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Winter Fossil Hunting along the Chesapeake Bay and Calvert Cliffs

It wasn’t that wet, it wasn't that wild, and actually, it wasn’t winter (the solstice occurs on Dec. 21st)… Although... There was the part where we overloaded and almost tipped the jet ski in the freezing water… Then there was the THICK fogbank that rolled in, preventing us from finding our way home while out in the middle of the bay... So it was still an adventure!

Anyhow, I set out over Turkey-Day weekend to meet Paul and Paleoscan at Paleoscans fossil abode. Instead of all of us pillaging a single collecting spot, we decided we could do more damage if we split up. I took off on the fossil-ski to hunt less accessible places, while Paul and Paleoscan hit other spots. We would occasionally ferry Paul to further cliff access.

Everyone did ok, no great megs were found, but lots of extinct whites (makos). Paleoscan found a small meg, a decent 1 3/4 inch hastalis shark tooth, and a nice crocodile tooth (I failed to get pictures) Paul ended up with a few nice ~ 1 3/4 inch hastalis shark teeth, an isurus retroflexis, and also a nice croc tooth. Again, I failed to get pictures of most of the finds (My camera hasn’t been working right since the fall off a cliffside in Greece). Finally, I found a few nice hastalis, including a 2 inch beauty in matrix, a neat pathological Hemipristis serra tooth, and a cool little vertebra with shark bite marks in it.

Below are pictures of the trip and the fossils

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Recommended Books and Fossils:

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Shark Tooth Hunting on the Carolina Coast
By: Ashley Oliphant, 2015
A guide on how to find and identify fossil shark teeth on the North and South Carolina beaches. It also has an easy to use section for shark teeth identification. If you want to find shark teeth in the Carolinas, read this book first!