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I thought a quick update on the scene along the west shore of the Chesapeake Bay might be informative. We've been going down there using Airbnb for the past few years; this allowed us to stay in Chesapeake Beach in 2021 and access Brownie's Beach a.k.a. Bayfront Park, where the Shark teeth are abundant and even the kids could find them in the surf. Chesapeake Beach has closed all short term rentals post-Covid and getting to Brownies is now very difficult without a boat and taking advantage of the high tide laws in Maryland. (They can block access to the beach, but cannot prevent you walking or boating to the beach as long as you stay below the high tide line.) North Beach just north of town has a beach practically devoid of fossils and too many docks between the two beaches to wade it; you could possible rent a place in NB and canoe or boat to Brownies. Calvert Cliffs State Park is almost 2 miles walk from the road and picked clean to death in summer. This leaves one to get creative if hunting the west shore is your goal. The two aforementioned locations are imho the best in terms of fossil quantities if not quality, public access in the case of the Calvert Cliffs, and generally an easy outing sans the walk to get to the beaches. However... Two options we had great success with recently were the always-faithful Matoaka Lodges and Airbnb rentals in southern Calvert County that get you into some of the other beaches. Shark teeth are not as plentiful in either case. Driftwood Beach is loaded with turitella and various snails but not much else. The cliffs on either side however are loaded with Chesapectans and some other species of clam-like fossil. They continually wash out and are well preserved. Matoaka Lodges on the other hand can be picked to death in the summer as well but normally a small walk north along the surf with reveal both cliff and beach areas with fossils. Loads of Chesapectans here too. Occasionally small shark teeth in the surf. NOTE : I found some weird white fossils in the cliff at Matoaka which are pictured below. Still have not identified it. Some of the chunks were as large as your hand and would flake off identical layers. Anyone with any thoughts please weigh in, much appreciated.

These were found in the cliff face just north of Matoaka Lodges along the west shore of the Chesapeake Bay. Not sure which of the three formations is exposed here I believe St. Mary's? Some of these were as large as your hand and flaked off identical layers below.

Well it is with bittersweet feeling that I'm leaving Maryland this coming Monday for a new job in Utah. This morning at 4:45 am I hoped into my car and drove to the Cliffs one last time to say goodbye. The tides were exceptionally high and I didn't do as well as last time but still had a good trip and found some stuff. A group of kids on a science trip ran into me at Mataoke cabin beach. Their guide had them gather around me as I had a hand full of Chesapecten nefrens and they were all oooohing and ahhhhing. I accidentally dropped a large tiger tooth that I found a few yards away and quickly picked it up. Their guide exclaimed, "Wow I can't believe you just found that tiger tooth!" The kids (especially the boys) at this point could care less about the large shells and where fixated on the tooth. Then they started looking all around my legs for more teeth. I wasn't about to tell their guide that I had found it a ways back and ruin the thrill of the moment so Injust gave everyone a coy smile and said, "Just keep looking and you're bound to find some good teeth." The truth was that was the first tooth I ever found at Mataoke and I never go their for teeth just for shells. :-) Pictures coming soon! PS - Sorry for the pictures and poor lighting. My canon is packed away and so is my nice measuring board. :-( Here's the loot! I'm not positive if these are all Chesapecten nefrens. I'll have to ID them all later but for now I'll call them C. nefrens. Some of these are matching pairs. Pro-tip: If you can get to Bayfront Park by roughly 5:45 am then the Beach Patrol (teenagers with green shirts) shouldn't be there yet collecting money. This was beneficial as I didn't have to cough up $18. I just found out those over 50 can get in for $10. What gives?! Just because I'm a young man doesn't mean I should be punished for it! Very high tides today. Overcast with high tides. This is going to be fun... and wet... Ecphora popped right out of the matrix. I believe this is from the St. Mary's formation because this was found in some rubble that fell from the very top of the cliffs and I know for a fact that's the St. Mary's layer. Golfball sized Ecphora in the Matrix. Please be complete... And... it's missing the bottom stem... Other than that it looks good. I'll keep it. View of a large baseball sized Ecphora. This one isn't worth extracting as that would take hours with special tools and super glue. What a heart breaker. Someday I'll find one this size that won't be so brittle. Here are a bunch of Hammer and Bonnet Head shark teeth with a few Requiem. There's an Angel shark tooth up top. I find fewer of those than cow shark teeth! Some large ray plates. The one in the middle might be the largest plate I've ever found at Bayfront. A collection of newly acquired Ecphora gardnera and Turritella. I don't usually keep bones but this one has some neat dimensions to it. Small C. nefrens are usually not kept but these have beautiful color to them. Not a bad day for Makos. Three of my best Makos from the trip. Not my best trip but certainly not my worst either.

Hello! Has anyone collected from the Windmill Point Member of the St. Marys Formation in Maryland or Virginia? I've collected the Chesapecten scallops for years and would LOVE to find a Chesapecten santamaria and finally fill that major gap in my collection. C. santamaria is common in these exposures but I don't know of any on public property - are there? Has anyone collected on private property - if so would you mind sharing contact info of the person/organization involved? Thanks so much!