surreality
starting to spend too much on rocks
is picking up too many rocks at the beach again
Member since January 2012
Posts: 217
|
Post by surreality on Oct 14, 2018 19:32:27 GMT -5
We're hitting the road to Florida on the 19th, and looking for some options to hunt for rocks as well as the usual shells. (The current red tide conditions might be limiting that somewhat!)
We stay in the Cape Coral area, but don't mind drives up to about 3 hours each way, in any direction. We'll be there for about 2 weeks, staying at one location the entire time.
We know about Fort Drum/Ruck's Pit and Honeymoon Island Park as options, but are completely at a loss for any other potential options in the area. We'll have buckets and some rake style tools, but that's about it, we aren't gator wrestlers, and we do NOT have access to a 4-wheel drive car or a boat, so these are all factors to consider in any recommendations -- even anything someone may know about the two sites mentioned above would be a great help, since we're considering both.
Anyone know of any other sites out there that would be worth a visit?
|
|
|
Post by parfive on Oct 14, 2018 21:16:52 GMT -5
|
|
surreality
starting to spend too much on rocks
is picking up too many rocks at the beach again
Member since January 2012
Posts: 217
|
Post by surreality on Oct 14, 2018 21:30:13 GMT -5
We've been tracking it, yep. There's a fairly good map covering the areas where we're going that's updated every two days. (Some days we're traveling with my mother, which is the main concern; she has some major breathing difficulties so her sensitivity is above average, and we're having to select our shell-hunting locations around that.)
|
|
Mark K
Cave Dweller
Member since April 2012
Posts: 2,568
|
Post by Mark K on Oct 14, 2018 22:07:23 GMT -5
|
|
surreality
starting to spend too much on rocks
is picking up too many rocks at the beach again
Member since January 2012
Posts: 217
|
Post by surreality on Oct 15, 2018 11:39:58 GMT -5
Hoooooooly cats. Yeah, we never seem to be there when that happens... lots of those are likely still alive, though, and will be heading out on the next tide. (Anything that wasn't, well, I suppose we'd run out of buckets eventually... )
|
|
surreality
starting to spend too much on rocks
is picking up too many rocks at the beach again
Member since January 2012
Posts: 217
|
Post by surreality on Nov 7, 2018 10:11:48 GMT -5
We made it back, and were lucky on the red tide front -- mostly shells. We didn't, unfortunately, make it to either Ruck's Pit or Honeymoon Island. (The latter was still showing signs of some red tide problems on the days available with decent low tides, boo; it was a 3 hour drive from where we were staying, and that means we would have had to go on the days my mother wasn't with us, as she wasn't up for that trek -- most of which rained anyway.) So while we came back with 15 plastic bins of shells... not much on the rock front, save for one spot I will be insisting we visit again, since we now know these pieces will clean up nicely. It was at the foot of a causeway, and I'm wondering if some of the things we found were fossils. Once we get things a bit more settled and unpacked, I'll be sure to get some pictures. We noticed a number of pieces in that area that looked just like chunks of boring grey/dark rock, but when looking closer, the shapes of barnacles and similar could be made out on them, so we started picking them up and rinsing them off in the surf. We didn't stay long, since 'there are no interesting shells here, I'm bored!' was my mother's immediate analysis of the spot, but I'll be dropping them into the ID thread to see what folks think when I can. Whatever they are, they're definitely at least old, and one piece is a very large oyster with the barnacle clusters on it; both sides of the oyster are intact and complete. Most pieces are from what must have been enormous shells at one point, but are fragments. Either way, we're hoping to do two weeks again next year, and the husband is still interested in both the Pit and Honeymoon Island. As for the Pit, we decided that our beach rake probably wasn't enough tool-wise to handle that effectively for the cost of going, but his increasing interest in hounding with me means we're finally going to start collecting some proper tools so we'll ideally have them by this time next year. (This is the beach rake -- www.amazon.com/gp/product/B001JJZLQY -- aka 'the murder rake', because that thing looks like a weapon. It's great for digging, though, and was awesome for shelling as well.)
|
|
victor1941
fully equipped rock polisher
Member since November 2011
Posts: 1,975
|
Post by victor1941 on Nov 18, 2018 16:50:39 GMT -5
Surreality, I would suggest Venice Beach for small shark teeth and think that Honeymoon Island would still yield some good material after a storm. I collected right after the spoil was deposited with a friend from Fort Myers and can tell you that some large coral material was still on the surface. The dredge evidently had a huge rotator cutting head and was cutting and moving a lot of silt with most surface rock being coral. There was also a lot of people surface collecting during this time frame but suspect that great material had to be buried.
|
|
coolryfry
off to a rocking start
Member since December 2018
Posts: 1
|
Post by coolryfry on Dec 29, 2018 19:26:30 GMT -5
Hey - I’m in the Tampa area and my son is just getting into tumbling. Where did you locate the information on Honeymoon Island being a good spot? I’ve been looking for a local resource to locate good spots and I’m coming up empty. I would appreciate your help!
|
|
Mark K
Cave Dweller
Member since April 2012
Posts: 2,568
|
Post by Mark K on Dec 29, 2018 21:48:19 GMT -5
I think that island is private property. I will try to check.
|
|
Mark K
Cave Dweller
Member since April 2012
Posts: 2,568
|
Post by Mark K on Dec 29, 2018 21:49:35 GMT -5
Nope, opposite side of the state.
|
|