For Ocracoke news, click here.
The North Carolina Shell Club meetings this Friday and Saturday nights in the Ocracoke Community Center are open to all to attend.
Both meetings begin at 7 p.m. after shell club members have combed the island beaches for shell treasures.
Islander Amy Howard will be the guest speaker Friday night and a special contest that night will be for the shell with the most spots.

A “Freak Shell Contest” will be held Saturday night. For this, attendees may bring one freak shell.
Within each species, there is an expected range of variation, according to club information. At the extremes, some shells may exhibit characteristics ranging from beautiful to strange, subtle to obvious. These extreme departures from the norm are often referred to as “freak” by shell collectors.
Whoever has the best freak shell will win a pair of tiger cowries, which are abundant in the Indo-Pacific region.
Saturday night’s talk will be on shells from Hawaii.
To read about last year’s meeting, click here.