more!

The staff was all so friendly and helpful. We got recommendations of local beaches to visit for shelling and they gave us tips for dinner reservations.

The rooms feel more like a small apartment than a hotel room. There was a nice large table so we could play games in the evening and we could see the beach from our room.

Best Beaches We Shelled in Sanibel

Even though we were only in Sanibel for about 48 hours combined, we found time to hit up 4 beaches to shell.

Living in Florida near the coast we’re used to seeing our shells hit the beach completely destroyed from our surf. The shelling in Sanibel really is as wonderful as they say. What a delight it was to stroll the beaches and find fully intact Fighting Conches, Tulips, and Bivalves just sitting there for us.

The best time to shell is early in the morning and during low tide. (We track our tides using a free app) We got to the beaches around 1-2 hours before low tide and shelled till about 1 hour or so after. While visiting our low tides were around 11pm.

When planning your trip to Sanibel, keep in mind that most of the beaches require you to pay to park by the hour on your phone.

You’ll also want to bring some good shelling bags. I’m gladded we got some good ones before coming and didn’t try to make due with a mesh laundry sack. Also recommend this book on shells which we brought so we could identify the shells we found.

While we were there, I saw a lot of folks with these shelling scoops which I’ll definitely be getting for our next trip.

Blind Beach

This is the beach we heard most from our research and from asking locals to visit. Blind Beach is where the elusive Junonia shell is said to be most often found. Sadly we did not have any luck finding Junonias. The day we went the surf was really strong so a lot of the shells were washing up broken. We still found some good finds though when digging just a big into the sand below the surface.

We chose to go to this beach during the height of low tide. There weren’t very many people here and those that were were there to shell. While we didn’t get our best finds here, I would definitely come back and shell again. There was even a beach across the bridge that looked promising. The water cuts between the two beaches so you can’t walk up to it, but there were a lot of shellers over there as well so it would be worth checking out.

Bowman’s Beach

This beach was really cute. The parking lot is a short walk, about a quarter of a mile, from the beach. There is a nice playground here and picnicking spot you can enjoy before crossing the bridge to get over to the beach.

Bowman’s was a bit more populated with a larger beach area that makes it a nice spot to spend a full afternoon or more for a beach day.

I liked the vibe of this beach and there were a lot of great shells here, particularly in the wrack line.

Lighthouse Beach

We biked over to this beach for a short time. It is a smaller beach but worth a trip to see the lighthouse. This is where I heard you can find sand dollars though I struck out on finding intact ones. There’s are some great views here to enjoy as you walk the shoreline for treasures.

Sundial’s Resort Beach

We shelled multiple times in the morning and evening on the beaches right outside our room. Hands down our best finds came from here! I found huge shells here. During our last morning we went out early and came back with handfuls of fighting conches which was so fun.

Where We Ate in Sanibel

We ate some delicious food during this trip! We tried to keep our travel time minimal so our shelling time could be longer so we enjoyed a few of the restaurants in the resort and I’m so glad we did.

Captain’s Catch

This was one of the restaurant’s at Sundial. We had dinner here Friday night and breakfast on Saturday and Sunday morning. Everything was delicious. Friday was shrimp night and it was fantastic.

Cheeburger Cheeburger

This retro themed burger joint is a must! Their burgers are massive and incredibly delicious. We also got an order of fried pickles and their handmade onion rings with the jalapeño cream dipping sauce which are not to be missed. Topped the meal off with some milkshakes to really get the full experience. (Mocha and S’more’s shakes were 10/10)

We loved this place so much we actually stopped here to split a sandwich on our way out of town! The onion rings were that good!

Shima Japanese Steakhouse & Sushi Bar

We had a great meal at the resort’s hibachi restaurant Shima. The dinner was delicious and the show was fun and interactive. Definitely make reservations for this restaurant as its a more intimate setting and fills up fast.

Biking Sanibel

I had no idea just how bike-friendly the island was going to be. There are bike paths connecting most of the island so you can bike from beach to beach safely on bike paths. Sundial resort had bikes available to check out (included in your stay) which was a nice perk so we didn’t have to plan ahead with bike rentals. We were able to check out bikes and head out on the island for a bit on our own time. When we go back on a future trip, I definitely will want to plan for a full afternoon or more of just biking all around Sanibel.

Bailey-Matthews National Shell Museum & Aquarium

This was one place I wanted to make sure we stopped at on our trip and I’m so glad we did. This was a cute and well organized museum that really helped us appreciate and learn about the shells we came to find on the beach.

There were some truly impressive shells here to see, both large and small and I left with a better understanding and appreciation of the shells we find on our beaches. They even had a fun touch pool in their Living Gallery where you can touch some of the mollusks which was fun. (I would not be brave enough to touch them should I ever find them in the ocean, ha!)

This is a small museum that’s easily seen in about an hour or two. I was, however, happy to do this without the children. While some of ours would enjoy the experience, shells are still shells and a museum trip would fail to delight everyone on our roster should we ever bring the kids back. Regardless, it’s a lovely educational stop for any Sanibel trip. If you have collected any unknown treasures you are sure to be able to identify them there!

Playing Sanibel in Sanibel

Finally we of course needed to play the new Sanibel board game in Sanibel. What a happy coincidence that this game published now when I could finally visit this lovely island! (Side note: It was so fun to see the game in many of the local shops we visited! The town is so proud of this game!)

We set up the game for two plays outside with views of the Sanibel beach in full view which I must say does seem to be the most perfect way to play this game.

Sanibel (the game) is all about walking up and down the beaches of Sanibel collecting shells and carefully arranging them in your shell bag. The game does a great job of capturing the calm and blissfully lazy feeling of walking up and down the beach to find your treasures.

Each shell type scores in unique ways and requires you to place them into different arrangements in your bag. Some shells want to be next to each other, there’s separate, some score when you have the most of them, and others might score more for you should you be able to complete your various personal goals during the game.

It’s a fairly light game with a bit of math at the end and you can’t always tell who is winning based on their bag. While playing on the terrace, someone walked past and asked about the game, assuming that I was winning because my bag was nearly full compared to Adam’s which comprised mostly of the smaller shells, making his bag appear half empty. However, at the end of the game, he won by 10 points!

Mostly I just love how well the theme is incorporated into the game. You can race ahead on your turn to spots further down the beach to grab more valuable shells, but when you do so, you leave the stretch of beach you crossed open to everyone who comes after you, allowing them to scoop up all the little goodies that might fill their bag with points. As you move down the beach the waves continually deposit more treasures for you (the ocean feels like it’s own player in the game) and the unique aspects of Sanibel are all incorporated into the game. Pleasant easter eggs for those who know like the lighthouse at the end of the island (also at the end of the beach in the game,) the prized Junonia shell so rare to find, and in true Elizabeth Hargrave fashion the game is packed with lots of lovely educational elements for you to learn and deepen your appreciation for the game and it’s namesake.