Sifting for Sharks Teeth, Caspersen Beach, Florida

When Jenny told us that she had to have her new truck serviced, it gave us a perfect opportunity to hunt for sharks teeth. So after dropping off her truck at Sarasota, we picked her and Eric up, loaded their beach gear and snorkel equipment, and headed south to Caspersen Beach.

Renita and I had both been waiting for this day! We had made a screen sifter, from a gold mining rock sorting sieve, by reducing the opening size with a piece of quarter inch galvanized screen. So along with that sifter and, another we had purchased in South Dakota, we grabbed our pails, beach bags, and shovel.

Loaded down with too much gear, not unusual for us, we hiked a ways down the beach before finally deciding on a good starting spot. It reminded us both of carrying all our gear when we had gone gold prospecting north of Chicken, Alaska. At least here we didn’t have to worry about bears!

As soon as we got started Jenny and Eric found a small sharks tooth. The shark’s teeth here have weathered out of the Peace River Formation and the beach is famous for all the finds that have been made, (one tooth actually sold for ten thousand dollars)!

Scooping sand and shell fragments into the sifters, we worked quite a bit of material and while we found some teeth they seemed few and far between. Jenny donned her snorkel gear and braved the cold water and occasionally we would see her go vertical as she would dive to investigate an unknown object. While she found some interesting rocks, the best place for divers is about a mile offshore and so she retuned back to shore to work the sifters.

Taking turns we got better at spotting the sharks teeth and by lunch we all had added to our collecting sacks. We hadn’t found any larger specimens but what the heck we were finding teeth with our equipment, (people often ask us if we find all the rock we work and while we do find some we also trade, barter, and buy).

It does not matter if your fishing, fossil hunting, or prospecting, it’s really all about the hunt. It’s an added bonus when you actually have some success.  Too soon the phone rang and the dealership had finished with her truck. Tired we rinsed off the sand and loaded our gear. It had been a great day on the beach and we definitely hope to return here again. Clear skies