Find something beautiful. Look a little closer. Take the story home.
Explore the beaches and barrier islands of Southwest Florida while discovering some of the region’s best shelling. Along the way, learn about native wildlife, coastal ecosystems, birds, dolphins and marine life while searching for the treasures that make these shorelines so extraordinary.
Choose the experience that fits your day, from a private shoreline shelling excursion, to a boat-access shelling adventure, to our complete Signature Shell & Spell Experience. At the heart of every trip is a simple idea: two people can walk the same shoreline and come home with completely different treasures. What catches your eye and why?
Our Signature Experience takes that curiosity even further. After shelling, return to The RFA Lodge with Nikki, our resident Shell Alchemist, to clean, sort and reveal the natural colors and patterns of what you’ve collected. Your favorite shell can be transformed into a one-of-a-kind piece of jewelry that you can wear and flaunt long after your experience. Come for the shelling. Leave seeing shells differently.
Each experience builds on the one before it. Start on the sand, take it farther by boat, or go all the way to a pendant made from the shell you found.
Meet at the beach
A local’s look at Southwest Florida shelling.
Boat + Beach + Eco
Take the treasure hunt farther.
Steps up from Shoreline Shelling with:
Our Signature ExperienceBoat + Beach + Shell Reveal + Shell Pendant
Find it. Reveal it. Choose it. Wear it.
Everything in the Boat Tour, plus:
| Feature | Private Shoreline Shelling | Private Shelling Boat Tour | Signature Shell & Spell |
|---|---|---|---|
| Price (private group) | $275 | $575 | $975 |
| Group size | Up to 4 +$75 per additional guest | Up to 6 | Up to 6 |
| How you get there | Meet at the beach | Private boat with Capt. Tim | Private boat with Capt. Tim |
| Guided shelling with Nikki | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ |
| Shell identification & education | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ |
| Ethical shell collecting guidance | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ |
| All of your finds to take home | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ |
| Secluded, water-access beaches & barrier islands | — | ✓ | ✓ |
| Dolphins, birds & marine life along the way | — | ✓ | ✓ |
| Ice, bottled water, swim ladder & freshwater shower | — | ✓ | ✓ |
| The Shell Reveal at The RFA Lodge | — | — | ✓ |
| Your cleaned & curated collection | — | — | ✓ |
| One-of-a-kind Shell & Spell pendant per guest | — | — | ✓ |
A $100 deposit and a valid credit card on file secure your date. Once the deposit is paid an RFA crew member contacts you to plan the trip and finalize logistics. Every trip is private to your group.
A local’s look at Southwest Florida shelling.
There’s shelling and then there’s knowing where to look, what to look for, and slowing down long enough to notice what everyone else walks past. Spend two hours beachcombing one of Southwest Florida’s beautiful shorelines with Nikki as your private shelling guide and resident shell-obsessed storyteller. Together, we’ll search for the day’s treasures, identify what we find, and learn to spot the colors and patterns that make this coastline so extraordinary.
No two shelling days are ever the same. Conditions, tides and seasons are always changing, so we’ll choose our shoreline based on where the adventure is calling that day. Locations may include Sanibel Island, Fort Myers Beach, Lovers Key and Bonita Beach.
Take the treasure hunt farther.
Travel by private boat charter with Capt. Tim and our shelling guide, Nikki, to explore secluded shorelines and barrier islands. After all, the journey is part of the experience! Along the way, keep watch for dolphins, birds and marine life as we travel to secluded beaches and barrier islands accessible only by water. Once ashore, our shell-obsessed resident, Nikki, will guide you on the treasure hunt, sharing a local sheller’s eye for spotting beautiful, unusual and easily overlooked finds.
There’s no checklist or guarantee of what the tide will leave behind, which is a large part of the fun! Every trip is shaped by the water, weather, wildlife and what the Gulf leaves behind on the shoreline that day. This tour is part eco tour and part shelling adventure, and a beautiful way to experience Southwest Florida from the water.
Find it. Reveal it. Choose it. Wear it.
This is not your average shelling tour. The Signature Experience begins with our Private Shelling Boat Tour, taking you by water to search secluded Southwest Florida shorelines for your own collection of treasures. But finding the shells is only the beginning.
After the treasure hunt, we’ll return to The RFA Lodge for the uniquely Shell & Spell part of the day: The Shell Reveal. Together, we’ll clean, sort and brush your finds with mineral oil to reveal the colors, patterns and stories hiding in the details. It’s a rare chance to see your collection through the eyes of a shell alchemist.
Once everything is laid out, we’ll look a little closer to identify what you found and explore the shapes, colors, patterns, textures and conditions that make each shell so wildly unique. We’ll look at your collection as a whole and reflect on what kept catching your eye. What did you pick up again and again? Which shell stood out immediately, and which one became more interesting the longer you looked? This is where shelling becomes something more than collecting. Because two people can walk the exact same shoreline and return with completely different treasures. The Shell Reveal is a chance to discover not only what you found, but what you noticed and perhaps why.
Each guest then chooses their favorite shell from the day’s finds for Nikki to transform into a one-of-a-kind shell pendant, made from the magic of the sea itself.
On the Signature Experience the pendant isn’t an add-on. Every guest chooses a shell they personally found, and Nikki turns it into a one-of-a-kind piece they wear home.
Search secluded Southwest Florida shorelines by boat for your own collection of treasures.
Back at The RFA Lodge, clean, sort and brush your finds with mineral oil to reveal the colors and patterns hiding in the details.
Look a little closer at your collection and choose the one shell from the day’s finds you can’t leave behind.
Nikki transforms it into a one-of-a-kind shell pendant. Wear the story home.
You didn’t choose it from a souvenir shelf.
You found it. You learned about it. You chose it. Now you get to wear it and flaunt your favorite find.
After all, the Gulf only made one.
The Signature Shell & Spell Experience · $975 · Private group up to 6 · One pendant per guest
Nikki Spilotros is a Southwest Florida native, artist, lifelong collector and founder of Shell & Spell, a colorful little world built around her fascination with seashells and the stories hiding inside them.
She believes shelling is as much about noticing as finding. Her specialty doesn’t come from the traditional perspective of a marine biologist or professional conchologist, it’s teaching people how to notice. On every experience Nikki is your personal shelling guide and resident shell-obsessed storyteller, helping you spot what others walk past, understand what you found, and on the Signature Experience, turn your favorite find into jewelry.
Available when you book any shelling experience.
$60
Stay on the sand a little longer.
$150
Nikki photographs your group, your favorite finds and candid moments along the shoreline, plus a short video, so nobody has to choose between taking the photos and being in them. A must for sunset shelling.
$28 each
Can’t pick just one? Nikki will turn more of your finds into pendants or talismans.
$20 per guest
Menu offered and coordinated before departure.
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