This weekend's "Under the Sea" event is a Polynesian-themed festivity that will be staged at Island Inn, one of Sanibel's most senior of beach-side resorts. For all the music, food and hijinks associated with a Hawaiian-Luau, the event serves as an important fundraiser for the Bailey-Matthews Shell Museum, a facility whose foundation in community history, education and economic significance, simply cannot be overstated.

While Sanibel has long secured distinction as one of the best shelling destinations in the world, the fact remains that it is also home to a museum that is so much more than a mere repository of materials made-up from the calcified excretions of ocean-going organisms. When considering its very specialized area of focus, the comprehensive nature of collected specimens and exhibitions, and its appeal to international shell lovers as well as researchers, the museum is a marvel within a world where only a few institutions of this kind can be identified - and it is right here, on Sanibel Island.

To put a proper context as to the museum's significance today, it is appropriate to get some perspective on its past and for that, one need only to speak with Evelyn Spencer. At 97-years young, Evelyn is one of the museum's longest serving volunteers. She was married to the late Gene Spencer, a Navy-man who survived the attack at Pearl Harbor in 1941 when both lived in Hawaii. Some years after the war, the two had planned to relocate state-side, and she says they determined to find an area whose beauty could rival what they had become accustomed to in Hawaii. Originally, the plan was to head for Key West. "Someone suggested, 'Why don't you go over to Sanibel," says Evelyn. "We had read about it, and thought 'Why not?' We came over and saw it... it wasn't overly civilized and had an read more here . . .

Source:  Island Reporter

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