Shelling at St. George Island State Park, FL

 

We had read that shelling at St. George Island State Park was exceptional,  and since the park is located on literally miles of undeveloped barrier island with only limited access points to the beach, it made sense that it would be so.  While the first few days I picked up a few shells that were larger than we had experienced in the past, it didn't seem to be living up to the hype in terms of shelling, although the endless dunes and miles of beach in their natural (un-groomed) state are breathtaking, and being able to walk the white sand for great distances and meet only a few other people the whole time provides food for our souls.  Yesterday we purchased a day pass to the East End Road on the park, which allows access to a vast area of protected wilderness accessible only by a 5 mile, deeply rutted, one-lane road that allows NO beach access until the very end of the road, which coincides with the end of the island.   Since the park only offers a limited amount of passes to this area each day on a first come, first served basis, we were expecting solitude and we got it.  Ours was the only car in the parking lot on an overcast morning, and as we began our beach walk, although we saw some human footprints in the sand, mostly we saw a variety of seabirds, and all kinds of natural flotsam and jetsam; surprisingly, on the entire 2 ½ mile section of beach that we walked we saw only two pieces of "human" trash, namely an old worn and tattered glove and a Dasani water bottle. As we went further along the beach, a deep fog rolled in, almost hiding the dunes in the distance, and wetting our hair and clothing. 

Horseshoe Crab

Sponge

Some Kind of Egg Case?

And the SHELLING!!!  AMAZING!  Below are photos from yesterday, including my "haul" of varied shells, sea life, and corals.