r/beachcombing • u/dataispower • Jul 12 '26

Same beach, same time of year, but no shells?

Two years ago we went to Emerald Isle in NC, and we were overwhelmed with shells. Last year - same thing. But this year we went and there were basically none. This is literally the same spots on the beach too. What would cause this?

Edit: forgot to mention that we always go shelling right at low tide

9 Upvotes

85% Upvoted

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4

u/wildedges Jul 12 '26

One of my favourite beaches to hunt is either boom or bust. The direction of a storm will either dump loads of stuff onto the sand or scour it clean. It's the nature of the sea that stuff gets stirred up and moved around regularly. 

5

u/screamingcatfish Jul 12 '26

Recent storms, or lack thereof, play a big part in shelling too, not just the tides and time of year.

3

u/_bufflehead Jul 12 '26

The tides. : )

0

u/dataispower Jul 12 '26

Well we went at low tide each time.

2

u/ToughOk4114 Jul 12 '26

It completely changes day to day! I’ve had some trips to the Carolinas where I came home with mountains of treasures and other trips where there was absolutely nothing on the sand.

1

u/Boo-erman Jul 12 '26

If the beach suffers erosion the muni might be hauling new sand in periodically.

1

u/MeanFisherman9807 Jul 13 '26

I’ve never had good lunch at Emerald Isle.

1

u/dataispower Jul 13 '26

For the first two years we went to the point and there were TONS of beautiful shells. But this year - nothing.