June 2010
Peace River, Florida
 

I’m not complaining mind you, but after collecting in the New Jersey area for several years a little diversity can be good for the spirit. Our vacation destination this year was Florida, and I was delighted to see that we would be staying within driving distance of the Peace River. A quick post on the fossil forum to ask about guides yielded a unanimous vote of Mark Rentz of Fossil Expeditions. I was good to go!  

  I grabbed the first available open slot our vacation schedule permitted and arrived at the meeting point on the appointed day with a good hour to spare. Time enough for coffee and breakfast before the rest of our group began arriving. Our guide on this walk-in trip was Fred who I can’t say enough about, but I’m getting ahead of myself.

   After getting everyone situated with shovels and sifts along with some last minute instructions it was off to the river. I picked my spot and the first few shovelfuls produced some smaller shark teeth and a few bone fragments. Within minutes the father and son I was digging with picked up a broken meg.  I was already having a great time and the day had only begun.

   Our guide Fred was just great, 30 years experience on the river and his presence added greatly to the entire experience. He was constantly checking everyone’s screens, identifying finds and explaining the geology of the area. If someone hit a short dry spell he would diplomatically suggest trying “this spot”, indicate how deep to dig and in which direction to widen the hole. 

  My only complaint was that the day ended much too quickly. I was happy with what I found and truly had a blast. Ah yes, megs; I never did think to ask Fred how many complete ones were found. I saw two nice ones plucked from the river during the course of the day and personally managed 4 partials.

Peace River, Florida
(click to enlarge)

   My haul for the day minus the smaller shark teeth

The "ball" section of 3 toed horse leg bone.
My favorite find of the trip
 

Largest and nicest of several horse teeth.
This one came at the very end of the day.
 

Fragments of turtle scutes along with small unidentifiable pieces of bone
were the most common finds.
 

(click to enlarge)
Top row - Dugong rib sections
Left - section of  horse leg bone
Middle - Alligator tooth
Bottom right - Soft shell turtle scute
Leaning up against the rib section is neural scute from a
a fresh water turtle.

 

(click to enlarge)
Left - Deer antler  Right - Part of a Monmouth tooth
 
I know it's only a very small section of Monmouth tooth, but a Monmouth
tooth is a Monmouth tooth.

Everything pictured on this page was identified by our guide.