Shell Island – Florida

Shell Island is an incredible uninhabited island near Panama City Beach, Florida with beautiful warm water. Spending a day out here is so much fun.

Shell Island

Next time you are in Panama City Beach rent a boat or jump on a shuttle and take a trip out to Shell Island. Shell Island is a 7-mile long undeveloped 700-acre barrier island just out a short distance away in the Gulf of Mexico and easily accessible from Panama City Beach, Florida. The island runs east to west between the Gulf of Mexico and the St. Andrew Bay. I promise you it will be an awesome day.

 

How to get to Shell Island

You can rent a boat like we did or catch a shuttle from St. Andrews State Park. The official Shell Island Shuttle carries passengers between St. Andrews State Park and Shell Island 1/2 hour during the high season, 7 days a week from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. Shuttle tickets cost $19.95 Adults – $10.95 Children (12 and under)  Infants free! (12 months and under)

The Sheraton Bay Point Resort also offers a shuttle out there for $10 per person which is quite a bit cheaper. This resort is across the bay from St. Andrews State Park, so it takes about the same time to go back and forth.

There are several places that rent boats around the area, including Tyndall AFB if you happen to be military. Keep in mind it’s a long boat ride from Tyndall out there.

On a nice day, there will be a lot of boats out there. The water on the side that faces toward Panama City Beach, FL is quite calm. You can walk over the other side that faces into the open Gulf of Mexico and the waves are much larger and there are more shells.

 This is the side with larger waves. You can see the difference. I feel like the side facing the Gulf of Mexico is even more unspoiled since the boats do not come around here. However, the whole island is covered in pure white sand, and from either side, you might just see a bottlenose dolphin! There are lots of dolphins throughout the entire area so hopefully, you will see at least one or two. 

 

Things to do on Shell Island

• Boogie board
• Build sandcastles
• Chase each other  down the beach
• Collect shells
• Fly a kite
• Suntan 
• Wade in the water
• Have a picnic
• Float around in the water on a floaty
• Bird watch
• Try to spot a sea turtle or a bottlenose dolphin

 

Shel Island Packing List

I recommend grabbing sandwiches from a local restaurant and taking them out there with you. Because of the wind, you will not want to make sandwiches from scratch on the beach. They will be full of sand. 

Just for fun, here are a few pictures of my kids having fun on the boat! We let Noah drive! He did a great job!

 

 

Out here you’ll find natural Florida, where sand dunes, coastal scrub forest, pine hammocks, and an inland lake provides the perfect home for deer, nesting shorebirds, and all manner of coastal creatures, including ghost crabs and endangered species such as Choctawhatchee Beach Mice, piping plovers, snowy plovers, and loggerhead and green sea turtles