What I found on North and South Carolina beaches. Did I even need to leave Florida?

Hello Beach Friends! So this Florida gal is about to embark on day two of my Not Florida shelling trip and today we will be visiting Holden Beach, North Carolina as well as Keowha Beachwalker Park, South Carolina. Now right now it's 6 36 in the morning. I left at 4 a.m. and I spent the first hour driving dodging deer. It is absolutely unnerving to see so many deer just grazing on the side of the road in the dark. The second hour of my drive I spent questioning my life choices in the dark but I did make it here to Holden Beach for shells that at this point I'm pretty sure I could have found back in Florida but I think that's kind of the point. Sometimes it's not really about finding something new it's just about going seeing something different taking the long way and being grateful for whatever you may happen to find along the way. Right now I'm truly just grateful that I made it here in one piece and what is waiting for us? A piece of quahog. Yep all right big old chunk of quahog. I suspect that is a northern quahog. Didn't know what to expect. I mean I've never been here. I've watched a couple videos so obviously of what could be found but I don't know. Let's check it out. What do we got here? All right it looks like a docinia lucine although it could be a crosshatch lucine. That looks like ponderous arc intact. Okay a lot of shrapnel. There's a lot of pieces of things here. Okay just trying to like familiarize myself. Lots of darker things. All right again a lot just pieces of cockles not a whole lot intact here anyway. Okay all right looks like it's definitely going to be a little bit of a hunt for me. I found this little smattering and here is an auger. All right cool and it's all right it's trying to get away from me. Nope not gonna happen buddy especially since you are absolutely intact. So yeah you're definitely gonna come home with me but the rest of this all right I do see an intact coquina but the rest of this is really just crushed up shells. All right yep all right I got my work cut out for me. I am prepared for the challenge though. I am. Oh I was hoping so these are fossilized sea biscuits that pretty much anybody who visits Holden Beach gets to have one but yep that's not in great shape. I am not going to hold on to that but that's what I was hoping would be here. So that's yay but hopefully we'll find something that's a little bit better condition. There just must be millions of them. They've been showing up for years. Let's see what's that. I think that's a blood arc. Okay they're intact. Kind of intact. I mean the urchin is kind of like a stone. Look how soft the sand is. That's really soft and this is the best example of a knobbed whelk I have found yet. So I'm gonna hold on to that. Yeah cool and that white part that's just the inside of the shell. So the shell was more intact and it's kind of breaking apart. Oh a cross-barred venus clam. Look at that. Yep extremely common in my neck of the woods. Looks like they show up here too. I think that is a blood arc I believe. Okay see a bits and pieces like I said like I got my work cut out for me and I do love a good challenge so I don't mind that at all and you know it's funny because I was hoping to find new treasures and I did find a few but somehow the biggest surprise was driving all this way to meet some of the same shells I left back in Florida and that's okay but if you're ready to see what all is going to be out there for us today let's go to the beaches. All right there's a piece of banded tulip. That is about... did I see anything North Carolina? I'm still in North Carolina aren't I? Yeah this was like a fever dream this trip. It was yesterday was North Carolina today's both North and South Carolina. Oh look at that spiny jewel box with a big hole. Yeah that's been here for a minute but I recognize it as is that cross-barred venus clam. I just set it down next to. It's kind of fun having all the black pieces. I don't normally have that much black on the beach. There's a lot of black up in North Carolina too so I do see someone up there and I'm kind of wanting you know they're hunting so I'm feeling a little salty about that like yeah they're probably picking up my shells but I'll get back to that in a minute. Oh beautiful coquina. Yes I saw the fossilized urchin there too. Gorgeous and hinged. Yeah yep let's take a look at that. Yeah that's been here a minute. It's kind of cool you can see the Aristotle's lantern. That's the mouth bits on the underside. Yeah fascinating. I kind of did try to dig a little research into those sea biscuits and there just must be a shelf out there somewhere and there's they just keep rolling in for like a year or so it's been going on. All right kitten paw has been buried for a minute. Awesome. So I'm gonna add some black kitten paws to my collection. Oh okay. I'm gonna reserve my uh I was gonna say this looks promising but oh baby's ear. Oh yay. So I was hoping for baby's ears and wensel trap. Those are the two species of shells I was very much hoping on this trip to find. That's great. All right we've got our first baby's ear of the day. Awesome. And another one of those little round. I think that one's a cross hatch lucine and honestly the shape is really the same for a lot of these little shells. I'm just going to look at the pattern. Yeah that one on the right is definitely a cross hatch lucine. Kind of hard to tell the patterns on the other shells but at least they're intact. So some intact shells. Here's a calico scallop been buried. I can see the color coming through. Yeah but it's it's intact and I do like the black shells anyway so that's fun. Sand dollar yeah. All right so they have the keyhole sand dollars here. Okay just a piece which is really a flat urchin. Oh here's a little smattering there. So okay long as there's something to look through right. Oh here's another little calico scallop. So it's kind of worn down the little wings on the bottom there. Those are called oracles and those have been worn down. It's okay still pretty. Oh there's another auger. Oh terrific lovely lovely common auger. Oh look at that a lady-in-waiting venus clam. Huh you know they hang out with the imperial venus clams I wonder. Yeah probably not on this beach. Hard to say but that's an imperial venus clam. Cool and that looks like a mossy arc. Yep that is what that is a mossy arc. Yeah not in great shape. It's clearly missing like its first layer of shell but okay. Lettered olive. A couple of them all right. So that is the state shell of South Carolina. Cool kind of like once you your brain sees something it's for a minute or two that's all your brain kind of sees and so I'm probably going to spend a minute or two picking up olives. Yeah I don't know if I'm going to see any other gastropods today so let's just make hay while the sun is shining right or find olives while I have this little shell pile however you want to call it. It does seem to again like with the coquina pieces the olives. Yeah I see a piece of a cross barred venus clam. Yeah a little olive and I'll leave that behind. No wenthel traps yet though not yet. All right so a couple more olives. Oh look a little marginella. Well that's fun. I didn't know that those little creatures came up here too. Well frankly because I've never shelled outside of Florida. This is only the second day ever I've been shelling. I've been to other beaches. I just hadn't discovered shells yet. Took me moving to Florida for me to love shells. I believe that's a mud snail and on some level I kind of get it. What's this? Yeah another piece of mud snail. This is very very very very different than what I am used to in southwest Florida and it makes sense. This is a little bit closer to probably what I experienced. Actually this is better shelling than in New Jersey. In New Jersey there was cohogs. There was just nothing to really inspire me. Trying down by the beach. Typically I'll zigzag but down here um yeah there is nada. So I'm probably gonna yep all right and head back up. Go through the grit. That's okay. Wenthel traps hang out with grit. Oh that's fun. So that's probably oh I can't tell if it's cross hatched or docinia lucine but obviously been buried. It's got those stripes like the ones I found last yesterday or last week. All right what else might be here? Oh here's another little scallop. You know that's our I want to say bay scallop. I can't just because of the coloring can't quite tell. Actually I think that might be a calico scallop. All right a remnant of a nutmeg. Yeah just a nutmeg piece. That's all I saw. I only saw pieces of nutmegs on this trip thus far. All right okay so that was one of those docinias and that is a lady-in-waiting venus clam. Cool. Been buried. Got that black color. That's that oh that is a piece of a knobdwelk. Yep yep. All right did I see a limpet? I might have missed something. All right there's another banded tulip piece. A bunch of arcs. Yeah but it's mostly pieces not a lot of intact shells. All right here's an auger. Yeah that's cool. They seem to be able to survive the battering that these other shells don't. Another lady-in-waiting venus clam. Oh yeah another two two lady-in-waiting venus clams and an auger. Oh look they color coordinate. Very nice. Now this I think is one of those chemnitz arc clams. I haven't I showed this to you um when I went to the Carolinas but it hasn't that video hasn't um aired yet so I don't know. I'm hoping someone might be able to confirm or deny what that particular shell is. It's kind of pretty. That's calico scallop. Definitely calico scallop. Beautiful and yes number two that's been sort of buried. All right nice to see a little bit of color on the beach. Oh yeah that one's in a little bit better condition than some of the other ones. I'm still trying to find a decent one. That one looks I would say that that's decent right and you'll see it has those five petals because so does a sand dollar. They have pencil radial symmetry. They have five little pieces of them. Oh a shark tooth. Okay so that guy that was down the beach or the person that was down the ended up being a guy. He wasn't looking for shells. He was looking for shark teeth and when he and I met he mentioned shark tooth. I looked down and I found one. So now now I'm hunting for both. Is that a shark? No not a shark tooth. So now I'm hunting for shark teeth and the shells. I guess I just didn't realize that shark teeth were here. Oh jingle. Fantastic. So kind of fun. You can hunt for two different things here. Juneau Beach is like that too or some of the beaches on the east coast of Florida are like that. Well there's a limpet. Oh that is cool. I wish it wasn't broken. I love that it's black. That is fabulous. Yeah I'm not going to keep it though. It's broken. Hopefully I'll find another one. I have plenty of limpets. Not a black one but it would be nice. Okay a shark eye. Is it a piece of shark eye or is it intact? It's most of a shark. Maybe it's just ever so slightly broken. Very cool little shark eye. Oh now that is quite lovely. So that is a calico scallop. Intact. Great color. That's shaping up to be about... other than that baby's ear. Yep that's one of the nicer shells I found today. Pretty awesome. Is that another baby's ear? Oh it is. Speaking of baby's ears. Oh it's like tie dye. So it's like sort of color you know sort of white sort of discolored. Oh that's neat. The fact that it's intact. That's a little bit more important to me anyway. So another little baby's ear. Cool. Oh that one is neat. So see that hole? I suspect a critter actually dug that hole through that fossilized sea biscuit. Oh that is neat. I just find it so interesting that other mollusks are kind of modifying other shells. Oh it's just fascinating and I'm actually going to think about that for a minute but I'm going to be quiet and allow you to have some beach time. All right is that a shark tooth? That is not a shark tooth. That is a very black piece of shell that kind of has the shape of a shark tooth. So fun though again I'm hunting two different things which means I'm probably going to start missing. Although I don't know that I could miss anything. It's just not a whole lot intact. Yep all right guys have any guesses what that is? So that is a piece of a shell that I talk about here in southwest Florida. It does have a scientific name of the phylonotus palmum and if you were thinking apple myrix you would have been correct. Yep so just a shard. That is the closest thing I have found to a myrix on my trip up north. Oh that's real pretty. Yeah I don't get to see stuff like that at home. So as long as I'm seeing something different I'm happy. It's fine. This trip I think was one of those just kind of scratch that itch kind of trips. I just needed to come see this place for myself. Another black kitten's paw and just you know experience northern shelling so that I have something to compare it to. That is awesome. So it's a limpet that's been buried. It's black. It's not broken. I love that. That's awesome. Awesome little keyhole limpet. You're really pretty too. Perfect little calico scallop. You can still kind of see the pattern underneath it. Oh that's so pretty. Lovely and some lovely coquinas. Obviously an important food source for many of the different peaches so fun to see that those are here as well. Oh let's add this. Now that coquina has a drill hole in it. Hmm I don't know that I've ever seen that. Here's another calico scallop that's been buried. It's intact so that makes it makes it a very good shell. Yeah I think that's the top of a channeled whelk if I had to guess. That's what I'm guessing that is. Another mossy arc. This one's in a little bit better shape. Yeah that is a mossy arc. All right the weird cousin of the turkey wing and that. So that is a shark tooth. It's not mine though. I did because this trip was so insane. My friend lives in the area. She came to hang out with me for a little while so I did get to visit and show her shark teeth to all of you. Now this is a tusk shell. Kind of looks like a tusk and sometimes they're open on both ends. Sometimes they're open on only one end. So can you believe that a critter made that? I know they're so interesting. Oh a spiny jewel box. Lovely little spiky as some of the specimens I get here in southwest Florida but still a very nice spiny jewel box. Oh and a lovely yellow coquina. That has a drill hole so that's just a lot. That is where like other animals are manipulating other shells. So I just I just like that. I think that's just kind of interesting. Oh and another one. Okay that one's great. See the nice petals on it. Oh and then you see the Aristotle's lantern on the other side. Oh very cool. So at least I got a couple of those. So that was Holden Beach. It was cool. I'm very very glad I came. And then I got back in the car and drove to Kiowa Beachwalker Park. So yeah 174 miles later I'm back on another beach. This time I'm in South Carolina. So this is going to be my first experience on a South Carolina trip. Beach rather. And I did come here specifically for Wentzel traps because at this point my little trip I've managed to find a couple babies here. Oh they have sea turtles here too and wild dolphins. Yeah it's just something I wouldn't know. I just I just don't think about that. I'm so glad I came. I really am. Cool beach. So there's zero rack line. There's there's no there's sand and there's what like drift. I don't know like here look here's a little what's that little clam or something yeah okay. So this is reminding me a little more of something I might the experience I would have in New Jersey where yeah there's just there's nothing here to inspire you. But it's a little bit of a trip to the end and I know Wentzel traps may like to kind of hang out like where I find them on Lighthouse Beach at the end like a point of the island. So I'm gonna keep this coquina that has a drill hole I might add. Kind of cool. Or in this one too. Shoot anything intact I'm gonna keep as I make my way to the very end of the island here. Two more pairs of coquinas. Oh that's kind of cool. That's one of those chimneys. Ark clams maybe. Yeah that's pretty. It's white. It's got its beads. I'm gonna keep that one. That one will pass the muster. So it is quite a bit of a walk and I was pretty determined. Now I could have come here and just kind of abandoned it but I really it would have bothered me. It would have bothered me knowing I was close and I didn't actually stop. So since I am here I am going to explore every nook every cranny. The high rack line. Okay here's it's still very windy. It was very windy yesterday. So got a little coquina. So yep I'm gonna zigzag up and down the beach. Just they're here or allegedly they're here somewhere. Oh that is a moon snail egg casing. Interesting. That's been really neat. Like coming across things you know hundreds of miles away from where I normally am but yet I know what they are. So that's been really interesting and again kind of reinforcing that you know maybe I didn't even need to leave Florida to find shells but it's the experience and I don't know that I've ever been able to find a coquina with throw holes. So I get to add those to my collection as well. All right okay a couple of intact shells. This alternate talon. Look at that. Oh that's pretty cool. Random one and what's this? This all right if I had to guess I'm going to say that that is actually a white rose petal talon. That's what I believe that one is. All right a couple of talons. So I'm getting intact shells. It's not the white shells I'm looking for. Here's a couple of beauties because it looks like the coquinas. You can depend on those coquinas but uh yeah not not all that much. But I will say considering I've never really been I don't know that I've ever been to South Carolina like this and gone to the beach and visited it. I did watch my brother graduate from the marines but yeah this is cool. This is really really cool. Oh a shark eye. All right a shark eye moon snail that kind of has a would you consider that a Paul Newman shark eye? I think we can't yeah I don't know that there's false shark eyes down here. Oh a channel duck clam. Yep you're all busted up. Yep but those can be found here too apparently. All right yeah getting the lay of the land. I was pretty determined so I was gonna go down to the point. I'm gonna walk right yep there's like flats in the back here. I'm gonna walk around back here. Oh a stranded jellyfish. I believe that is a cannonball jelly. Yeah he got stranded. But yeah all right so I've pretty much made it to the very end of the the island and you know what I don't see? Wentel traps. Yeah not nothing nothing even not even a bubble nothing even remotely um yeah but again at least I know now I know it would have bothered me so I I'm glad I'm still glad I came even though I'm still not finding a Wentel trap. I am going to collect however the best mud snail that I've gotten on this trip. So this is it. That's the best mud snail I've found. A little crusty crusty on it. I'm sure that'll clean up. So it's not for naught. I did get this. That's kind of fun. Oh here's another one. Our another shark eye moon snail with a drill hole. Lovely yeah the aperture is a little bit beat up but for a day like today that is an awesome show. And then this was just really I just happened to be standing here and obviously the tide is coming in and I've never really experienced anything like that so that was kind of the birds are kind of rushing at it. Now fun fact the further away you are from the equator the more extreme the tides are. This is what the tides are by me. It only gets to what we only measure like up to 2.5 feet. I'm much more south. Here in South Carolina where I was look at that the tide went up to six feet. So it again the further away you are from the equator the more extreme that the tides are. And I just have to be standing at the right place at the right time kind of catch that tide coming in. That was kind of fun. So now I know I know that I didn't that wintel traps were just not in my in the cards for me. It even I was really bummed about that because that's what I wanted. But I did get this channeled um channeled whelk. And yeah I'm looking around for puddle or something. Apparently I walked walked away from that tide coming in. I'm trying to knock out the shell itself. It's not in great shape. It's kind of got like calcification like stuff on it. I'll show you at the very end. Yeah but at least all right fine I can add one of those to my collection. A very very sandy channeled whelk. But at least it's a gastropod. And it's for all intent and purposes pretty intact. So I'm going to have a good walk on the way back. I stopped to admire these American oyster catchers for my bird watching friends. So there was that pair just kind of hanging out. And then there was this. This is a false angel wing. You'll notice yep so that waffle pattern on the right side does not travel all the way down the shell. So that makes it a false angel wing. Still fun though. Surprised it kind of made it intact up here. Cool. So another bivalve an angel wing. So now I can at least check off North Carolina and South Carolina from that list of places I had wanted to try. So now I know on a great shelling day. I've seen the videos. They're fantastic. But on a regular day this is what you're going to get. And I'm glad that I know that now. Because I can kind of have that reference. So now I know. I mean I've always known how lucky I am. Believe me I always did. But now I think I can definitely say I have a new appreciation. Because apparently sometimes you can travel a long way just to return to something familiar with a little bit more appreciation. So I'm so glad that I came. It really was a cool trip. Now a little bit of garbage. 0.3 ounces. But it still adds up. In total I've removed a little over 92 pounds of garbage from beaches. Including a bunch of those lettered olives up in North Carolina. There was that channel dwelk. The knob dwelk. A couple of those arcs. Some jingles. Lady waiting venus clams. There's some white leucines. Discolored leucines. Augers. Calico scallops. We've got a false angel wing. Another I think assembly. Kitten paws. That Chimnitz clam. Tusk shell. Mossy arc. The two talons. The alternate and what I think is a rose petal talon. There was some coquinas. I like that orange one. Those fossilized sea biscuits which are really cool. There's one spiny jewel box. A couple of those shark eyes. Then my favorites were the limpets. The baby's ears. The marginella. The shark tooth. The mud snail. And then those two scallops. So I know now what it's like to shell not in southwest Florida. And boy oh boy do I have a brand new appreciation. Now quickly I'm going to say thank you to my Patreons. I gave them a little sneak peek of next week and an entire overview on how I planned this trip. Where I decided to go and when. And all that good stuff. So that I posted over on Patreon. And without my Patreons none of this would be possible. Without that support I just couldn't do this. So thank you so much. Now I don't like spoilers but I'm telling you next week made the whole trip for me. It was absolutely amazing. This was one of the locations that just made my heart sing. All of these beautiful trees right on the beach. It was gorgeous and I didn't even mention the shells. People I bought a bag like an Ikea bag. I didn't fill the whole thing but I'm telling you next week is amazing. So until then I hope you have yourselves a fantastic week and I'll see you again next Sunday.