Life is short… go shelling!
Whenever we get an opportunity to go shelling in a different part of the world, we jump at the chance.
Fortunately, the opportunity to travel to Grand Bahama Island for a shelling trip was just a bonus. My husband Clark is very involved in a service organization called Rotary International which helps create positive lasting change for communities around the world. Grand Bahama Rotarians along with several Florida Rotary Districts met for a conference at the Grand Lucayan Resort in Freeport for several days to … well … do their Do-Gooder deeds. Yep, that’s what I call them… Do-Gooders. LOL
So after the DoGooders finished doing their good work for the world, we stayed a couple of extra days to explore the island for seashells.  At most of the big resorts in the Bahamas,  it seems they clean the beaches every morning to make it look sandier and nicer. For regular tourists, I guess that’s a pretty look for them but for beach combers like you and me… we want to see those wrack lines! Yes, they need to pick up the trash left by humans but the beaches are actually much healthier if the beaches stay natural with shells and plant matter remaining on the beach. Needless to say, we didn’t find many shells or bling near our resort so we rented a car to find the ungroomed beaches. We didn’t have much time to research the best shelling locations so we took a stab in the dark and headed to the east end of the island.
We stopped at several different beaches to find interesting shells and beach bling…
And stopped at every cute little shell shack.
And as luck would have it, we pulled into McLean’s Town to this dock…
We asked a few of the locals if we could find a boat captain to take us to some of the out islands to find seashells. Oh Yay-ah! We stopped at the perfect place. We found out that Joe-T is the best bone fisherman in town and he introduced us to his son Joe-L who grew up on the water boating to the best beaches and flats areas to find shells. So let’s go shelling!
After a gorgeous boat ride, Joe-L pulled up to a sandy beach with lots of wrack lines and rocks.
He showed us where to look to find empty shells like this WEST INDIAN CHANK SHELL …. which they call a LAMP SHELL. Nice find Joe- L! (and thanks for giving it to us!)
I was over the moon when my first shell of the day was this FLOWERY WEST INDIAN LACE MUREX. My very first one of this species with the brown color form and it was empty!
It’s perfect and completely empty.
Clark was happiest to find this awesome ANGULAR TRITON. He reminded me right away how much bigger this one is compared to the best one I found in Turks And Caicos last year. heehee – Always a competition and I wouldn’t have it any other way.
You know I loooove my beach bling so I was thrilled to find this WEST INDIAN CHANK EGG CHAIN washed up on the beach. Look how big it is! It looks like some sort of a sci-fi alien sea creature egg case.
Most of the sacks were empty and filled with sand but I found a few dried tiny juvenile CHANKS inside. Cool!
We saw plenty of beautiful fish and other live creatures but it’s always breathtaking to see the live CUSHION SEA STARS…
Our boating day with Joe-L was such an unexpected, unplanned delight… it’s a shelling trip we will never forget. These are just a few of the many different varieties of shells we found.
After shelling all day, we were famished. Conveniently, Joe-L’s mom Eva has a restaurant at their dock so we stayed for an outrageously good lobster dinner worth every reasonable penny.
Since this was such a short trip, we didn’t have time to check out the west end of the island for shells but I can only imagine we could find some secrets spots there too. It’s such a sweet little island I hope we return really soon. Oh and when I get our shells cleaned up and organized, I’ll post another photo.
Update- May 11, 2014… Now that we’ve had time to get home and clean up our shells and BEACH BLING…Â this is our loot!
Not bad for 2 days, right? Here’s another closer photo of the smaller shells and bling so you can see how many different species we found. They are sooooo beautiful!
If you decide to go to Grand Bahama Island, this might be useful information…
To reach Joe-L or Joe-T for a shelling trip, here’s the email address- baysideexplorers@gmail.com or phone is 242-353-3676 or 242- 375-5219.
The hotel concierge gave me the car rental info Island Jeep and Car Rental– I thought it was reasonable and the car was great. Oh and by the way, the roads are in fantastic shape compared to some of the other islands (like Cat Island and TCI) but you still have to drive on the left side. (I drove the car the whole time- its easy)
The Grand Lucayan was very nice, reasonably priced, had lots of options for restaurants, shopping, etc and only a little over an hour’s drive to McLean’s Town and even less to the west end.
And before you ask about transportation… we didn’t fly over to the island. Part of the Rotary Convention was held on a cruise boat… the Bahamas Celebration. It was pretty cheap for transportation to the island from the Port of Palm Beach but Clark and I aren’t really overnight cruise boat kind of travelers. We want to get where we are going … so we could have skipped the cruise boat if it wasn’t part of the organized group. Next time, we will find a fight or maybe even check into the Fast Cat which isn’t an overnight cruise.
Hope you enjoyed the cyber trip to the island, mon!
Omg!!! I NEED to go there!!
Wow, love your loot! And thanks for the info about your trip. You always give me such good vacation ideas, Pam. But we always come back to Sanibel. :-) See you in a couple of weeks!
Oh I would love to go there, I love shelling, hopefully I’ll get to come to Sanibel this fall, love your pics you post, I look at them and just dream
Ooh, why didn’t we go ahead and plan to go to Eleuthra this year?!?! Oh well, Sanibel-bound in 4wks. Guess that’ll have to do (wink,wink).
Gorgeous pics as always! :)
Oh thank you for sharing your life & passion ; made my cold spring day up here in New England!
Keep shelling all
Mary Ann
East Granby. CT
GREAT finds! Thanks for sharing. Those are beautiful :)
Looks like so much fun and you found things not on Sanibel or Captiva.
Thanks Pam and Clark!
I really like Clark’s Angular Triton – his hat looks pretty good too ;)
Your West Indian Lace Murex has great color!
One of my favorite hats, thanks to you.
Agree. As for the West Indian Lace Murex, they come in quite a variety of colors, including black, brown, orange and almost white. The orange ones can be spectacular and are not found all that often. Lee, do you find any of the West Indian Lace Murex in Gitmo? The only place that I have ever found them is in the Bahamas.
Wow it looks divine. The color of the sand is beautiful and I just love that ANGULAR TRITON I am sure I have one of those somewhere.
So beautiful!
Pam, you are so kind to share this information. What a wonderful trip you had!
What a thrill. :)))
I’m so envious! Such a great variety! Did you find your shells on the beach or did you snorkel for them?
Thank you for sharing your wonderful adventures.
Beautiful colors!!! What an awesome trip! Thanks for sharing!
Pretty prettiness!
Hi Pam!
The Bahamas Express leaves from Port Everglades to Freeport several days a week. Easy jump from Alligator Alley to 595 to the Port. :)
https://www.ferryexpress.com/wps/portal/comercial/home_us_en?estrecho=3&resetPortlet=true
The West End has some great snorkeling, but it sounds like you found a little bit of paradise in your explorations. :-D I miss the ‘potcakes’.
JoJo xo
JoJo, thanks for the info on the ferry! Sounds much better- only a 2 hour trip. :)
My pleasure! :)
If you’re ever in that area, & want a good shelling beach, John U. Lloyd State park (just east of the airport/Port) is a good spot to go. It’s 2 1/2 miles of ‘non-cleaned’ beach, some good snorkeling when the water is calm.
What a wonderful life! Thanks for sharing it with us. We are counting the days until we can come back to Sanibel. Hope to see you again soon!
Gorgeous Shells! Thank you so much for the information about the Island and shelling. I have saved it and hope to use it in the future. Great to have not only the name but the number to contact a good shelling guide. So happy for you to have have found such wonderful shells.
Hi Pam:
I have not been receiving your online postings lately and I truly miss them.
I had been receiving them on a regular basis, but now they just stopped.
Have not received any in over a week. Could it possibly be something in
transmission?
Oh Ann, you are not the only one! Ack! There is something wrong and I just didn’t have time to fix it. I’m working on it now! Thank you thank you for letting me know and that u miss the emails. I’ll try to get it working ASAP. XO
One year we were in the Cape May, NJ area and I said something to a clerk in a shell store about the cleaning of the beaches. She said that they were trying to get them from cleaning the beaches because the birds were being deprived of their food source. It’s a battle between the tourists and the birds. I’m glad Sanibel doesn’t clean beaches. I’m glad you and Clark had a great time and found some nice shells. Pat
Like you Pat, wherever I go, I am always dismayed to see someone raking the beach! I don’t even like the look of a raked beach.
This March on Nevis, in a lovely, otherwise wild bay, I saw one stretch that had not only had ben raked, but a piece of earthmoving equipment was being used in an attempt to make the beach a bit wider and flatter, all for the sake of one spoiled and reclusive rich person, who shall remain nameless. Yuck.
Sanibel is a delight in that respect! Yay Sanibel!
Ohhh,man! Wish I had a print of that photo of the gorgeous cushion sea star- stunning!
Hi Mary Jo- Oh gosh Thank you! I have that photo on my online gallery at http://twenty20.com/iloveshelling. How have you been?!
Gorgeous finds Pam–you sure know how to ask the right questions to find superstar shells. My emails are missing too but our lucky solution is that we arrive at Sanibel tomorrow! You know I can’t wait. Hope the tide and moon conspire to uncover lots of surprises.
Hi, Pam-Great post on Grand Bahama! Could you tell me how to find the post on the olive shell bracelet? I have to try making one! (Or maybe you’ll offer them in your shop????) . carol
Hi carol k, of course! Here’s the link… http://www.iloveshelling.com/blog/2013/06/05/how-to-make-seashell-bracelet-jewelry/
Ps- if u ever need to find a post, I have a search button on the right side of this page. You could try putting in “bracelet” or “jewelry” and this post will come up. Or try the Categories column on the left side. Just scroll down to find the category this would be under- “jewelry” and click. The more I post the more categories I’m adding so I’m prob gonna have to devise another easier way for the categories since it’s so long now… But it’s a start. Good luck on your bracelet and have fun!
Hi Pam – so glad that I am back to receiving your posts! Got this one today but I had been checking in directly to iloveshelling.com so I didn’t miss anything. What a wonderful trip you had – the shells are just beautiful. I really missed seeing your posts when I opened my e-mail every day. Hopefully, the problem has been corrected.
Yay!!!! Bonnie Im so happy you got the email! I’ve been pulling out my hair to try to fix it so I can take a deep breath now that its fixed. thank you for letting me know!
Hi Pam – so glad that I am back to receiving your posts! Got this one today but I had been checking in directly to iloveshelling.com so I didn’t miss anything. What a wonderful trip you had – the shells are just beautiful. I really missed seeing your posts when I opened my e-mail every day. Hopefully, the problem has been corrected.
Leave it to you and Clark to “find” the best shelling when you don’t even know the area!! Good for you and thanks for the info. May go there myself after my retirement!
Also, was not getting your emails until today. Thanks for fixing the problem.. Cannot do without my ILOVESHELLING fix!
You guys are so blessed!!! Gorgeous shells and I imagine the boat trip was delightful! Coming to the island in June. Yay!!!
Thank you, Pam, for this website. I’m continuously checking it and I read every one of your posts because I am living vicariously through you! My hubby & I were supposed to vacation in Sarasota this past April but he ended up in the hospital here in ND instead! We’re hoping we can get down there in October for our 25th wedding anniversary. Growing up in ND I’ve always been an avid rock hound but I always wanted to hunt for shells, too. My dream came true when hubby & I vacationed in FL in 2012; I learned everything about shelling from you & your website. (And I love it when you post pics of your sweet & beautiful kitties because I am a huge cat lover & have kitties of my own!)
I am wondering if you can tell me how or through who do you schedule a charter with so that you can visit various islands in one trip to do shelling. I am going to the Bahamas for a week with my son and trying to decide if we should stay on the big island or a small island. And then also wondering how we can get from island to island to do some shelling.