Megalodon Shark Tooth Diving in NC

[Darren in NC]

I went once with Robert in SC and wondered if you guys and gals knew of anyone doing this in NC. Any clubs?

Best,
Darren

 

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[FMarion2ndRegSC]

Hi Darren. There is a guy that runs charters out of Topsail Beach(I think) His name is Capt. Tom Collins runs an outfit called Spearit Charters His website is named same, one word, no spaces dot com. I have some friends here in Charleston who have been out with him and really like him. He also does spearfishing and lobster trips. Check out his website and click the photos page and watch the "teeth" movie a friend of mine hosts for him. Awesome Meg sites Capt Tom has. Like I said, haven't been with him personally, but hear he's great. Hope this helps.

 

[rgecy]

OK, this is not shipwreck related Darren! Please stay focused!

I promise to put you on some teeth the next time you are down. Everybody knows some of the best teeth in the world are found here in Beaufort! There have been quite a few 7" teeth pulled from the rivers around here. The one below is only about 6".

I like to call them "Black Gold"! They bring unbelievable prices on ebay!

Robert in SC

 

[Darren in NC]

OK, this is not shipwreck related Darren! Please stay focused!

Bite me! With a shark's tooth

 

[ScubaFinder]

OK, so let's say I was diving for SHIPWRECKS, might I stumble onto one of these on top of the sand bed, or would it probably be buried? This interests me a little, cause it seems to be legal with no lease needed.

Jason

 

[rgecy]

Jason has brought the subject back on track by asking "What if he found one of these while looking for a SHIPWRECK?" Now we don't have to move it to another forum Darren!

I really enjoy looking for Megalogon Teeth. You usually find them in 25-35 feet of water around here in rivers with swift current and zero visibility. During the winter months the vis increases to maybe 2-3 ft with an occasional 4-6 ft on slack tides. There are some guys who literally make enough money to live off of (and then some). But they have been doing this for many years and have their secret spots that have produced nice teeth.

The answer to your question Jason, they can be laying right on top or just under the sand. Sometimes we bring a small potato rake to dig with and uncover some of the nicer teeth. Some of the ones you find on the surface are heavily worn by the sand and current. As for the legality, the State of South Carolina has a Sport Diver program and by law requires you to report all finds; artifact or fossil. You are even allowed to recover up to 10 artifacts from shipwrecks per day/per diver. Once you have submitted your report you have to keep the artifacts or fossils for a few months. After that they are legally yours and you can sell them or what ever. I would like to say that that is the way it actually happens, but the truth is, most Meg teeth and fossils go unreported. But afterall, how many sharks teeth does the state really need to see.

I have been in contact with the State Archaeologist and suggested using a web based reporting method where artifacts could be photographed and uploaded to a database instead of mailing the forms in quarterly. To date, I still don't think this has happened.

Diving for fossils can be pretty interesting. If you get in a good "Bone Bed" you may find a dozen or more on a single dive. Other times you may not find any Meg Teeth but will find lots of whale bone and teeth, Mastodon bones, tusk, and teeth and other animals who met their demise millions of years ago. There are different layers of bones, some on top of the river bottom, and some buried a few inches down. The teeth can date anywhere from 5-25 million years old.

You will see all of these for sale on ebay, but the real money maker is the Shark Teeth.

If anyone ever wants to go, just give me a shout! Not all treasure is Silver and Gold!

Robert in SC

 

[flounderer]

Tom with SpearIt, as mentioned earlier, has some great tooth sites. He always seem to please the divers with the amount and quality of teeth they find.

I've been diving for the teeth for a few years now and it is fun and you can find some monsters over 6.5 inches.

Pat
www.wilmingtondiving.com

 

[ScubaFinder]

Hey Robert, I might spend a day w/ you while I'm out that way, it'd be a drive for me though. How many hours from Sebastian are you? Do you have any sites southward? I'll be leaving late next week, diving with SeaHunter at the Jupiter inlet site for the weekend, then spending the week cruising around the East coast of Florida and diving aboard the Rio Bravo with Joseph until at least the 13th, may stay another weekend if things are going well.

It looks like SpearIt is collecting teeth in the ocean, but it also looked like the ones pulled from rivers were better preserved, is this the case?

Jason

 

[mad4wrecks]

Jason, some really nice sharks teeth can also be found out in the Gulf of Mexico, off Fort Meyers. I am talking about the 6-7" ones too, not the tiny ones found all over the beach. Once again, you have to know the hotspots, and travel offshore a little ways. A friend of mine has a collection of dozens of the big teeth-all found while beaach diving in warm, relatively calm ocean water-although the viz is usually limited to less than 5 feet.

 

[ScubaFinder]

although the viz is usually limited to less than 5 feet.

Welcome to the gulf...right Tom? Fossil hunting seems like it might be a nice break now and then. I'd rather see gold, but that doesn't happen everyday so this might be fun too. I noticed there are like 20 black Meg teeth on Ebay ranging from 200-400 bucks. ONE white one going for $1200, what's up with that?

Jason

 

[rgecy]

Jason,

The white one is a modern Great White tooth. It says it is 1/8" from being a world record.

Would love to have you come dive, but I am about six hours from the Treasure Coast.

Let me know your schedule. I may be headed down that way instead!

Robert in SC

 

[Darren in NC]

I forgot to thank FMarion and Pat for their responses, so thanks, guys. I'll be checking with Tom in Wilmington and try to hit a few of the bone beds there. Lee Creek is very popular here, but I'm looking for some spots that aren't hunted all the time. Robert, I hope to be back down in Beaufort at least one more time before it gets too cold

 

[4theMoney]

We do some tooth trips. Probably the next best thing to treasure diving and more addictive than panning gold!.....Sorry guys, I just couldnt help but dredge this old thread back up. Not that there is anything wrong with gold.....

 

[rgecy]

Wow, that is an old one! Pre-ARRG days. I have only been Meg diving a few times since then. Everything has been focused on shipwrecks and Florida.

4theMoney, where are you located?

 

[diverlynn]

Venice Florida also has some shark tooth dives, just outside of the inlet. I go every now and then just off the beach. Have found some nice ones but not big. Tom Collins always leads to some biggies. A friend found a total of 5 on a 2-tank dive, most were chipped but a couple were really nice. Too bad he's always booked up.

Diverlynn

 

[FunWithTreasure]

I think they can be found almost anywhere. I found one here in NY by mistake.

 

[Salvor6]

Venice Beach, FL is considered the "Shark Tooth Capital" of the world. The worlds record Megalodon tooth was found there. Also there are shipwrecks galore right offshore!

 

[rgecy]

Sorry Pete, yes Venice is know as the Shark Tooth Capital of the World by recognition as a title, probably because of its popularity, abundance of teeth, and ease of diving.

The World Record Megalodon Tooth was actually found here by Randy Owens, a local diver, and later sold by Vito Bertucci who was considered one of the foremost experts on Megalodon Teeth (before his death two years ago). His shop was here in Beaufort (Port Royal) and he was a good friend of one of the guys I dive with regularly.

Now, there is always some debate to this (ARTICLE BELOW). Randy's tooth was the largest UNRESTORED full tooth. There have been other teeth, that would have probably been larger, but they were chipped or incomplete and were RESTORED to the estimated length.

I have seen several teeth that would probably be bigger than the 7.1+ inches of Randy's tooth, but they were broken as well.

I can tell you this, from just below Savannah, GA, up to around Charleston, SC, the number of teeth found is incredible. We just have black water and hundreds if not thousands of miles of waterways, which makes it more of a challenge and most novice divers do not like to braille dive for sharks teeth under 35' of water in a river with current moving 3+ knots.

RGecy

First for the megalodon tooth - while there is no governing body of shark tooth collecting this meg is widely recognized by dealers and high-end collectors as the LARGEST UNRESTORED LENGTH MEGALODON TOOTH EVER FOUND. This is an opinion that we will also acknowledge and fully back in writing. We have seen plenty of huge 7 inch and up teeth that were more putty than tooth. If you want to use this definition as a reliable basis then do not read further because you can spend the same amount of money on something mostly man-made but technically larger. This meg is exactly 7.102 inches long x 5.07 inches wide with absolutely no restoration to the tip, root corner, or anything in-between that would add to the length. Is this the world record by much - no. There have been a couple other natural 7 inch teeth found in the past 3 years that are 100 percent natural and almost as large but this still holds the record.

History of the tooth - it was found by diver Randy Owens in a South Carolina river probably close to 15 years ago. When found the tooth was complete but had some enamel peel (missing enamel in the center) on both sides. Tooth was then sold to the late Vito Bertucci who commissioned extremely professional restoration work to repair the missing enamel (again, only enamel has been restored). While at a fossil show the tooth was accidentally dinged against the table and the very tip serration either almost came off or was nicked off. Either way it has been stabilized with a bit of fossil glue (we're talking about something the size of a pinhead here) and it does NOT add to the overall length of the tooth. If anything it makes it just a hair shorter than it was originally but it is almost impossible to notice. Vito held onto the tooth for about a decade before selling it to a private collector at a major fossil show several years ago. We acted as an unpaid broker in the deal. The tooth has since been held in that world-class private collection where it still resides to this day.

 

[4theMoney]

Wow, that is an old one! Pre-ARRG days. I have only been Meg diving a few times since then. Everything has been focused on shipwrecks and Florida.

4theMoney, where are you located?

Hatteras, NC, but we run the boat down South off of Topsail for the tooth diving. I think we are taking the boat down there in the spring....Its the same areas that Tom goes to.....I dont want to put down Venice beach because I have never been there, but I have come back from Topsail with ALOT of teeth. The biggest I have recovered is 6 3/4. I have seen A couple around 6 7/8 and heard of a couple better than 7"

 

[rgecy]

Well, I have to say, thats an incredible picture. There must be at least a hundred teeth there between 5-6"+.

Are those all from one trip?

Robert