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Hey guys! I had a phenomenal day diving for teeth last weekend in Venice. I found around 1,500 teeth and some other awesome stuff. Here is a pile of broken/not "high" quality small teeth that i found Here is the pile of teeth that are full and/or super high quality. Here are the tigers that I found. I don't usually find a lot of tiger shark teeth so it was nice finding this many and of this size! Here are all of the Makos that I found. The one in the middle is my biggest Mako at 2.3" and I also found some super pretty smaller ones! Here are all of the Megs that I found. I found my biggest Meg at 4.75" and I couldn't be happier!!! The smaller Megs have a lot of super nice colors and I am super happy that I found them. And the find of the day would be my FIRST GREAT WHITE!! I have been looking for my first GW for over a year now and I finally found it. I think you would have been able to hear me on the surface because of how much I was freaking out when I found it. What I do not have pictured is I found my largest alligator tooth measuring in just under 1" and I also found my first Gar scale (I think thats what it is). I found four pathological teeth. Two of them were bull shark teeth that had double tips. The double tips were very small and I couldn't get a good picture of them. One was a bull shark tooth that had waves in the blade. The last one was a lemon shark that has a twisted blade. If their are any specific teeth you want better pictures of or you have any questions just let me know! This was definitely a trip for the books and I cant wait to get out there again.

So as always lately, today’s trip report is from the last couple trips out! First one with @Parker Brown, second with @Done Drillin - both of which I had some awesome finds with! Though, in @Done Drillin’s case, I’m not sure if the very long trek to the spot was worth it for him. Certainly was for me though! So starting off with some shark’s teeth - don’t normally show these off, but I never find bulls this nice, nor sand tigers much at all, let alone with both cusps. Plus, with 2 gorgeous Makos, how could I not? Next up the bigger mammal stuff. Mastodon lunar bone, coral, a vest from something, partial bison astragalus, partial horse cannon bone (That fits perfectly into the proximal phalanx I have!), a Dugong vert, a whale ear bone, and a camelid scaphoid: Armadillo and Armadillo-like osteoderms, and turtle shell: 2 nice gator teeth, a very beat up bison tooth, a partial llama, and 3 fused shark verts (which mayyyyy be my fav find. Or second fav? Dunno.) Opossum canine, raccoon canine, rodent jaw, horse incisor, tapir incisor, and 2 capybara or beaver teeth sections: Horse teeth and another bison premolar (I have 4 P4’s now!!!! And no complete molars!!!!!!!) Mammoth teeth chunks, including one that’s an incredibly worn spit tooth: Another Paramylodon harlani tooth, this time an m1, a giant armadillo molar, and a very nice Hemiauchenia macrocephela (Camel) tooth: And to cap it off, a Hemiauchenia macrocephela maxilla section with a tooth and the roots from another tooth: Overall super happy with all these finds!

Hello everyone! I headed down to Venice, Florida to go diving for the day. We ended up doing really good and it was definitely worth the trip. We did three dives and i ended up with a good amount of megs/makos/himis, a few hundred small teeth, a piece of mammoth tooth, two whale ears, a whale vert, and an alligator scoot . I also got a piece of tusk that is about 3" diameter and 12" long. It is not pictured here because it is super fragile and some has already fallen off. It's currently soaking in fresh water and once it is done I will update with some photos. The largest meg is measuring in at just over 4.5" and it one of the highest quality ones that I have found to date. Let me know if there is anything else you would like to see better photos of!!

Hello everyone, I have gotten really into meg diving this last year to the point where I am driving down to Venice from Orlando twice a month to dive for teeth. I have started to look into getting black water diving and I am not really sure where to start. Does anyone have any rivers that are good for black water diving? I have heard talk that people do it in the Peace river and the St. Marys and I didn't know if that is where most people go or if there are other rivers people dive that hold a good amount of teeth. I don't want to sound like the guy who is asking for your super secret spots but I'm just trying to find out where I should start to get into this. If anyone does black water diving and ever needs someone to go with I would be very interested in going with you and I would certainly throw in for gas money. I also have my own boat so we cold take it out also if that is an issue you have. Thank you for any information you can give me, Parker

I found this while diving off of NC for Meg teeth. Any idea what it is?

My diving day was filled with technical difficulties. But after a frustrating morning I dove down to a fossil rich spot. I had to wait a bit to get back in due to tide changes, but this mammoth tooth was sitting right there for the taking!

My friend joined me for a weekend of black water diving. She found a couple massive heart-breaker megalodon teeth her very fist time! Perfect conditions all weekend long made it a great time on the water.

I got to do my first Meg Ledge trip yesterday. The weather was nasty on the “offshore” ledge, so we hit the “inshore” one. So ~25 miles out instead of ~40. All three dives were at ~100’. The attached pictures contain the haul from my final dive of the day. Almost got a 6” tooth. I’m curious to see how they look after they’ve been cleaned up.

Been awhile since I posted anything so I thought I'd drop some pics of the nice teeth from my trip two weeks ago. The makos are both a little shy of 3" and were laying about twelve inches from each other on the bottom. The nicer one was sticking up out of the bottom and if you look closely, you can see the discoloration on the tip where it was exposed. Those were the only teeth I found at that spot besides a 6" shamer that was split in two, so I was really happy to find them. The big one was a really lucky find. I was on an older spot that I'd hit before so I tried going a different direction and ended up in a spot where two feet of mud covered hard bottom. It was pretty tough going and I was just starting to wonder if maybe it would be a good idea to head back to some easier spots when my hands ran over the tooth. Again, that was the only tooth I found on that dive, so I was pretty stoked. There's a little enamel peel, but I worked so hard to find it that I really just don't care. It comes in at 5 3/4. It looks bigger than that because of the position. You can see how big the root is for the blade size. Had it been an anterior tooth, it would've easily be 6". Hope you like looking at them as much as I liked finding them.

I'm hoping to dive the Cooper River in the next month or so. Most of my questions were answered by watching a bunch of videos on Youtube and perusing the internets. The main question that I'm left with is "how much lighting do I need?" I see a BIG range, in terms of the brightness (or lack thereof) of lighting setups that people are using. From people using a ~500 lumens main light, to people using a helmet with a 6,000 lumens main light and two 1,000 lumens backups. I've currently got a 1,000 lumens light with a glove for my primary and ~600 lumens (I think it would be next to useless diving there...from the videos I'm seeing) for a backup. For the purposes of diving the Cooper, I am leaning towards putting together a budget helmet lighting setup. Budget, as in two self-contained 1,000 lumens main lights. My question...do those of you that have dived the Cooper think that two 1,000 lumens helmet mounted lights would be sufficient for a primary lighting source? For those of you that have put together a helmet, do you have any feedback on what did and did not work for you? ex. I see people using ~$40 skateboard helmets to mount the lights. If that works, I don't see the point of spending ~$80 for a "diving" helmet. I would appreciate any advice that you can offer. Thank you.

Dove the St Marys river Sunday with Subpay charters and had a productive day finding lots of megs, makos, great white, mammoth and whale teeth!

Collecting in SC, small controversy. http://www.thestate.com/latest-news/article205982124.html

Hi All, While diving South Carolina rivers, I've collected a group of bones which seem to have the same general characteristics: Roughly hourglass shaped, tapering lengthwise (like a doorstop), most have perceptible grooves if viewed from the correct angle. Are these just random bone frags that coincidentally eroded to roughly the same shape? Or can they be identified to a specific body part such as an ankle or foot ?

Hello everyone! My name is Seth, and I do zero-visibility diving here in FL rivers to hunt for fossils. Besides the people I dive with, I have never met any other diver that is willing to do what we do, so it will be very interesting to maybe find some people on here! We typically find alligator, mastodon, turtle, tortoise, horse, deer, and just about anything that use to live here +10,000 years ago. I am a diagnostic medical sonographer, so I'm a lot more knowledgable about all the squishy stuff in the body than the bones. I still have a lot to learn in the ways of fossils and the history they can tell, so any standard tips and rules when trying to ID a find is very helpful. I can not wait to learn tons from this amazing pool of knowledge.

A couple of members have been asking about my recent trip to dive the ledges off Wilmington. Here is a quick trip summary. We chartered a fast 43ft boat that took us out 42 miles to an area that is a little over 100ft deep. That takes two hours of running to get there. Then we dive using big 120cu ft HP steel tanks filled with Nitrox (air with more oxygen mixed in it), so that we can stay on the bottom a bit longer than if we were using air. We did two dives on the first day, and returned back 5 more days in a row, diving 3 tanks every day after the first day. We dove 17 dives in six days, all over 100ft. This was the first time I ever got to go out everyday that we were scheduled to go. The weather is quite variable 42 miles from shore, and it was a gift to get out that many times in a week. They had to cancel the day before we arrived, and the day after we left. We had a perfect weather window, but not without hurricane GERT going by to give us 10ft swells for a day. That was a real eye-opener to see how much the swells could move you and the bottom 100ft down. Everything and everybody was surging back and forth about six feet with each passing wave overhead. Easy now to see how disturbed the bottom could be over millions of years and thousands of severe storms. My final tooth count for the week was: 77 megs, 93 makos, 35 whites, 1 benny, and 2 tiny hemis. I got 1 meg over 6 inches, and around 15 or 20 4's and 5's. A couple huge 2.5 in GW's with no roots, and a decent 2.75 in mako that cleaned up with some nice color. Some dives I came up with almost nothing, and the next dive I needed a lift bag to get them all up...LOL. Everything is big out there... We had a 14ft Tiger shark circle us, I saw 2 Lionfish at the anchor that must have been over 2ft in length, a huge brown sting ray went by along the ledge, and I saw a Lizardfish that had to be a world record 2ft+. It looked like the big iguanas in the Fla Keys. Here is a before and after pic to prove some of it is true! The above picture is before soaking in diluted cider vinegar for a few days. This is after cleaning. All the teeth to the right of the ruler are the great whites. I don't see a lot of quality teeth from out there, but you get a lot of big teeth. The smaller 2's and 3's are often much nicer condition. If you want better quality you need to dive in the rivers, or hunt the low country on foot... But if you think it's fun to find a meg in your screen, imagine seeing them laying on the bottom from a few feet away. The big meg above was laying in plain sight waiting for me to adopt it. Too much fun... P.S. I'll be back...

What’s beneath the black water? Divers reveal the secrets of the Waccamaw River. by Audrey Hudson, Sun News, Myrtle Beach, August 1, 2017 http://www.myrtlebeachonline.com/news/local/article164796732.html Yours, Paul H.

Fossil divers do it in the mud... or rocks... or sand... pretty much anywhere there's teeth. The point is, we crawl over a lot of stuff in the course of a dive. This weekend I was doing the normal thing looking for teeth while tyring to appear unappetizing to any passing sharks or gators when something scrunched under my right kneepad. I crawl over about a million and five rocks each dive, and usually ignore stuff like this, but that little fossil angel that straddles my tank said, "Better check that one out." So I did, and doggone it, that was a tooth down there! 3.9" fresh out of the clay. Thank you sir, I'll have another! (It looks bigger than 3.9" because I have tiny hands)

Hello Forum members, I found this limb bone while diving the Cooper River in SC. I initially thought it likely to be a deer bone based on the overall size and proportions, but I'm unable to match it to any deer bone descriptions I've found. Any ideas?

Hi All, Another Mammal tooth found river diving in South Carolina, and I'm not sure what it is:

Hi All, I'm currently on a dive trip to the Cooper River in SC. I found this tooth the other day. The guys I'm diving with believe it to be a horse incisor. To me, it seems too straight to be horse.

Hey all, I'm planning a trip to dive the Cooper river April 1st and 2nd. Four dives per day. The boat is already reserved, and there are open seats if anyone is interested. For details please contact me. These are my finds from a single dive during my last trip,

Hi All, Had a great trip to South Carolina for river diving last weekend. The water was cold, and we had to dry-suit it, but nonetheless, everyone made some incredible finds, and had a great time. I've got three items I'm looking for the forum's expertise and wisdom on. 1. The first six pics are of what I believe to be a Camel Metacarpal, or Metatarsal. It looks to be in very pristine condition, so much so, that when I first found it, I assumed it must be modern and almost didn't bring it up. After returning home and investigating, I learned that it may be Camel, and I was very happily surprised. This just confirms the advice given to me many years ago by a wise veteran: when on the bottom of the river, and your not sure what something is, bag it up. Once back on the boat, you can always throw it back if it's nothing of interest. 2, The next four pics are of four articulated verts in matrix. I have no idea what these are from, they look fishy to me. The matrix is fairly soft. I can remove it with nothing more than a dental pick, and smooth it with a scrubbing pad and water. I intend to remove more of the matrix, but I want to leave enough to keep the articulation stable. 3. The last item appears to be a claw core? ( or a tusk from the newly discovered (by me) very very tiny, miniature Mammoth?)

I'm taking some time off work and making a road trip down to Florida at the end of the month. I'll be trying to hit several sites along the way but will be in the Venice area sometime between these dates. I'll be doing some shore diving in the mornings if anyone is interested in joining me. I generally dive solo but having the company is nice on those long swims to and from shore. I have a fair amount of experience with these dives so if you have experience or not, you're more than welcome to join. Daniel

Hi everyone- Does anyone know if there are any rappelling trips in the U.S. or Internationally to see fossils? also does anyone know if one can rappell down a cliff face to view the K-T boundary? I know its exposed and visible in Raton Basin, Raven Ridge and Trinidad Lake State Park but has anyone done rappelling on a fossil hunt? looking for a combo of fossil hunting, excavation and adventure! Any really super adventurous fossil hunting trips advise will be appreciated. thanks.

Last weekend TFF member calhounensis (Daniel) posted a notice that he was driving down from Ohio for the Florida Paleontological Society meeting & fieldtrip on Saturday in Bradenton (his old hometown). He wanted to know if anybody was up for some diving off Venice to fossil hunt. It has been years since I've taken the opportunity to do so (been focusing more on the Peace River lately) and so I said I was interested. As plans evolved it turned out that windy weather (and unseasonable storms) had been wreaking havoc with the offshore visibility and diving off Venice would likely not be in great conditions. Daniel came up with alternative which was to dive the Rainbow River in Dunnellon, FL instead. This was even more intriguing as I've never done that before and I'm all about new experiences. My wife Tammy was able to take off work Friday and so Thursday evening after she got home from work I had a whole array of gear ready to pack into the car for the trip north--scuba tank & gear, wetsuits (cold water those spring-fed rivers), sifting gear (screen & shovel), and even the "Aqua-Scope" we'd picked up at the silent auction table at the Florida Paleontological Society (FPS) meeting last fall. The scope is basically a portable glass bottom boat in that it is a rectangular "cone" of Styrofoam with a pane of glass about the size of a piece of paper at the bottom. Two rope handles and curved edges at the top to fit your face and forehead complete the high-tech design. Tammy thought it would be fun to try this out on the Peace River and so we bid and won the auction item. Needless to say it hasn't seen action on the Peace River yet this season and so the Rainbow River would be its first chance to be used. Once I realized how far north the Rainbow River was I decided to book a hotel in Ocala. Rather than going up for a single night--a 5.5 hour drive (each way) for a single dive seemed a bit excessive--we booked a 3-day weekend in Ocala and joined Dr. Hulbert from the Florida Museum of Natural History (FLMNH) for two more days of digging in the new Montbrook site. You can read about that weekend here: http://www.thefossilforum.com/index.php?/topic/63056-volunteer-dig-with-the-flmnh/?p=673017 We met up with Daniel early Friday morning and followed him to K P Hole Park on the river where we could rent a canoe (for us) and a kayak (for Daniel). We decided to paddle upstream a ways and then work our way downstream to the exit point on SW County Hwy 484 (just past the colorful Swampy's Bar & Grille restaurant) where we could call for a pickup that would take us back to the park and our cars. With everything loaded on our rented means of flotation we took off upstream. The water was so much clearer than the tea colored tannic waters of the Peace River being spring fed. We could see a wide variety of fishes in the gin clear water and an amazingly high density of turtles--gators (thankfully) seemed not to be in residence. We arrived at our first spot to get in and get wet. I donned my thickest neoprene (a 5mm suit) and an additional hooded vest (most of your heat is lost through your head and so a hood will go a long way to retaining body heat. As the river is spring fed from underground taps into the karstic groundwater supply the river maintains a relatively constant temperature of around 72 F (around 22 C). A fine temperature for floating down the river on an inner tube on a hot summer day but quite chilly when immersed for extended periods on scuba. I was used to diving in 55 F water when I lived in the Chicago area (and even two very silly ice dives at a temperature of around 37 F) but since moving to Florida two decades ago my skin has thinned and I am now a proud card-carrying member of the Warm Water Wimps and cringe at temps below 80 (unless there is a good reason to dive). I was wet most of the day and (uncharacteristically) didn't grab the camera to take my usual number of photos to illustrate the day. My wife (who was smarter than me and decided to stay warm an dry in the canoe) was enjoying the beautiful surroundings and plentiful wildlife but didn't think about snapping any other photos than this one as I first entered the chilly water.