florida fossil hunting by land

[Elena919]

I will be in the Tampa and Venice area 10/26 -11/1. My husband is not really a water guy so I was wondering about any club trips or options to go on a fossil hunting trip on land. Any help would be much appreciated. Please PM if you'd like to keep info private.

 

thanks so much!

[tmaier]

On the beach in Venice, Florida, you can find fossil just by walking the beach and picking up anything that is black or brown. The beach is very long and wide, so you can walk it several times and still find stuff.

In the early morning the solar driven winds are gone (i.e., it gets windy from the heating of the sun), and you can walk right in the edge of the Gulf and the water is calm and clear. Walk in the 6 inch deep water at the shore, and you can see fossils that people can't see during the day, when the waves pick up.

A couple miles south of Venice's town beach is the county park (?) of Caspersen Beach, and that is worth searching, sometimes.

I haven't walked the beaches in Tampa for a half century, so I imagine things have changed, but I used to find Pleistocene shells on the beach.

[DinoMike]

41 minutes ago, tmaier said:

I haven't walked the beaches in Tampa for a half century, so I imagine things have changed, but I used to find Pleistocene shells on the beach.
 

 

 I know that Apollo Beach (just S of Tampa) used to be a hot spot for Pleistocene vertebrate fossils, but most of it has been sold as beachfront property now, and the only remaining accessible part is a park with a prominent "NO FOSSIL HUNTING" sign"

[tmaier]

Next century I'll walk that beach again. I don't want to put too much hunting pressure on the same location.

[Bone Daddy]

" I know that Apollo Beach (just S of Tampa) used to be a hot spot for Pleistocene vertebrate fossils, but most of it has been sold as beachfront property now, and the only remaining accessible part is a park with a prominent "NO FOSSIL HUNTING" sign" "

 

Really? Does that apply to permit holders as well?

 

[DinoMike]

17 hours ago, Bone Daddy said:

" I know that Apollo Beach (just S of Tampa) used to be a hot spot for Pleistocene vertebrate fossils, but most of it has been sold as beachfront property now, and the only remaining accessible part is a park with a prominent "NO FOSSIL HUNTING" sign" "

 

Really? Does that apply to permit holders as well?

 

 

 Yep. EVERYONE. What I heard is that they don't want people "digging up the beach." (Now, this was back in the late 90s, but I doubt anything has changed, except perhaps to get even MORE restrictive.)

[tmaier]

In Florida, the public land is between the high and low tide lines. The beach can be privately owned.

https://www.floridabar.org/DIVCOM/JN/JNJournal01.nsf/0/83d21148206bf5ef852575bb005321eb?OpenDocument

On time I was walking the beach near Venice and in the tidal zone. An employee minon scurried out from the hotel and yelled at me to leave, and I tried to tell him I had legal right to walk the tide line. He screamed and jumped up and down, so I told him I would leave if he gave me $50, and he should go back to his flea-bag hotel and ask his boss for the cash. While he was busy doing that, I continued my walk.

Some hotel owners and other priovate parties know this is the law, but they refuse to obey it. They use bluff an intimidation to keep people from having access to the ocean. Local law officials often go along with the shenanigans because they know it is better to side with the rich and powerful, even when breaking the law.

On the way back from my walk down the beach, there was a local cop and the grunt from the hotel, waiting for me. The cop gave me a warning, and I gave him one about learning and enforcing the laws.