John K. Flores: Shell collecting makes for a fun day on Louisiana coast

Darren Alcock and his daughters, Abby and Anna, scurried about on Holly Beach in southwest Louisiana filling their buckets with treasures. Treasures of all shapes and sizes.

It’s something Alcock says he and the girls do frequently as a family, said Alcock, a 25-year math professor at McNeese State University. “The best time to go shelling is right after it storms when the winds are hard out of the south. The storms wash the shells up on the beach and we’ll come down here and pick them up. We polish them up and use them for artwork and things like that.”

There are actually 26 miles of beaches along what’s known as the Creole Nature Trail All American Road. There are no high-rise hotels. No beach front condominiums. And hardly anyone around.

You can pull off on the side of the Gulf Beach Highway (La. 82) road and shell for a few minutes or make an all day trip of it with a picnic lunch.

Just to the east of Holly Beach along La. 82 is Rutherford Beach. Which beach is better to shell?

Lake Charles Southwest Louisiana Convention and Visitors Bureau Director of Social Media Kathyrn Shae Duncan prefers shelling on Rutherford Beach.

Duncan said, “I love shelling. My favorite spot is on Rutherford Beach. I like to walk east along the coast on Rutherford. The shelling is more abundant. I’ve met a lot of visitors who are excited to show me what shells, or sometimes even shark teeth, they’ve found. I even have a small collection of my favorite shells from along the gulf, specifically Rutherford, that decorate my office and living room.”

Popular shells visitors will find are whelks, which look like tops or a tornado-shaped funnel cloud. If you’ve stopped in for gas at a Shell gas station convenience store, you’ve seen the classic sign. Cockle shells look just like the Shell Oil sign.

Angel wing shells take on a whole other meaning when you put the two together. They actually do resemble angel wings or butterfly wings.

Other shells you’ll find on both Holly and Rutherford beaches are cat’s eyes, olives, wentle traps, coquinas and periwinkles. The cool thing about shelling on these southwestern beaches is you get to keep all of the shells.

During the 2022 Thanksgiving holiday, Duncan brought her sister and her sister’s friend, who happened to be from Boston, to Rutherford and Holly Beach. While there, they spent part of the evening shelling and watching the sunset.

Duncan’s best friend Anna also accompanied them. Anna, Duncan says, used the shells they picked up to make her a Christmas present that was in the shape of a
Christmas tree.

In an article in Scientific American, describing what a shell is, Francis Horne, a biologist who studies shell formation at Texas State University says, seashells are the exoskeletons of mollusks such as snails, clams, oysters, and many others and are made up mostly of calcium with a small amount, perhaps 2 percent, protein.

The exoskeleton isn’t shed, so seashells must enlarge to accommodate their body growth.

There are miles and miles of beaches to shell in Florida. However, one of the things my wife Christine and I have found while shelling the beach on Sanibel Captiva Island, is you can walk for miles and miles and not pick up as many quality shells as you can on Holly and Rutherford beaches.

Recently, Christine shelled Holly Beach and found a treasure-trove of pear and lightning whelk shells that were literally pristine.
Duncan said, “It’s one of those activities that no matter how old or young you are, you can lose track of time walking up and down the shoreline picking up treasures.”

In the next couple of weeks, the kids will be out of school for the summer. If you’re looking for a fun activity, why not do a little shelling this summer? It’s something the whole family will enjoy.

John Flores is the Morgan City Review’s outdoor writer. He can be contacted at gowiththeflo@cox.net.