HHI beachcombing and sand dollars?

[ranthony]

Has anyone done the beachcombing tour while at HHI?

I've read that this tour, which is longer but a bit more costly, is great because you usually see dolphins and get time to find some wonderful shells.

I was hoping to return from our Thanksgiving trip with sand dollars to use to decorate our Christmas tree. Will I be able to find sand dollars if I take this tour?

Also, can sand dollars be found on the beach in front of the beach house?

TIA

 

[btrim]

it is illegal to pick up Sand Dollars on the beach. They are a living, breathing creature and if you get caught with them, there is a pretty hefty fine. I would guess that any organized tour will make sure you don't pick up any of the living shells/sand dollars.

 

[CarolA]

I spent a lot of time on HHI growing up.

It's not a good shelling beach in general. I was there ONCE when there was some typ of Sand Dollar death wave. (not sure what else to call it, but some storm or something turned up thousands of the things.) If they were alive we were suppose to put them back in the water. (The problem is when the tides are as big as at HH once they get out they tend to dry out and die BEFORE the tide comes back) If they were dead you could collect them. I have no idea what triggered the "death wave" but it was not common.

Due to the gentle beaches shells tend to be beat to pieces before they hit shore (that includes the remains of sand dollars) I have no idea where they find these "wonderful" shells, but it's not generally a good shelling beach. (After a hurricane is good however LOL!)

 

[ranthony]

it is illegal to pick up Sand Dollars on the beach. They are a living, breathing creature and if you get caught with them, there is a pretty hefty fine. I would guess that any organized tour will make sure you don't pick up any of the living shells/sand dollars.

Well, this certainly wasn't the case when I lived in NC about 15 years ago. I've also visited Charleston and they were for sale at every other shop downtown.

If it is against the law, I certainly wouldn't do it, or go against any tours "policies".

I understand that sand dollars are (or were) living creatures but am I wrong in thinking that once they are beached that is not the case? Do they return to the sea?

 

[btrim]

They always have the shells for sale. However, if the sand dollars are washed up on shore and they are bleached white, that means they are no longer living. If they are still the grayish color, they are still alive. I am sure people pick them up all the time. When we visited HH a couple of years ago, they handed out information at check in on what you are not allowed to pick up on the beach. I agree with CarolA that HH does not have the best shell beaches. I think to find very many, you have to be out early when the tide is changing.

 

[ranthony]

I wonder if it's worth it to to the beachcombing tour as opposed to the dolphin tour. The price for the dolphin tour is $40 for 1 hours 45 min. and the price for the beachcombing is $70 for 3 hours (some of that time being off-boat).

What's interesting is that in the description of the tour provided on the resort activity sheet it states "During this 3 hour tour you will get off the boat and search for a variety of shells, sand dollars, and star fish". I suppose they would tell us which ones we could take.

I remember taking a group of middle school students on a weekend excursion while I was teaching in NC. I can't remember where we went exactly but the tour guides gave us buckets to fill up with sand dollars. There were thousands of them on the shore. The art teacher filled a bucket and used it on her tree that Christmas and it was really beautiful.

Perhaps this was one of those times that CarolA was referring to but I thought it was common to come across many sand dollars.

 

[disney1474]

We just got back from HH this past weekend. We did the dolphin cruise and liked it very much. We were going to include the beachcombing cruise also but decided not to. We were glad we didn't because we saw alot of starfish and sand dollars (live ones) right on the beach!! And it was free!!!!!
Make sure your at the beach during low tide, this is when you will see them. The sand dollars I would pick up off the ocean floor, never saw these out of the water. I showed my kids and thru them back in the water

 

[CarolA]

Additional info

http://www.hhidirect.com/sanddollars.html

 

[hellerjw]

I have lived in SC my entire life and have never heard anything about it being illegal to collect sand dollars?

I've been to Myrtle Beach roughly 150 times and have collected them everytime we have been there. I have never seen a live one on the beach, only the dry,white leftover "shells" they turn into. Hilton Head may be different and get more live ones on the beach than usual.

I would think it would take some extraordinary event (hurricane, disease, etc) for them to start washing up to shore still alive in large numbers. Unless you are collecting them with a net or in some other way plucking them out of the ocean, any of them you find on the sandy part of the beach are most likely already dead. Obviously, if you find a live one put it back into the surf, otherwise I wouldn't worry about the "sand dollar" police tracking you down

 

[MinnieGi]

As others have said HHI's beach does not have lots of shells or sand dollars on it. Actually that is one of the things we love about their beach it is very smooth to walk on!

However there are lots of live sand dollars in the ocean. DH picked some up to show the kids and then put them back in. DD and I did rescue a starfish that was out of water and stuck on the beach. We picked it up and saw it was still alive and threw it back into the ocean.

 

[cgcw]

We have done it several times and hope to do it again. Each trip has been different from the others. Keep in mind that there are no guarantees that you will find sand dollars. The tour is done at low tide. By that time, everything up at the high tide line has already died and will eventually be washed back into the ocean.

On our way out to the island, we've seen dolphins along the way. We've learned about the ecology of the area. We've learned about the birds in the area. The tour is longer than a dolphin tour because you ride out to the island, then get off (into the water, usually about knee deep) and then walk along the beach.

Here are some pictures. Everything here has been found on Dufuski Island during the beach combing trip. We've done it probably 7 times with Scott from Low Country Nature Tours. Scott is very careful to make sure that we don't take anything that's alive. We've had opprotunties for our kids to hold the live star fish. One we walked along the low tide line to see hundreds of starfish, just at where the waves break. It was an awesome sight. Scott has always walked along the beach with us, pointing out things that we would have walked right past. It's one of our favorite things to do when we visit Hilton Head.