There is a thrill in the seeking, a buzz in the anticipation and a definite high in the find. Serious beachcombers chart the tides, covet their secret spots and plan their days around beach booty time.

While hurricanes can churn up buried treasures, it is more often the off-season nor’easters that bring in the best hauls. Since these storms also tend to occur in the months when we have fewer visitors, there is less competition for the good stuff. Collectors know to look higher than even the high-tide water mark and go to the sand-fencing and sea oats where beach debris is likely to cling. Currents from the winds and water will deposit treasures there, too.

One treasure that adorns the mantels of many locals is fulgurite. You may have found a piece and mistook it for sea glass. Fulgurite is formed when lightning strikes the beach and grains of sand are literally fused together to form a solid shape. The shapes of local fulgurite vary, though most are root-like in their appearance, taking the shape of the actual lightening strike as it hits the beach. The solid pieces appear to have melted sand on the surface while the inside of the ‘petrified lightening’ can become clear, like glass.

In contrast, sea glass is actually a byproduct of trash. Broken bottles or other broken pieces of glass that get tumbled in the ocean have their jagged edges smoothed over by time and waves before they wash up on the beach. Sea glass seems to attract a special breed of beach-goers who are often identified by their low and slow progression along the beach. Recognizable by their stoop-back posture and deliberate shuffle, most sea glass hunters are up early and are the first on the beach after a storm. Many even have secret locations to claim their jewels, and will not even share that information with friends or family.

The majority of beach hunters are not as hardcore, however, and love to share their secrets. Hatteras business owner Dhanyo Merillat-Bowers takes time to walk the beaches of the southern Outer Banks and says a special find for her “was a battered clam shell with crystals growing inside.” The finds can often be startling. Visitor Frank Tansky tells of walking in ankle deep water and coming across “a field of sand dollars, all alive. My conservative estimate is 5,000 or more! I have never seen, or known anyone who has seen anything like it.”

Many times we come across shapes we might not recognize, but somehow know are important. One fascinating silhouette found locally is a skate egg sac. These tiny black rectangular pods have tendrils protruding from each of their four corners. It is easy to see how they earned the nicknames, “devil’s pocketbooks” or “mermaid’s pocketbooks.” As fascinating as the outward appearance is, the function has driven their shape. Egg cases form around each skate embryo just before its mother deposits the cases on the bottom of the ocean. The tendrils help the sac cling to sea life and the hard case protects it from predators. When it is time for the baby skate to emerge, the case will split open at one end. It is the empty sacs that we typically find on the beach.

Conch egg casings, or sacs, are often called mermaid’s necklaces. Fun to play with on the beach, these strings of spiral disks appear to be very fragile, but are remarkably resilient. When found on the beach, dried and shaken, they rattle – thanks to hundreds of tiny shells still inside.

Coquina Shells are so prevalent around south Nags Head that a beach was named for them. Look for tiny bivalves less than an inch long. If you have a lot of patience, when found alive, they are edible! Otherwise, look for empty shells lining the beach. They live in pods, and they float up on the beach in the same manner.

You will rarely find just one coquina shell. Some objects that get washed ashore are downright creepy. Local artist Russel Turner found his thrill near Penny’s Hill “a whale skull, about the size of a [kitchen] appliance,” he describes. Some beach finds seem specifically targeted to their finder as when Jim Williams, a local wedding officiant, found a gold wedding band that had washed up in the sand. Many will wax philosophically when queried about the most interesting thing they ever found on the beach. Tennessee visitor Joel Butts perhaps sums up the magic of our beaches when he described his favorite find: “my mind.”

A True Life Message In A Bottle

A bottle that was found in Southern Shores after Hurricane Irene contained a waterlogged postcard self-addressed to J.S. Kirwin in Rochester, New York. Our writers decided to do more than just mail it back. Here is the story of a real life message in a bottle: Susan and Jerry Kirwin have been coming to the Outer Banks since they started courting over 20 years ago. “The first year we were together, he took me to Cape Hatteras; once I saw the lighthouse, it was love at first sight,” says Susan. “We have been back every year.” It was Jerry’s idea, says Susan, to start their message in a bottle experiment. He writes, addresses and stamps the postcards; she rolls them into wine bottles and seals each one with candle wax. A bit surprised to hear from us, Susan shared that, including this one, three bottles have been acknowledged. They don’t remember many of the details about the other two. The couple isn’t trying to conduct mad experiments, they are simply curious and romantic folks. Susan admits to two favorite places to launch their bottles: the Hatteras-Ocracoke ferry and the Wright Memorial Bridge area. “We try to be discreet. We don’t want people to think we are littering,” adds Susan. ♦

