Beach shells...is that all there is?

Actually, beach shells aren’t the only wonderful treasures found on our beaches in Florida. Your beach scavenger hunt can reward you with all kinds of finds!

Venice Beach, Florida is well known as the shark tooth capital of the world, and for good reason. The area is rich in fossilized sharks teeth and bones.

On our recent trip there, hubby and I found lots of: pretty beach shells, cool rocks, driftwood, sharks teeth, and yes, even a bone.

Divers like to go about a mile offshore to an area called the“boneyard”. It’s a graveyard so to speak, of prehistoric sharks, whales, dugong’s (ancestor of manatee), and pre-historic mammals like horses, camels, mammoths, birds and more.

We met a couple of divers who raked in a nice haul of sharks teeth on their dive. They’re always on the lookout for the holy grail of shark’s teeth...the “Meg” or Megalodon. A tooth from this pre-historic giant can be up to 6 or 7 inches. Some of these sharks were over 40 feet long…no wonder their teeth were so big!

Shore diving and snorkeling are also popular ways in this area for you to seek your treasures. We saw lots of snorkelers floating right off the beach, at low tide, and the water was clear and gorgeous. We’ll definitely bring our snorkel gear on our next visit.

• Service Club Park-beautiful walkovers with picnic tables and pristine natural beach. This is a popular spot with divers.
• South Brohard Park-another natural beauty…found our first shark’s tooth of the day there and some cool beach shells. It’s also next to
Brohard Paw Park …fantastic dog beach!
• Venice Beach Pier-you can enjoy a drink and some great food at Sharky’s. Enjoy the view of the pier and the beach. This beach also has picnic tables (great view of the beach).
• Caspersen Beach-south of the pier, most of the beach has been left in its natural state. This beach is 2 ½ miles long, so there’s plenty of room for beachcombing.

Visit Sarasota County Beaches to learn more about these and all the other gorgeous beaches in the Sarasota area.

• On the Atlantic side: Jacksonville Beach, Amelia Island(Fernandina Beach) and Little Talbot Island State Park. Not only will you find beach shells, but sharks teeth too.
• On the Gulf Coast: from Anclote Key(near Tarpon Springs) to Cape Romano(near Marco Island). Sanibel Island is the most well know for shells, but other beaches on the southwest coast of Florida are full of wonderful treasures too!

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