Nikon DSLR Issue: Sand Underneath Shutter Button

I have a Nikon D40x that I'm just beginning to really learn how to produce quality images on. Being on vacation at the beach, it was a perfect opportunity to take some really nice pictures of the beach and family. I passed my camera to two other people to take shots of me and others but I think they (and me probably) got sand underneath the shutter button. Now, the shutter is jammed down to where it focuses automatically when I turn it on, and even the slightest touch to the button makes the shutter go off. I KNOW it's sand, because before I went to the beach absolutely nothing was wrong. Is there any easy sort of fix I could try myself? I'm still on vacation and I would love to take more pictures.

You need to have a professional repair person clean the sand out of the shutter button and anywhere else you got it.

I guess you now know that you have to be more careful when using the camera under conditions that could be hazardous to your camera.

In the future NEVER let anyone handle your camera since no one will ever take care of your camera like you will

Don't press any button, don't open anything; see if you can get a really powerful blower to remove it
If it doesn't work bring it to clean