The Galveston County Daily News

Scouring the sand for hidden treasures doesn’t require sophisticated equipment, such as a metal detector. In fact, one island resident relies on nothing more than her discerning eye to unearth fossilized relics.

Katherine Pollack, a former Galveston Island State Park ranger, has traipsed local beaches for about seven years.

She’s gathered a treasure trove of sea glass, sea beans, bones and sharks’ teeth.

Pollock has collected about 50 of the 300 or so species of sharks’ teeth, some of which could be 20 million years old.

She often trades on the Internet for rare ones not found in the Galveston region.

She found one tooth from a great white, which no longer lurks in the Gulf of Mexico.

“You can identify 280 species from their teeth, Pollock said.

“Some are serrated, long and pointed like a blade,” she said.

“A tooth that is still white is from a shark that was killed in our lifetime, and you can look at the age of the teeth and determine whether they’re extinct or not.”

Pollack finds bull shark teeth by the dozen, because the species are plentiful in the Gulf.

Knowing when to rummage for the best relics will give you a better shot at uncovering something cool, Pollock said.

Beachcombing is most productive in the winter months when the surf is rough or right after a storm. The fierce churning of the waves helps bring more objects, such as sea beans, to the surface of the sand.

Sea beans are seeds from tropical plants that drift to the Texas Coast from as far away as the West African Coast, Amazon basin and the Caribbean, according to the Texas Parks and Wildlife Department.

S. Deacon Ritterbush, known as “Dr. Beachcomb,” offers tips for first-time beachcombers.

Successful beachcombing is best done with sufficient light, as dusk and dawn makes it hard to identify objects in the sand.

Ritterbush also recommends using a tide chart and hitting the sand two to three hours before peak low tide and an hour or two after that.

A strong rain, windy conditions and storms create waves that heave treasures onto the shore or expose objects that are otherwise invisible beneath the sand, Ritterbush said.

Winter and spring are the best times of year for beachcombing, he said.

Those are also the best times of year for sea bean hunting, according to the Texas Parks and Wildlife Department.

The pickings can be slim during the summertime or any part of the year when the tourist population swells.

The beaches then are too crowded and already picked over, Ritterbush said.

Wear a hat, sunblock and take plenty of water, Ritterbush said.

Pollock recommends combing the island’s West End, where she’s made 90 percent of her finds. She’s also found quite a few bones and teeth after Hurricane Ike struck the island last year.

“I found a tooth from what could be a camel,” Pollock said.

“They used to roam the island when they let them loose here in the 1700s.

“Someone thought they would do well here, but they all died off.”

But Pollock’s most interesting and unique find came while beachcombing after Ike.

“I found a piece of pelican chain saw art,” Pollock said. “I pushed it a quarter-mile to the truck. It was as long as the truck. You take what the beach gives you.”

Pollock has a book published 44 years ago by M.C. Thomas called “Let’s Find Fossils on the Beach” that has black-and-white illustrations of fossils.

It helps her identify what she’s found.

“I’m in the process of writing my own — an updated color version,” Pollock said. “I’ve been working on it for about a year. It’ll have a lot of my own photography.”

Pollock doesn’t comb beaches merely for what she might find next.

It’s a quite peaceful setting and a good way to exercise, she said. Pollock also teaches beachcombing. One of her tours included blind children. The children tapped the sand with their feet, but she was worried one might be stung by jellyfish.

“Some found sea beans just by stepping on then,” Pollock said.

A final item Pollock won’t leave home without before hitting the beach is her cell phone.

“My friends dread a call from me when I go beachcombing,” Pollock said, noting she calls when she finds something too heavy to carry away.