Gulfside City Park was our destination for last night’s Thursday Thunder. It’s located just off Casa Ybel (turn left onto Algiers) and slightly North and West of Lighthouse Beach, if you call that under curve of Sanibel Island “going northwest”.

This was our first time at GCP, but we’d heard about it for a while, as it’s known for some really great shelling as of late. So we decided to check the place out and see what we could find. For the most part, GCP did not disappoint!



I will be honest though. I was not really a fan of the place from the jump. The Queen on the other hand really enjoyed GCP. I guess for me it was the chocolate brown water. I like my water clear and snorkelable (is that even a word) and I couldn’t see anything, even as I stood on the shoreline with my rake. But the water temp was pretty nice. Not all that cold, really.

However, the plant and aquatic life we saw and found there was really amazing. Unfortunately, much of what we found was dead, like these Horseshoe Crabs.





We also found the remnants of a Leopard Crab and many more Horseshoes. It’s unfortunate that these guys were everywhere.

We did find quite a few live shells too, like this very angry crab in an old, worn Lightning Whelk.

and this cranky Fighting Conch (he’s was hiding when the Queen took this pic):

I also made a little friend, but he was kinda crabby:

Lots of plant life washed up as well. Tons of Purple and Red Sea Whips littered the shore line, along with tons and tons of Fighting Conch egg casings.

and this Sea Urchin, who had become a hungry Sea Gull’s meal before we arrived, om nom nom nom.

As far as shells are concerned, we found just an absolute ton of Disc Dosinias, many of which were still intact. And the Pen Shells….hundred and hundreds.

As we peer inside the Queen’s shell bucket, you can see that we also found a nice Juvenile Fighting Conch, some pretty Scallops and many more Coquinas.

I’m sure we’ll visit Gulfside City Park again. Hopefully next time the water is a bit clearer!

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