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My wife and I have just returned from a wonderful Florida vacation (actually a continuing education trip). I will use my next 4 posts (Florida 1,2 3, and 4) to help the Florida Division of Tourism persuade northerners/snowbirds to arrange for a vacation here. Florida 1 involves the beaches around Venice Florida. Beautiful! I had a preference for Caspersen Beach, an undeveloped stretch of beach that allows one to see Florida as it may have been before human alterations. Wildlife was plentiful, people were not. My favorite animals were the tortoises that roamed the interior of the narrow island. Most enjoyed a photo op. This one however was a bit shy! For spouses that do not have an interest in fossils this Florida beach provides great shelling or a relaxing place for some sun and a good book or just gawk at the idiots screening for sharks teeth. I was definitely not the only one! However, since this is the fossil forum, I must talk about what is available at Caspersen Beach. The interior of this barrier island is replenished with fossiliferous material, different than what washes up on the beaches. Unfortunately, collecting is NOT allowed here but the tortoises excavate new material daily for all to see and enjoy! I saw a variety of shells and some sharks teeth. I also saw where people have dug massive holes and not reclaimed the dig sites. I am sure this was a big reason for disallowing collecting. As for the beach, fossil material does wash up here and is collectable and keepable. I strongly suggest a sifting utensil to screen through the beach deposits. Walmart sells sand flea rakes for $18.00. Beach shops are more expensive A good investment to assure a pocket full of teeth goes home with you. I had made a screening device at home and packed it in my suit case. It DID significantly outperform flea rakes when the tide was low. Here I am using my home made screen. Floats did not work well with the ocean waves. However the rake worked better in higher water. A typical collection with the sand flea rake: Notice that I spread the material in the rake on the beach where the very last bit of wave can wash and spread the contents enough to allow easy pickings of the teeth. I focused my collecting to the little (1 foot) drop off at the deeper side of the shell wash. In other words, if one slowly walks out into the ocean, you will feel a shelly layer at your feet. Then a sudden small drop off occurs and you now feel a sandy bottom. This change in depth and content was my most productive layer to collect from. So when the tide is high, The log handle of the flea rake allows me to collect without submerging my body using my home made screen. And in February, the ocean is cool even for me. When screening, one never knows what might show up as evidenced here.