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May 15, 16, 17 hunt for coral


Sacha

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I made a decision to stay out of the Peace River until a little rain flushes out whatever is giving me a skin reaction. It's killing me since the river is as low as it gets and we wait all year for this opportunity, but it is what it is. This (Monday May 15th) is the 1st day of a 3 day coral hunt. 2 Days in the Withlacoochee in Georgia and the third day (Weds) in the Suwannee on the way home to DeLand. I put 8 hours in the river today, with decent results but mostly small "geodes". I won't know how well I've done until I get them home, clean them up and start taking slices. I did bring back one pretty monstrous head which I pulled from the blue clay so it's really nice and white. It has a couple promising voids, but until the clay is cleaned off I won't know if it's a museum piece or a boulder for the garden. Either way it was a back breaker. Back to the same spot for a little while tomorrow to see if the pocket has more to offer.

 

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I'll follow up with any updates tomorrow if they're worthwhile.

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Good Luck out there John,  I ALMOST made it to that spot but a cut I believe infected at the Peace took me out of action.  I will live vicariously thru your photos.. 

The White Queen  ".... in her youth she could believe "six impossible things before breakfast"

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Looking forward to seeing what you get when you open these, John. Hope the big one lives up to it's promise. :)

 
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10 hours ago, Sacha said:

...I won't know if it's a museum piece...

 

:fingerscrossed:

"I am glad I shall never be young without wild country to be young in. Of what avail are forty freedoms without a blank spot on the map?"  ~Aldo Leopold (1887-1948) 

 

New Mexico Museum of Natural History Bulletins    

 

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Another nice day today. The water was clear and cool and the temperature was 94, but with low humidity. Had a pretty productive day, with several big coral heads, but some I'm just guessing based on a couple small hollow spots. To the Suwannee on Weds. and then home to Deland.

 

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Looks great John!

Can't wait to see them all cut and polished up!

I would love one of those big corals! The wife might disagree though ;) 

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So I only spent a couple hours on the Suwannee, because I was beat after the last 2 days of digging. My goal was to find relatively small corals, with the external rind still intact, but long enough that I could clamp them and get a couple slices out of each. The colors in the Suwannee coral are very different than what is found in the Withlacoocee and if the rind is intact, they make cool little cabs. Here's a picture of one that I made out of coral from my last trip, along with the take for today.

 

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I've started the cleaning process at home and a couple pieces look like they have promise. Here is an example of why I love this stuff. Each piece is like a work of art.

 

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Hey John, I'm actually having the same reaction.  I've noticed a lot of death in the river lately, suffice to say, I'm hoping for some rain too.  The river just looks dead...I've never seen it this low.

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1 hour ago, FossilDudeCO said:

very very cool John.

Those corals really are unique!

 

Thanks Blake. I've got to cut a couple coral so I can fill up the flat lap and finish 1 last piece of your petrified wood. When I'm done I'll photo the lot, box it up for you and send it on it's way.

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I really enjoyed seeing your pics of the different corals and look forward to seeing those massive ones cut! :)

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You are the coral whisperer!   I definitely am getting to the Withlacoochee river this summer.  Its a drive from Chicagoland but definitely worth it in my book.

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  Ive never been on a coral hunt but if I ever want to start, sacha is going to be my best pal.  Some rather nice stuff youve found! 

 

RB

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Wow, that last pic of your specimens is very cool.  Looks a little like blue and white tapioca.

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I opened up the most promising head that I found on the first day and flushed out the clay. Really turned out nice, although I'll still try to refine it before bringing it into the house. Thought I'd enter it in the Invert of the month club. It certainly made the trip worthwhile!

 

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Nice ! What is its size ?

 

Coco

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4 hours ago, Coco said:

Nice ! What is its size ?

 

Coco

It measures about 15"x16"x9" . The dark object in the bottom of the picture is the head of my rock hammer.

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