The Shell Factory and Nature Park has been a tourist destination in Southwest Florida for 75 years. There are both indoor and outdoor attractions that are many and varied and appeal to children and adults alike.
Bay Oaks Social Seniors and Bay Oaks Director, Patti Evans, arrived at the Shell Factory around noon, so we decided to have lunch at Captain Fishbone’s first before visiting the Shell Factory and the grounds. Of course, the decorating motif in the restaurant is the ocean and all its creatures, big and small. If you love fish, Tuesday, Wednesday, and Friday is the World Famous all-you-can eat Shell Factory Fish Fry. Baby back Ribs are Thursday’s special all day, and Sundays feature shrimp dishes. Our lunch was quite good and very filling because the portions were large.
Captain Fishbone’s Seafood Grill
Shark décor near the entrance to the restaurant
Sailfish
Marlin and other sea creatures
Shark and netting
Patti observing a Great White Shark
Gathered around the lunch table
In the Shell Factory Retail Store, there is a huge selection of shells and coral. The shells and coral are very beautiful, rather pricey, and nicely displayed on glass shelves, or in the case of other sea creatures like starfish, in bins, where you can pick them up and examine them. These beautiful things of nature are displayed side by side with commercial merchandise everywhere you turn, and the merchandise is not nearly so classy as the treasures of the sea. However, the coral displays are breathtaking and an education about different kinds of coral.
Ursula and Cora at the entrance to the Shell Factory
Welcome to the largest gift and retail shell store in the US
The foyer of the Shell Factory
Pink flamingos
Rows of shelves with seashells
Becky with a conch shell
Sand dollars
Menacing alligator crawling on the wall
Gator jaws
Merulina Coral
Brown Stem Coral
Fire Coral and Barnacle Clusters, known more commonly as fouling organisms that attach themselves to the bottom of ships and other man-made marine structures
Designer Barnacle Display piece
Barnacles are crustaceans related to lobsters, shrimp and crabs. They cost a pretty penny when used in décor.
Barnacle display from the opposite side
Tropical-themed jigsaw puzzles
Shark mockup
Rugosa Coral
Blue Ridge Coral
Table Coral
Blackcup Coral
Robert and a shell display
Sugar Starfish
Bahama Starfish
Conch Shell
Becky, Ursula and Cora in front of a camel ride
Inside the retail store, along one wall, there is a wildlife diorama. The animals are life-sized and look real. There are cheetahs emerging from a hole in the face of a cliff and attacking gazelles and warthogs, and a pirate with a parrot on his shoulder. The parrot also talks, and invites you into the adjoining Pirate’s Grotto. The diorama continues on the other side of the grotto entrance, but this scene includes a rhinoceros, a zebra, an elk and some brown bears. This is a little tricked-out if you think about the natural habitats of this last group of animals.
Diorama, right side
Cheetahs attacking warthogs and gazelles
Pirate and talking parrot
Diorama, left side
Rhinoceros, close-up
Zebra, close-up--looks real, doesn’t it?
Bellowing elk, close-up
Brown bear and beaver facing off
The Pirate’s Grotto consists of two scenes. Again, the characters are life-size. In one scene, the pirates are sitting around a campfire with a big cauldron on the fire, probably fixing dinner. Prominently on the wall behind them is an alligator skin--could the meat from the alligator be their next meal? In the other scene, A pirate is standing with a sword in his hand, there is a scene with a ship behind him, and a treasure chest is full of stolen loot. Two other pirates, one climbing a rope and the other nothing but a skeleton, occupy corners of the same room.
Pirates around campfire
Pirate’s treasure and ship mural
Pirate climbing a rope
Peg-legged, hook-handed pirate skeleton
Once outside, we planned to go to the Shell Factory Nature Park, but the admission was $12 for adults and $10 for seniors, so we decided against going in. Across from the Shell Factory is a small lake, divided into two sections by a suspended walkway. On one side there are paddle boats and a number of geese and ducks who swim by and waddle around waiting for visitors to feed them. You can buy a handful of feed in the pergola which overlooks the lake. You can also feed the turtles that gather around the pergola at first sight of someone throwing food into the water. On the other side of the lake, there are bumper boats that are equipped with a tube that shoots water, kind of like a giant squirt gun, at any other bumper boat and passenger that the stream of water is aimed at.
A mining rig on the grounds
A small lake with a suspended walkway
A duck in the lush grass beside the lake
Tree with an interesting trunk
A white Chinese swan goose, with a distinctive bulge on its beak, and a Chinese swan goose swim by
Across the lake
Becky in an airboat
A quacking magpie duck and blackbird
Pergola on lake
People are throwing turtle food into the water
Turtles gathering for food below pergola
Paddle boats on the lake
Directional sign
Kids in bumper boats
Jean, Cora and Ursula in the foyer
We gathered in the lobby of the Shell Factory, ready to go home.
Don in the foyer
Robert, Patti and Ursula bid a final “Good-bye” to the Shell Factory
