There’s still just about two months left of the 2023 Atlantic Hurricane Season here in North Carolina, and while some dread the thought of wind, rain and monstrous waves from storms brewing in the Atlantic, others are ready to have one shell of a good time.

You can find lots of rare and unique shells after storms, which makes those who have picked up a shelling hobby on the coast excited to see what treasures these storms will bring with them.  

What You Need To Know

  • There’s just under two months left of the 2023 North Atlantic Hurricane Season

  • Some folks on the coast who have picked up a shelling hobby say that after tropical storms and hurricanes is the best time to go hunting for rare shells

  • Ed McLeod kayaks regularly around Wrightsville Beach’s barrier islands and has found lots of rare shells

Ed McLeod, like so many who live by the ocean, decided to try out a watersport.

Ed McLeod kayaks to the Wrightsville Beach Barrier Islands. (Spectrum News 1/Natalie Mooney)

“I started kayaking about eight years ago,” McLeod said. “I used to live down the road, about a mile, and I’d always heard about Masonboro and wanted to try kayaking.”

Now, after nearly a decade, he’s practically an expert. In fact, this summer, he made a job out of it. With his company Blue Heron Kayak Tours, he takes people around Wrightsville Beach and its nearby barrier islands.  

“It’s just so great to come out here, and peaceful, and watch the like blue herons,” McLeod said. “Which I named my company after.”

But it’s not just the wildlife he enjoys, McLeod has also made a hobby out of shelling. 

“I find all kinds of sea glass, some even pirates glass,” McLeod said. “Which dates back 300 something years.”

Ed McLeod show some sea glass he found after a storm on the beach. (Spectrum News 1/Natalie Mooney)

McLeod says all his best treasures are found after tropical storms and hurricanes since the strong waves carry shells normally found in deeper waters onto the shore.

“After the storms are always the best time to find these bigger shells like this,” McLeod said. “There was one day where I found, probably a dozen of these, and I probably hadn’t found a dozen in a year.”

He’s found all sorts of treasures that have washed up from storms including ancient shark teeth, rare sea glass and even Native American arrowheads dating back hundreds of years. Now that he’s started Blue Heron, he’s excited that he gets to help others on their treasure hunts too.

Ed McLeod shows off some of the bigger shells he has found. (Spectrum News 1/Natalie Mooney)

“If I can get that big shell they’ve never found or that shark tooth or some kind of fossil that’s on their bucket list, then that’s about as rewarding as it can be,” McLeod said.
“And I think wow … that’s my job.”

You can track which storms are coming toward North Carolina on the National Hurricane Center’s website.