When we decided to go to Hilton Head Island for our anniversary trip, the first thing I looked into was the shelling.  It is one of my favorite things to do while at the beach, so I wanted to find out where the shelling hotspots were.  In my initial research online, most forum posts didn’t recommend Hilton Head Island for beachcombers.  As I shared in other posts, the island is a part of a chain of sandbars and that prevents a lot of shells from reaching the beach.  There were some shelling/fossil-hunting tours, but I wasn’t sure we would want to make that big of a time commitment to an excursion.  So, I looked into beaches that were considered the best in the area even if shells weren’t as abundant as other South Carolina beaches.  This led me to Fish Haul Beach Park on Hilton Head Island and Hunting Island Park in Beaufort, about an hour’s drive from Hilton Head.  Those were the two places I went shelling over three days and I ended up finding some nice shells.  These shelling tips aren’t as extensive as my shelling guide for Isle of Palms and Wild Dunes (you can find that HERE) since I was only on Hilton Head for a few days and it was my first visit.  This should give you some good places to look, though, if you’re in the area and want to do some shelling.

hilton head shelling tips | what you can find

You really never know what’s going to wash up on the beach, but I wanted to give you an idea of what kind of shells you can find in the Hilton Head area.  Of course, what I like to collect and what you like to collect might be different, but that’s the beauty of the hunt.  Some of the shells that I like to hunt for are…

The South Carolina state shells, the Lettered Olive.  Those are probably my favorite because I have a lot of memories attached to them.  They were my Oma’s favorite and I have wonderful memories of looking for them at Long Beach North Carolina each summer.  I keep my collection in large glass jars and add to it each year.

My favorite olive shells are dark brown and dark gray, but they come in pale beige, cream, and orange.

Augers (or we always called them Christmas trees) are small shells that get stuck in broken shell fields or can be found rolling around in the surf.  Because their shape is similar to olive shells, you often find them in the same places.  Jeff wanted to find olive shells for me and I told him to keep an eye out for Augers.  When you find Augers, you’re likely to find olives.  They are usually around an inch long, but you can find teeny tiny ones about the size of a sharpened pencil tip.

Lady’s Ears are dainty little shells that can be found in several colors from white to gray to pale orange.  They are usually about 1/2″ in size, but you can find larger ones like this white one I found on Hunting Island Beach.

Whelks are one of my favorites, especially large gray whelks.  I only found one large one the entire trip that wasn’t occupied by a hermit crab.  It was partially buried in the sand on Hunting Island Beach and was likely unused because of the large hole.  I know some people want pristine shells, but I like the ones that have been beating up from rolling around in the surf for a while.  To me, they tell a story.  I like fully intact whelks, too, but I won’t discard damaged ones or even interesting pieces.

I also found some smaller Lightning Whelks and some Banded Tulip shells like the one below…

Oyster shells are abundant, particularly at Fish Haul Beach Park since there are oyster beds in the flats that are exposed during low tide. I think it’s tempting to ignore shells that are plentiful, but I think oyster shells are so beautiful, especially when they are clumped together.  To me, they look like sculptures and are a prized find.  I also look for individual oyster shells with interesting shapes, colors, and barnacles or coral growing on them.  This oyster shell sculpture I found on Fish Haul Beach was the largest, most impressive one I’ve found.  I just about squealed with delight when I spotted it.

There are also a ton of uses for oyster shells – making wreaths and garlands, Christmas ornaments, using them in a garden as a border or path, and as vase filler.  They have been used for centuries for building, farming, buttons, and jewelry, and are one of the earliest known bowls/utensils as well as paint cups.

Moon snails are pretty plentiful as well and you can find some beautiful ones.  My mom keeps moon snail shells in her garden and birds swoop in to pick them up, thinking they’ve found a tasty treat, only to drop them when they realize it’s empty.  It’s amusing to see where the shells end up.

I found a few fossilized pieces of bone, wood, and other oddities, but I didn’t see any shark’s teeth.  They are known to be found on these beaches, but I wasn’t lucky (or observant enough) on this trip.

You can find other shells like cockles, the Atlantic Jackknife, Angel Wing clams, channeled whelks (which are a bit daintier than lightning whelks, so are prone to breaking), and little connected clam shells shaped like butterfly wings to name a few.  There are also a lot of interesting pieces of driftwood to be found.

hilton head shelling tips | where to look

We only went shelling on two beaches, but I found nice shells on both.  We spent two days at Fish Haul Beach Park and one at Hunting Island Beach Park.  At Fish Haul Beach, we went at low tide on the first day and walked right from the beach access.  I found most of my shells along the high tide line deposits, making coming at low tide unnecessary.

Since it was just a 10-minute drive on the island, we decided to check it out again on our last day.  This time, we walked left from the beach access and learned that was the better direction for shelling.  I stayed primarily along the high tide line, finding oyster shells mostly.  Jeff walked ahead and waved me over toward the end of the exposed beach to a huge deposit of shells.  It’s a little hard to tell from the picture, but this entire area and the banks along the tidal pools were thick with small shells.

We spent a lot of time poking and digging around and found a lot of augers and olive shells.  It would be a great place to bring a sieve and a kneeling pad to see what you could find a few inches down.  We kept our search primary surface level and still found a decent amount of shells worth keeping.  Here is a map showing where the shell field is located.  At low tide, there are more grasses, mudflats, and sand bars exposed.

We checked out a few beach access points on Hunting Island but found most of our shells around the lighthouse area.

Almost all of the shells we found were collected around the erosion barriers at low tide.  You can see clumps of shells caught around them and it was a treasure trove for olive shells, small whelks, augers, and banded tulips.  I also found the large, partially buried whelk towards the top of one of the barriers.

We also found sand dollars in the flat sand at low tide and some nice shells along the high tide line.

One last tip I’ll share…  When you go out to comb beaches, I would encourage you to be an explorer and a scientist collecting specimens to study.  Approach it with curiosity and a desire to learn as well as curate natural souvenirs.  Pick up what speaks to you even if no one else seems interested.  And, when you get home and you’ve washed the salt and sand off of your treasures, line them up and study them.  Look them up if you’re not sure what they are.  Find a way to display them so they can be enjoyed for many years.

Both Fish Haul Beach and Hunting Island Beach are the sort of beaches you walk out on and think there probably won’t be much to look for.  The beaches look flat and sparse at first glance, but if you know where to look, you can have a rewarding beachcombing experience.  I hope these Hilton Head shelling tips will help you with exactly that!