Our friend from Portugal, Gonçalo Rosa, invited me to join him on a shelling trip to Natal, in northeastern Brazil. He flew directly from Lisbon, and I met him at the airport. We rented a car and headed straight for the coast, eager to start looking for shells from local fishermen and, of course, to do some diving ourselves.

Our shelling at low tide was reasonably productive. We found Pugilina tupiniquim, Agathistoma viridulum, Neritina meleagris, Neritina virginea, Trivia pediculus, Thais canaliculata, and Thais rustica, among other species. Our main goal, however, was to find Conus. We eventually found some while diving, although not many — just a few specimens of Conus mauricioi.

We had brought along a small dredge that could be used from local fishermen's boats at depths of about 5 to 10 meters. It worked surprisingly well, but unfortunately the results were not nearly as impressive: most of what we found consisted of very small species. At that time of year, the use of hookah diving equipment from boats was prohibited as part of the seasonal protection of lobsters, so our underwater collecting was limited to snorkeling in relatively shallow water, down to about six meters. Even with this limitation, we managed to find some interesting shells.

One evening we decided to try snorkeling at night. Unfortunately, the tide was coming in and the water became so rough that it felt as though we were swimming inside a washing machine. To make matters worse, countless tiny swimming crustaceans were attracted to our lights. They apparently found us more interesting than we found them: they bit constantly, making the dive rather uncomfortable. Nevertheless, we stayed in the water for several hours before finally giving up and returning to our hotels for a well-deserved rest.

The food in Natal is excellent, particularly the seafood. Fish and shrimp moqueca, a traditional Brazilian seafood stew, is amazingly good and was certainly one of the pleasures of the trip.

We also bought several shells from local fishermen and souvenir shops, including Voluta ebraea, Charonia variegata, Strombus goliath, Strombus costatus spectabilis, a few Cypraea surinamensis, and a number of smaller species.

Natal is a fairly large city and, at that time of year — the Brazilian summer — it was usually crowded with tourists. There had been numerous problems with domestic flights, with delays ranging from three to six hours, so a surprisingly large proportion of the tourists we encountered were from abroad, particularly Europe.

The weather during our stay was excellent, without any rain. Daytime temperatures were around 35°C (95°F), which meant that air-conditioning was almost essential both in the car and at the hotel. Natal is certainly a wonderful place to spend a few days relaxing on the beach — but relaxing was never really part of our plans. After all, for us a beach usually means work!

Note added in 2026: Much has changed since this trip. Strombus goliath and Strombus costatus are now locally protected, and trawling has almost disappeared in some areas. Local souvenir shops are also no longer allowed to sell seashells. The collecting opportunities described in this article therefore reflect the situation at the time of our visit and should not be taken as representing present-day conditions.