Grand Strand beach renourishment & rain create perfect storm for shark tooth hunters

Grand Strand beaches have always provided hunters with shark teeth finds, but when beach renourishment is in town, it can be a gold mine.

Local shark tooth clubs say this weekend’s storm and beach renourishment will make for even more favorable shores as the rain washes away some of the freshly laid sand.

A National Weather Service weather briefing called for rain late Friday with the highest chance on Saturday.

Charles Shelton Jr., also known as Shark Tooth Charles, started collecting sharks teeth nearly 40 years ago. When beach renourishment moves stagnant sand around the shoreline and pumps sediment within a few miles out back to the beaches, he said there’s a whole new supply.

“It’s been much more prosperous than what it has in several years,” Shelton said.

Beach renourishment is conducted every seven to 10 years to address erosion from storms or king tides.

Renourishment has already been conducted from Cherry Grove down to 48th Avenue North in Myrtle Beach, according to the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers renourishment construction tracker. The project is currently under construction near Arcadian Shores, which wasn’t initially included in the Corps’ schedule for its $72 million federally funded project. It will resume south and is expected to reach the end of Garden City Beach with the project finishing around mid-summer 2026.

Shelton said from Cherry Grove Point down to Springmaid Pier has always been a safe place to hunt, but areas that have been renourished have drawn more teeth and often in bigger sizes. He said due to the high pressure of the pipes sending slurry to the beaches, large teeth are often broken.

Members of the Myrtle Beach Shark Teeth Facebook page have posted their own findings since renourishment started. King tides and other weather events also stir up new finds, Shelton said.

The Grand Strand beaches have an abundance of shark teeth because the coast was home to sharks from millions of years ago, including Megalodon teeth.

“The bull shark’s gonna lose 60,000 (teeth) in a lifetime, other sharks are about 30,000,” Shelton said. “So times that by 450 million years, we’ll never stop finding teeth.”

Quick tips for shark teeth hunting, from Shark Tooth Charles

Shelton said he once was the little boy with wide eyes and unanswered questions about shark teeth, and now he wants to provide that for others.

“I don’t make time, I have the time,” he said.

He hosts shark teeth and fossil workshops along the coast, including a workshop at North Myrtle Beach Area Historical Museum happening at 11 a.m. Saturday, May 2.

His best advice for hunting along the Grand Strand:

• Early morning is best. Fewer people have walked the beach, so fresh material is exposed.
• Tides matter, but if an area is a “dead spot,” the tides are usually ineffectual.
• Keep moving and don’t keep your head only staring down.
• Scan broadly, and don’t expect only to find intact teeth. Keep an eye for other treasures, too, like gold coins and bullets.
• Look for shell beds and prosperous ground where there is visible material. Flat sand is usually not a good area.
• Larger teeth settle and disappear into sand quickly. Use your hands to gently uncover buried teeth.
• Oftentimes oyster shells are mistaken for teeth.
• Renourishment can dredge up fossil-rich sand from offshore, but already prosperous layers can be buried for years.
• Areas from Cherry Grove Point to Springmaid Pier are typically prosperous. Myrtle Beach State Park, Huntington Beach State Park and Litchfield Beach can be good spots, too.

This story was originally published May 1, 2026 at 2:17 PM.