Beachcombing Tips
Beachcombing is a popular activity throughout the year.
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All could be called beachcombers. If you are a beachcomber in search of some treasures that may wash ashore on or near your particular location, there are a few tips that might help your efforts.
First, beachcombing should be considered the art of finding lots of different types of great stuff, none of which is alive. Please do not disturb any of the marine life you find on the beach or tide pools that you visit. Feel free to pick up, open and read any message in a bottle that you find. The exact rules for what may or may not be removed for any beach are location specific.
The best time for beachcombing starts after the high tide begins to recede. It ends when the tide is at its lowest. The logic for the timing is simple. Storms and high wave activity churn up, lift and move stuff from the ocean floor and deposit it on the beach during high tide. Calm weather is usually an indication of lesser amounts of beach debris at high tide. As the tide goes out, the deposited items are left uncovered.
Seashells are one of the most popular items that people look for as they walk the shoreline. As the name suggests, seashells are the hard portion or home for a group of animals called mollusks. Mollusks basically divide into two types of shells, univalve or bivalve.
The univalve shell is a single shell often in an oval or cone shape. It has one opening and is a common shell for mollusks such as snails. Most of the shells you will see on the beach are from the sea snails group and they come in a variety of sizes and colors. Conch shells are the largest sized shells in this category.
Bivalve seashells are the other type you see at the beach. They have two symmetrical sides that close around the mollusk. Clams and oysters are perhaps the two most common bivalves.
Since mollusk species (and their shells) are often regionally specific, you will need a local guide to improve your identification skills.
Sandy and rocky beaches are contrasting environments found along the coast. They offer different types of beachcomber activities. For example, rock hounds love a good walk around many of the west coast's rocky beaches where they search for semi-precious stones eroded from the nearby cliffs such as agate, carnelian, jade, jasper and moonstone.
Metal detectors are the preferred tool of the man-made beachcombing crowd. You'll often see individuals with metal detectors walking up and down the beach looking for man-made objects such as jewelry, coins and artifacts. Check with local officials to determine which beach areas are metal detector accessible.
© 2006. Patricia A. Michaels.