Blue skies. Waving palm trees. Pink-sand beaches. Queen conch shells. The Bahamas. Scuba divers and snorkelers know it very well. The surface of the clear, turquoise-blue water surrounding the islands is like a portal into another world. But don't sell short the beaches those waters splash onto. Hunting for shells on the beaches of the Bahamas is nothing short of fantastic: A treasure trove of colorful and exotic seashells awaits both the casual and serious collector.
Those Far Out Islands
- The beaches of the Out Islands -- or in the waters just beyond them -- are where the most shells are to be found. Among these islands, which can be reached by either boat or plane, are the Abacos, a 120-mile-long chain of small islands separated from the Atlantic Ocean by a string of barrier islands. The water sandwiched between these two lines of islands is a shallow, turquoise-blue snorkeler’s paradise called the Sea of Abaco. In terms of shelling to be enjoyed on other Out Islands, Andros Island is adjacent to the planet’s third biggest barrier reef. Crooked Island has miles of undisturbed sandy beaches, coral gardens, limestone caves and even the remains of a British fort built to defend the island from pirates. And Eleuthera is a pencil thin island with miles of both pink- and white-sand beaches to scour.
The Old Shell Game
- Hundreds of marine species produce exquisite shells found in the shallow waters or lying on the high water lines of the Out Island beaches. Sand dollars are common. The shells of the large queen conch (pronounced “conk”), which are the only conch eaten in the islands, are found just about everywhere. More exotic shells, like king, queen or emperor helmet shells are also found around the Out Islands, as are West Indies clank, pink conch and roller conch shells. You might also find a relatively rare rooster conch shell around Crooked Island, small bleeding tooth nerite snail shells just about everywhere and even a few bivalve shells such as the pen shell or the sunrise tellin.
A Sunset of Shells
- A whole plethora of shells will be found on the beaches at low tide, particularly near the high tide mark. Somerset Creek Beach on Andros Island, in fact, got its name from the fact that millions of shells of varying colors are deposited in bands as the tides recede until the mile-long stretch of shoreline begins to look like the graduating colors of the setting sun. On Eleuthera, meanwhile, heaps of queen conch, netted olive, true tulip shells and others pile up in mounds on the beaches, particularly after hurricanes. It wasn't a mistake, after all, that Eleuthera was named one of the top shelling beaches on the east coast by Coastal Living magazine.
What Treasures Lie Below
- Another way to look for shells is with a mask and snorkel in the clear, calm, shallow waters off the Out Islands, which abound with living shells. Conch feed by the hundreds in the thick seaweed. Rooster conch, not an easy shell to find, have been found among the rocky reefs off Crooked Island. And snorkelers might even find Triton’s trumpet shells as big as 18 inches long in the shallows. There are no restrictions on collecting and taking empty shells home, but shellers admiring live mollusks should leave them and their shells in the sea to ensure the species' future.
