Shell Island

ABOUT THIS PLACE

Shell Island belongs to St. Andrews State Park, which covers 1,200 acres of undisturbed forest and sand dune on the Panama City Beach side. The park's own description calls the island deserted, and you reach it by ferryboat rather than by road or bridge. On the mainland side of the pass the park holds a mile and a half of beach, wrapping around the inlet and out to Sandy Point. The jetty is the part most people use: a protected pool sits behind the rocks, which draws swimmers and snorkelers, while anglers cast from the jumble of stone. Grand Lagoon is the sheltered water on the park's other flank, used for paddling and lined by the campground. Three nature trails run inland, Heron Pond, the Buttonbush Marsh Overlook and Gator Lake, where herons nest. The island itself runs about seven miles between the Gulf and St. Andrew Bay with nothing built on it: no concession stand, no restroom, no pavilion and no trash can, so everything carried on has to come back off again. A shuttle crosses from Adventures at Sea, every half hour at the height of summer and less often out of season, and boats, kayaks and paddleboards can be rented instead. A pod of bottlenose dolphins lives in the water around the pass. Deer, ghost crabs and nesting shorebirds are on the island, and sea turtles come ashore to lay