Advice at Venice Beach, Florida.

Whatacoin · Jul 21, 2013

Hey everyone! I'm taking a small trip to Venice, Florida (2 hours away). I'll be there for 3 days and am planning to do nothing else besides hunt for fossils along the beach. How have you all done there? I have good snorkling equipment so I could go off shore a little. It's it worth it? Any input on the beach and hunting would help. Thanks!

cntrydncr1 · Jul 21, 2013

Head down to Manasota and Englewood...I found the teeth easier to find and more plentiful there. I strickly hunt near the shore but you might be able to find larger ones offshore a bit.

GTzer · Jul 25, 2013

Probably spell it wrong- I liked Casperson beach the most on a falling tide.(S from Venice) Snorkle- sharks are still there shedding teeth so be careful. Snorkle the little cuts between the sand bars. If you don't have a MD scoop- buy one of those mini plastic rakes for the shell piles & washes. $3 & light. The shells are lighter than the fossils and cover some nice specimens. The one place I stayed had modified clam rakes (with screen) for light dredging of the shell/gravel where the waves break. I enjoyed collecting there many times over the years. Hope to make it back sometime.

Whatacoin · Jul 25, 2013

GTzer said:
Probably spell it wrong- I liked Casperson beach the most on a falling tide.(S from Venice) Snorkle- sharks are still there shedding teeth so be careful. Snorkle the little cuts between the sand bars. If you don't have a MD scoop- buy one of those mini plastic rakes for the shell piles & washes. $3 & light. The shells are lighter than the fossils and cover some nice specimens. The one place I stayed had modified clam rakes (with screen) for light dredging of the shell/gravel where the waves break. I enjoyed collecting there many times over the years. Hope to make it back sometime.

From what I've heard you only need to snorkle at the drop of the shore. It's that so?

GatorBoy · Jul 26, 2013

You will likely find larger ones there then on the beach..unless there was recently rough surf.
But you can cover more ground walking...wear a pair of polarized sunglasses when walking and scan the drop at the same time..the black really stands out.
This might sound funny but I've found some nice fossils walking in the dropoff and fanning and feeling with my toes and feet..kinda like clamming.
You won't find small ones like that but you can find some nice ones.