Lighthouse & Bowman’s Beach: searching for shells with Sanibel Stoop

There are two public beaches on Sanibel Island, both of which are undoubtedly beautiful, so the rating should ultimately be up to the viewer: the more beautiful Lighthouse Beach in the south of the island versus the more famous Bowman’s Beach in the north.

To get to the island, however, you first have to pay a “toll” of USD 6 when crossing the bridge from Fort Myers to Sanibel Island and parking is not free either. However, USD 5 per hour compensates for the white sand, the mostly turquoise sea and – if you are prepared to walk a little further – the relative emptiness.

Americans are notoriously lazy when it comes to walking, so they usually take a seat at the very front of the beach entrance. As inviting as a drive through Sanibel is, there are hardly any other beach entrances if you need to park a car. No parking signs adorn the little-used coastal road everywhere.

Lighthouse Beach

At Lighthouse Beach, you are greeted – as the name suggests – by the Sanibel Lighthouse. The postcard idyll is inspiring, even if the lighthouse is not such a beauty on its own. The beach is gently sloping, making it ideal for children.

There is usually a small, very calming to soporific swell. If you let the gentle waves wash over your feet, you will feel like you are in paradise. Even though there are lots of shells on the beach, the powdered sugar sand in the water is pleasant to walk on, while reeds and other typical beach fauna decorate the background.

Bowman’s Beach Park

In summer, the five-minute walk from the parking lot to Sanibel Island Bowman’s Beach Park increases the anticipation of swimming. Because even this short time can have sweat-inducing effects when the sun is shining brightly.

At high tide, the beach is quite narrow, but very natural, not least due to the flat development of the hinterland. In winter, it’s better to come by bike anyway. If you’re looking for a better backdrop for your photo album, you’ll find it at Lighthouse Beach. But as I said, like many things in life, it’s up to the observer.

The stoop shell seekers on Sanibel Island

So what is the Sanibel Stoop (hump) all about? The island is considered a shellfish paradise, so that shell hunters are almost always walking up and down the beach with bags of shells, some of them quite large. A third of the world’s shell species can be admired in the Bailey-Matthews Shell Museum.

As Sanibel is home to a particularly large number of mussel species – Sanibel is one of the best mussel areas in the world – the collectors walk bent over, otherwise they would have to stand up and bend down again too often. On some days, it happens that one type of shell adorns the entire coastline and has been evenly distributed in the sand, as if for us.