Shell Key Island Cinematic 4K Nature Video

If you’re visiting Florida at any point, I recommend you visit Shell Key Island. You have to use a boat to reach it but once there, you’ll find a bird sanctuary, white sandy beaches and bright blue water.

Don’t Forget

• Water
• Sunscreen
• Camera
• Something to use for shade (No shade on island)

The Dock & Getting There

I arrived at Shell Key Shuttle, located at Merry Pier (801 Pass-a-Grille Way, St Pete Beach) a little early to film some of the birds at the docks before the boat took us out to the island. My advice is to get there early with a camera. You’ll be able to film pelicans, gulls and other various shore birds. It makes for a great film session. Each one has their own personality and you’ll get to know them quickly.

Shell Key Shuttle departs at 10am, 12pm & 2pm. The cost is $25 and that covers getting you out there as well as the return trip. You can take the shuttle out any of those times and the shuttle will return every 2 hours (12:15pm, 2:15pm & 4:15pm) for pick up if you’re ready to head back to shore. Getting there and back takes about 10 minutes.

The fun of using this shuttle is that they are dolphin friendly and when dolphins are spotted, they give you an opportunity to film them at a very good distance as not to disturb the wildlife. I saw a number of them on my way back to shore.

Shell Key Island

When you get off the boat, you’ll find yourself walking along the shoreline of a white sandy beach and clear blue water. You’ll want to stay on the beach area as you’ll see signs that say no tresspassing behind you due to the bird sanctuary. There’s plenty of room to walk the shoreline around until you can’t go any further due to the water.

It’s called Shell Key Island and you’ll find seashells hanging from most of the tree branches just like a Christmas tree. This was one of the coolest thing’s I saw besides the wildlife. They are everywhere. It makes for a great photo opportunity.

I found the hike around was mostly flat with no shade. I went on a very hot day but brought enough water so I could last.

In closing, this is a must visit if you’re visiting Florida.

Birds You Can See

• Laughing Gull
• Herring Gull
• Ring-Billed Gull
• Royal Tern
• American Avocet
• Black-bellied Plover
• Black Skimmer
• Sanderling
• Ring-billed Gull
• Long-billed Curlew
• Brown Pelican
• Marbled Godwit
• Spotted Sandpiper
• Western Sandpiper
• Common Snipe
• Willet
• Least Sandpiper
• Dunlin
• Killdeer
• Semipalmated Plover
• Ruddy Turnstone
• Greater Yellowlegs
• Lesser Yellowlegs
• American Bittern
• American Oystercatcher
• Black-necked Stilt
• Roseate Spoonbill
• Anhinga
• Little Blue Heron
• Great Blue Heron
• Wood Stork
• Snowy Egret
• Double-crested Cormorant
• Great Egret
• Magnificent Frigatebird
• White Ibis
• Sandhill Crane
• Limpkin

List of Scenes

Scene 1 – Boat ride – DJI Osmo+
Scene 2 – Walking along beach – DJI Osmo+
Scene 3 – Tree with seashells – Sony FDR-AX100
Scene 4 – Birds on beach – Sony FDR-AX100
Scene 5 – Seashell in tree – Sony FDR-AX100
Scene 6 – Seashells on beach – Sony FDR-AX100
Scene 7 – White ibis’s walking along beach – Sony FDR-AX100
Scene 8 – Tree stumps and bird along beach – Sony FDR-AX100
Scene 9 – Waves crashing on beach – Sony FDR-AX100
Scene 10 – Waves crashing on beach & stumps – Sony FDR-AX100
Scene 11 – Waves crashing on beach – DJI Mavic Air
Scene 12 – Laughing gull – Sony FDR-AX100
Scene 13 – Sand dune – Sony FDR-AX100
Scene 14 – Brown pelican – Sony FDR-AX100
Scene 15 – Brown pelicans – Sony FDR-AX100
Scene 16 – Seagull – Sony FDR-AX100
Scene 17 – Pelicans – Sony FDR-AX100

Park Information

Shell Key Island

Mouth of Tampa Bay
St Pete Beach, FL 34688

Website

Shell Key

Equipment Used

Camera Gear

• Sony FDR-AX100
• DJI Mavic Air Drone
• DJI Osmo+
• Manfrotto Tripod

Software

• Adobe Premiere Pro CC

LUTs

• None (SOOC)