Creatures from Other Places (Florida and the Caribbean)

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Permalink Reply by Ricprimus on May 23, 2013 at 2:41am

Venice and Capersen Beaches
Venice, Florida is a smaller town that sees its fair share of local residents and visitors, but isn't near as touristy as nearby cities like Clearwater, West Palm Beach or Miami. The beaches in Venice boast a darker color due to a mix of both sand and fossilized materials. It also is recognized as one of the most enjoyable shelling beaches in this area, which I hadn't mentioned on the drive. As we got out of the car I grabbed the 3 5-gallon buckets and boxes of baggies and plastic bags and Annea's eyes got big and she asked, "Oh, are the shells here, I want a lot more". Photo is of the beach, a few open sandy areas but mostly a line of rocks and washed up seaweed and flotsam. Even as we walked to the beach, about 6 groups of tourists were returning to their cars commenting "Icky, we'll go find a prettier beach to find shells". I looked at Annea and grinned, and she did her cute eyebrow raising questioning thing in return.

Permalink Reply by Ricprimus on May 23, 2013 at 2:50am

We put on our cheapo wading sneakers and wading along the rocks and poking in the seaweed and looking among the rocks and Annea started the squealing "oh, oh, oh, oh! and jumping up and down, then took her carry bag still half filled with broken, sun bleached shells from Honeymoon Island and dumped them saying: "Oh, I don't want these at all!" That night in the hotel bathroom we washed and tossed out lesser quality treasures from the next 4 hours of exploring Venice Beach. Photo is of a portion of a full 5 gallon bucket of small shells under 1 inch.

Permalink Reply by Ricprimus on May 23, 2013 at 2:53am

And a bucket of inch to 2 inch shells.

Permalink Reply by Ricprimus on May 23, 2013 at 2:55am

And a bucket of more than 2 inch shells.

Permalink Reply by Ricprimus on May 23, 2013 at 2:57am

Washed Venice sand dollars drying on hotel table.

Permalink Reply by Ricprimus on May 23, 2013 at 2:58am

Washed Venice seahorses drying on hotel table.

Permalink Reply by Ricprimus on May 23, 2013 at 2:59am

Washed Venice large sugar starfish drying on hotel table.

Permalink Reply by Ricprimus on May 23, 2013 at 3:00am

And, washed Venice small white starfish drying on the hotel table.

Permalink Reply by Ricprimus on May 23, 2013 at 3:30am

Needless to say, Annea was beaming as we got back into the SUV, she gave me a wonderful hug and kiss, and said "I've got seashells now!" I said, there's 4 more hours of sunlight left, we have one more close by stop for treasures." "Oh, how can they be any more better than all of this, I'm a bit tired, but I'll take a peek with you".  So we drove about 5 miles away to Caspersen Beach which looks a lot like Venice, but it's fame doesn't come from seashells, but the rocks themselves.
You can see freshwater and saltwater marshes, mangrove areas, and tidal flats. Visitors can enjoy a 20 minute walk through Caspersen's nature trail which has been developed through a coastal hammock.
People come here from around the world because Caspersen  is the prehistoric shark-tooth capital of the world and many beachcombers find these hidden gems while taking their daily stroll.  Here, the dark rock, different from Venice erodes and releases it's contents of fossilized reef shark teeth and stingray teeth and tails stingray tails, and occassionaly it's greatest prize, fossil teeth of Megalodon, the enormous prehistoric white shark. I had purchased 2 kiddie beach toy sets of plastic bucket, shovel and a sieve just for this: scoup up sand out in water about 5 feet from rocks (in 3 feet of water), dump into sieve and wash it out leaving bits of rock and goodies behind. Photo is of the 50 foot stretch we explored until it got too dark to see. 

Permalink Reply by Ricprimus on May 23, 2013 at 3:39am

The first time collecting here was the 12th for 4 hours, when the cruise ship returned to port to refuel and resupply the 19th Annea wanted to come back and we did another 3 hours, then the morning before we started drive back to Ohio, we did it another 4 hours. The net result was filling 9 plastic bags of fossil reef shark teeth like this one. We didn't bother with broken ones, just complete ones. (Back at cabin, Annea made a bunch of sterling silver shark teeth necklaces and sold them fast on ebay).

Permalink Reply by Ricprimus on May 23, 2013 at 3:47am

About an hour into this,  Annea was the first very lucky one to find a true treasure, this lovely black and gray perfect 5.5 inch Megalodon. She was so excited she lost her balance and went under water, came up soaked but still holding her prize. She sat for 5 minutes hyperventilating and turning it over and over.  Then jumped up and said: "I want another!" Long wet black hair streaming along, she was the perfect relentless Valkyrie in search of her prey!

Permalink Reply by Ricprimus on May 23, 2013 at 3:52am

But, it was not be be, for it was my turn in another 45 minutes with a lovely 2 tone brown 3.5 inches one.
Annea sniffed and said "Mine is bigger".
 

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