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To all of the Floridians, stay safe tomorrow! Fingers crossed for minimal damage but lots of fossils washing out.

I discussed going to the Peace River hunting today, but decided I had a bunch of chores to get done at home. You might recall from previous posts that I lost a good chunk of my fossil collection because I moved it into the carport for storage, and Hurricane Ian redistributed some of it across my neighbors property. I kept like things together in Zip_lock bags. Last week , we had very heavy winds around 40 mph that blew anything not nailed down around...An hour ago, I was picking up stuff that had blown onto my neighbor's property and I saw... a Ziplock bag... it had been torn, but in the bottom of the bag were a few pufferfish mouth plates and some Stingray teeth... As I turned to return home, I spotted another Ziplock bag... this one still sealed !!! Dumped them out, washed them off... It has been over 7 months since the Hurricane... Sometimes, thru happenstance, things just work out.... Jack

As many of you know, my home on Sanibel was severely impacted by Hurricane Ian, especially by the storm surge of 12-15 feet. I was fortunate that the living areas escaped major damage. I have a 13 foot carport as the 1st level, and 90 % of its contents were destroyed or washed away. This included one of my kayaks, found badly damaged 15 feet up in a tree 6 weeks after the surge hit. Also in the carport, was a 20 drawer display cabinet containing lots of excellent fossils, which I could not fit inside the house. I have searched for that cabinet for 2 months, walking thru the much and mire of hurricane debris. Yesterday afternoon, about 3 hours before dinner and a play, a friend called my wife, saying there was a cabinet, like mine, dumped at the side of our street, 5 houses down, waiting for trash removal. I was up at 1st light, and indeed verified this was my fossil cabinet. It was full of sand, mud, fossils and broken beyond repair. The cabinet must have rolled in its journey thru the surge, since it contained a lot of palm fronds and large seeds from a Bismarkia palm and at least one panel was breached, allowing some loss of contents. I ripped the cabinet apart with pry bar and hammer in search of fossils. I recovered about 35-40% of the original contents... My glass in half full. This is a GREAT Christmas present.... I finished about an hour ago... Some of the recoveries.... That is a small Baleen whale mandible tip. I am really pleased to get it back...Jack

Just wanted to make a little thread telling everyone to stay safe and make sure they're all good and ready for what's to come!

Hey everyone who lives in coastal New York or the New England area, here's hoping Hurricane Henri doesn't cause you too much trouble in the next few days. Don

Hi- we are new to this forum and have great interest in finding out what we picked up this weekend after Hurricane Dorian on the beach in Myrtle Beach, South Carolina. We actually drove from Ohio Friday night to look for sharks teeth and came home with a few (nothing sizely this visit) and this piece of what we believe to be fossilized tusk.

This was found after a hurricane/ beach replenishment in Myrtle Beach in 1998. Thanks for the help.

After this storm passes I bet tons of meg teeth and other fossils will be found, churned from the deep. I know it was a banner year for fossils in the peace river in Arcadia Fl after the floodwaters of Irma receded. To those in the path, you have my prayers. Stay safe.

First off I am new to this forum and I greatly appreciate any information and help this community has to offer. I'm normally more of a Paleo collector/diver but fate landed this in my lap and now i'm stumped. I have had it verified to be Copal by a gemologist. It is 32" long 24" wide and 10" at the thickest point. It weights 61 Kilograms. It appears to have formed from a single tree as its color is uniform through out the piece. I discovered it on a Beach in South Carolina a few days after Hurricane Irma blew through. I have tried museums for help and they just say "wow that is big" and want it donated for free, not much help there. Anyone else I have talked to tells me it's so rare that they cannot even guess at a value. Ebay is no help since all copal on there are small pieces sold for jewelry. The largest piece I have found for sale is 3 pounds... Not much to compare to. I would REALLY appreciate any help in determining even a ballpark value and searching for a museum interested in holding it as a loaned piece. I am also curious about taking it to the Tucson Gem show, for display or sale. Thank you.

I'm in the path of hurricane Matthew (near Daytona, Florida), so I thought I'm make some posts while I can. I've been through this before, and will give you some amusing observations until the weather cuts me off. The governor is saying "There is no gas shortage", but some stations are closed. He says they may be closed, but there is gas. There is a silly ritual that we go through with gas, in that the government issues advice saying "Do not all run down and fill your car gas tanks, because that will cause a gas shortage." People who obey that advice will then be chastised AFTER the hurricane for not having had the foresight to fill their tanks BEFORE the hurricane. They get you coming and going on that one. Best advice... fill your tank and prepare long before the rush. People wait until the governor is on TV, and then they all fly into a panic, the lines get long, and basic essential stuffs like gas and food become scarce in the final hours. There is a lot of gas theft, so get a locking gas cap and don't let people see your 5 gallon gas can for the mower. Each projection brings the eye closer over my house. What happened in 2005 is that we had three powerful hurricanes, and I learned that the projects change every hour, and they are not too believable until AFTER the hurricane has pasted. Hindsight is 20/20, especially in hurricane forecasting. In past hurricanes, my land line continued to work for much longer times than the cell towers. During hurricane Jeane my house became the local phone booth, with strangers lined up outside to use my phone. More later... going out to help my son remove objects from around the house. The objects get picked up and thrown around, and can break the windows.