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If I did not have to eat, I would never leave   Colleton County, South Carolina, USA

"If I did not have to eat, I would never leave." Famous words of da fossz in reference to the Edisto river, uttered several years ago still ring true. On the second day of da fossz's visit, we decided to hit the river in the afternoon to spend a few quality hours collecting in a fantastic location.

We were all business on this hunt. No messing around. Suit up, get in, find teeth. I was in a rich area with a thick gravel bed. I fanned the s...

Back In the Edisto Again   Colleton County, South Carolina, USA

This is a dive from the past week. DW almost scored a killer large angy, but sadly it had feeding damage on the tip. I found a large shamer angy as well.

...
Cant Stay Away   Colleton County, South Carolina, USA

I love diving and this time of year, there isn't a better way to beat the heat and the fossil jones. I hit the river today with t$. We decided to go to a spot that we haven't hunted in a few years. When we arrived, we found a pile of trees in place of the pile of teeth we were expecting.

Instead we moved back upriver to a more familiar area. I decided to move sand since we had already surface collected the area many times before. I fanned away one section ju...

Only the fish are biting today.   Colleton County, South Carolina, USA

  

This is another dive from last week. I didn’t find any super hero’s today and only received bites from little fish passing by. They are just like mosquitoes, but only underwater. DW scored the tooth of the day, which was a little ang...

When Lightning Strikes   Colleton County, South Carolina, USA

It was Low Country road trip time last Saturday and being my first diving trip, the anticipation was killing me. I left my house at 3:00 AM giving myself enough time to hit at least one ditch before I hooked up with Ditchweezil and Da fossz. I arrived at the ditch at 7:00 and proceeded to search. The lack of rain seriously hampered my screening efforts with almost no water flowing - one tiny busted Angy was all the screen would produce. I quickly decided that walking and scan...

A new king of angys has risen in my collection.   Colleton County, South Carolina, USA

This is a dive from the past week. I’ve just been real slack with the updates. This was a great day because I found my first 4 inch angy and it’s a beast. It may not be a super hero, but angys over 4 inches are just so hard to find!

...
The Imperfect Storm   Colleton County, South Carolina, USA

Summer in South Carolina is hot and the humidity makes it stifling. Digging for fossils under a blistering sun is not fun, but I must still hunt because the need is in my blood like some kind of dire-werewolf pathogen from beyond the K-T boundary. The river is the cure! Its a warm 80 degrees with virtually no effort required to recover shark teeth, artifacts, and other prehistoric knick-knacks to decorate the coolest room in my house.

Mid-week Fossiling   Colleton County, South Carolina, USA

Today was another beautiful day in the river. Da fossz was down to join me and DW for a dive. I found a good amount of teeth today and a nice 2 9/16” angy towards the end of the dive.

...
That’s How We Roll   Colleton County, South Carolina, USA

With good visibility in the Edisto still, another trip was needed. DW and myself were joined by Xipho-Dan for another tri-fecta. We arrived around 10AM to find a partly cloudy sky. We quickly started to work on a gravel bed and in about 20 minutes I bagged my first true “arrowhead” (a.k.a bird point) and it is a sweetie. Next, X-Dan shamed us SC boys with a large angy. Then, DW scored a killer Oligocene Benedini. It was like we all got in gravy mode early…but hey, that is how...

Mid-week Fossiling   Colleton County, South Carolina, USA

I did not take much time off for the July 4th holiday, so I thought to myself a lazy day in the Edisto looking for fossils would be good. I called up my hunting pal DW and he was in. T$ joined in as well to make it a BRFC tri-fecta. We met up at the river and geared up quickly. I hit the same gravel bed as before, and was a little slow to start (I guess from my previous racking). DW, T$ decided to mozy back down river to fan and they both did well. T$ e...

Good Diving Gear Counts!   Colleton County, South Carolina, USA

I called t$ at 11:30 to see if he wanted to go to the river and he was really excited. I told him to come over as soon as he got ready. I figured he lived about 20 minutes away, so he would be at my place in about 40 minutes after we hung up. I gathered up all my gear and piled it into the truck and started waiting for t$ to arrive. Then I waited some more. Then a little longer. I called his cell phone to see what the holdup was an hour into the wait. No answer. FINALLY, a full hour and...

My first dive in the river!   Colleton County, South Carolina, USA

I was going to go back and dig in the chandler at the ditch, but I got a call from DW to go diving instead. DW was telling me over the phone about this new wetsuit he just bought and that he couldn’t wait to show it to me. He said it would help him rack in the teeth. It was the most girliest suit I’ve seen in my life! See picture below .

...
The First Dive of 2007   Colleton County, South Carolina, USA
Even though I've posted a few dives for this year aleady, this is what I found the first time I got wet this year. From the second dive on, my finds were so good that I never got time to put this up....
Another Great Day Fossil Diving in South Carolina   Colleton County, South Carolina, USA

Earlier this week, da fossz called me with bad news - the weather had been really nasty for him with long, heavy showers. Rain near him spells higher river levels and faster current. Luckily, I was able to make it to the river on the day it crested. I strapped on an additional 10 pounds of lead to bring my wetsuit-less total to over 40 pounds. I cratered when I hit the bottom, but once I was there I was in the zone. I worked a pattern on the hunt for more of the dugong, and I w...

The River Called Back   Colleton County, South Carolina, USA

After the awesome finds from my last trip to the river, I had to go back. I lay awake at night, thinking to myself that there were more whale teeth under the sand just waiting to be excavated. There had to be more dugong out there! I hit the same area of the river with my fanning gloves on. I started making finds almost immediately. 10 minutes into the hunt, I got a fantastic squalodon molar. Then, another one. Then a couple more. I was on fire underwater!

The finds...

Answering the call of the river   Colleton County, South Carolina, USA

My fossil hunting days are becoming more frequent. I just went the other day for my first dive of the year (post forthcoming) and then a few days ago, da fossz called me up for a trip to the river. I was in and motivated. We were in the water fast and hunting hard. I found a nice area of ashley formation and I proceeded to fan. The fossils just jumped out at me. First a big chunk of dugong skull, then a bunch of whale teeth, and finally a point. df was rackin hard down...

Three Reasons I Love SC…..Teeth, teeth and teeth.   Colleton County, South Carolina, USA

After several weeks of the corporate machine keeping me out of fossil hunting territory, it was time to collect again. The Edisto river had dropped low enough for safe diving and DW did not hesitate to join me to hunt the river. We quickly loaded the truck with our paraphernalia (fossil related, of course) and headed into the river. This process has become a marvel of modern industrial engineering as the well-oiled machine that is BRFC was in the water in a manner of minutes....

ACE Basin Blahs   Colleton County, South Carolina, USA
Another old post - I haven't been diving much this year, so I was really excited to have to opportunity to visit one of my favorite dive spots. Viso was great as I combed the bottom of the river. Two dives and 5 hours later I had a bunch of shark teeth, but nothing great. A bad day fossil hunting is better than any day at work. I was thankful for the chance to hunt....
The fish are biting in the Edisto   Colleton County, South Carolina, USA
Our recent dry spell in South Carolina has dropped the river levels to a good diving depth. I called up DW wand we agreed it was our civic duty to show the world the fossil goodies lying on the river bed. We arrived at Edisto to find it shallow enough for a safe dive, but at the same time the current was unusually strong. DW took the deep bend, and I took the shallower sections downriver. I did not bring my mega-super dive light, and I am glad I stuck in the shallower portions as the day turned ...
The Last Frigid Dive of the Year   Colleton County, South Carolina, USA
I went on a business trip last week, and because I came home on the weekend, I got to take Thursday and Friday off. I've had to be an adult lately and work instead of hunt, so these days off were going to be spent at least in part in the pursuit of fossils! I hit the river today, and even though visibility was awesome, I was only in an hour before I called it quits. It was a chilly 63 degrees, and since I only brought a wetsuit, I was frigid cold. Imagine getting into the water, being all warm, ...
Last Edisto Fossil Dive of the Year?   Colleton County, South Carolina, USA
Another week went by with no real rain, and my favorite dive spot beckoned me to sample its goods. I scoured the bottom up river from our normal haunts. The oligocene Chandler Bridge formation was just under the sand in this spot, so I fanned all day in hopes of finding a killer lurking just out of sight. In some spots, I could fill a sifter and bring it up to tha weEzlinG so he, too, could partake in the glory of the hunt. There was even one area so perfect that he could ride on my back while I...
Racking up at the River   Colleton County, South Carolina, USA
After the disgrace of having to forego our Aurora slots because of work obligations, da f0ssZ and I made alternate plans to salvage a part of a day in the name of fossils. The river was beautiful and I was glad to sink beneath her murky depths to find my little prehistoric de-stressers. As we approached our parking spot, I realized that I forgot to include diving booties in my fossilin' instruments. I brainstormed and mangled two inflatable cushions for inner tubes to cover my feet. df's socks s...
Words of Wisdom   Colleton County, South Carolina, USA
This weekend was supposed to be the bi-annual pilgrimage to Aurora NC to collect at the PCS mine. As it turned out, both myself and DW were pinched for time and a weekend trip was not on the slate. We both had part of Saturday to hunt, so we decided to hit the Edisto. I met up early at DWs house around 9AM and we decided to give my new truck its first fossilin' trip. After we loaded up and got 31/32 of the way to the dive spot, DW began to mutter unpleasantries about his knack for forgetting som...
Taking a breather whether I deserve it or not!   Colleton County, South Carolina, USA
I'm getting pinched by the man in the worst way. 70 hours a week doesn't leave time to do much, so my fossil hunting has been put on ice lately. Last night at 2 in the morning, my eyes glazed over and I decided I had spent too much time in front of a computer. It was time to go diving. I hit the river and didn't look back. I didn't rack like I dreamed, but I picked up enough to make it really fun. I only have a couple more weeks of drudgery left before my deadlines are all met and I can hunt lik...
Edisto Odie - BRFC Bench Player   Colleton County, South Carolina, USA
Last weekend was FossZette’s and my anniversary day. We like to exchange thoughtful presents to each other; I gave her a nice spa treatment and she gave me a fossil pass good for one full day of collecting. I decided to give the Edisto a try since the rains have let up some over the past week or so. I called up DW, and he informed that he had been placed on the BRFC injured list from a non-paleo related eye ailment. I asked my work buddy Odie to join me and the river rat that he is obliged. We m...
Diving, Scuba, and more Diving   Colleton County, South Carolina, USA

Last weekend, da f0ssZ came down and we tried to go diving in the new POS in the Edisto. It was not a good maiden voyage, and I know why. We did not christen it properly as we did with the progenitor of the POS series of boats. We got to the dive spot fine, but the current was so bad that we decided it would be a bad idea to dive. Better to live to dive another day. On the way back to the landing, the boat sputtered and died. Luckily, we were down river of the landing and we just had the humb...

October 29 Dive Trip   Colleton County, South Carolina, USA
The weather has been pretty dry lately so I decided to hit the Edisto again. This time the water was a bit chilly, and a full wetsuit was needed. I waited until about noon to dive so that it was a little warmer outside. Fortunately, the cooler water provided better visibility. I spent the first dive poking in the Chandler Bridge for an elusive angy or whale tooth. Another heartbreaker as the whale tooth root fell into a million pieces and drifting down river (along with my possible keeper of the...
Dissed!   Colleton County, South Carolina, USA
I got an email from da f0ssZ first thing this morning telling me that he wanted to call off the Friday dive because of the tropical storms churning our way, due to arrive then. I emailed him back lauding his wisdom, even if I wasn't happy about having to ditch a dive. It was cool, though, because I was going to the Cooper today. I was all ready to leave when I found out that I had lost my cell phone. When I finally found it, I saw that Ted (the dude I was supposed to dive with) had called 3 time...
I hate my new mask   Colleton County, South Carolina, USA
Today I took fellow web fossilers fossilguy and fossilgirl to one my favorite spot in the Edisto River. I had never dived the river as high as it was today, so I wasn't sure about the current, but it didn't look bad so we suited up and jumped in. After my success last week fanning away the sand, I decided to employ the same technique today. I drifted down river a good way, then worked my way back as I fanned away the sand. I hardly found any...
Slow and Steady Wins the Race   Colleton County, South Carolina, USA
I had a few free hours this morning, so of course, I went diving. The water was really clear again, and I could have surface collected again, but I've hunted the snot out of this bend in the past few weeks, so I decided to move some sand to see if I could find anything that just washed out of the Chandler Bridge. After all, that's where the best stuff is, even if there isn't that much there. Today was no exception, as you can see from the quantity I came back with. I was after quality today, and...
The Megalodon Tooth Fairy   Colleton County, South Carolina, USA
The scores kept on coming as I hitched up the dive gear for a solo dive in the Edisto again today. I literally filled up my catch bag with shark teeth as I scoured the big bend where da f0ssZ and I dove last week. My search patterns were tighter this time, and the rewards were great. I actually pulled my best megalodon tooth to date from this river today. I found it completely exposed on the marl bottom. In one gravel bed, I found a pile of big teeth. It was amazing - 4 big angustidens all lying...
Shark Tooth ... Uhhh, I mean, Whale Tooth Diving at its best   Colleton County, South Carolina, USA
I've been jonesin to get back out into the water since my great day last week where I loaded up on the shark teeth, plus came home with 2 nice ones, a parotodus and a megalodon. I wasn't foolish enough to think it would happen again today, but I was willing to give it a shot. da f0ssZ came down to dive with me, and we wasted no time getting to the dive spot. We were in the water within minutes. I was hungry for a big score as I swam the vast expanses of gravel covered Chandler Bridge hoping to s...
Shark Tooth ... Uhhh, I mean, Whale Tooth Diving at its best   Colleton County, South Carolina, USA
I called up DW for a trip to the Edisto to get my fossil fix. I had an OK day at the pit, but we all know what the river can produce. We hit a familar section of river, and recent rains had scoured the bottom. We both headed for a section with Chandler Bridge all over the bottom. We both steadily picked up teeth, and in the middle of dive, DW had scored a nice little double root whale tooth. I had some shark teeth, and one decent angy. We met up near the end of the day, and DW had hit a gold min...
Interesting New Fossil Diving Possibilities   Colleton County, South Carolina, USA
Today I was finally able to get into the water again. The first thrill of the day came while I was launching my boat. Two dolphins were swimming side by side down the middle of the river. I couldn't believe it because the boat landing is at least 25 miles from the ocean and the water is entirely fresh. The river is narrow as well at this landing, so the two dolphins created a big wake as they swam back to the ocean. I so wish I hadn't forgotten my camera! Anyway, I bought a new dive light last w...
June 22 2004 Fossil Diving Trip   Colleton County, South Carolina, USA
Today, I went to the spot where I found the bones of a whale stuck in the ashley marl in the river a few years ago. It wasn't there anymore, but its tough to tell exactly where it was since the spot is entirely different now. It was an absolute log jam down there, and I spent much of my time getting unstuck from the logs. Its kindof spooky down there when you're just swimming along and BAM! You run your head right into a giant, slime covered tree. Or a big fish. That's really freaky because they...
June 12 2004 Fossil Diving Trip   Colleton County, South Carolina, USA
My wife encouraged me to get out of the house again today, so I hitched up the boat and headed to the river to get a little morning dive in. The water was awesome, and I did a drift dive scooping up the teeth that littered the ashley marl at the bottom of the river. As I was swimming along the bottom toward the boat, I found one of the baddest angustidens I've ever found. Its 3 1/2 inches long and its got every single serration. The root is killer, the tip is killer, the blade is killer, and the...
Nice Rack   Colleton County, South Carolina, USA
DW and I had been watching the river level like a hawk. We decided a plunder was in order after a dry week. DW promoted fosspitality by picking me up some tanks at the dive shop near his house. I got to DWs about 8:30 after juicing up on the java bean. I had to check out his killer Angy from last dive, and the cleaned up mammoth teeth. WoW!! What awesome finds. I lost nearly 2 quarts of water from my drooling. We hit the river, launched the boat, and made our way to the dive site. The sun wa...
Nice Rack   Colleton County, South Carolina, USA
da f0ssZ called me Tuesday and said that he was thinking about fossil diving on Thursday, and I was down. We took the boat to a different part of the river today - one that we had not hit yet, and the rewards were great. The marl bottom was littered with teeth. I couldn't stop picking them up. I stumbled onto a near 5 inch megalodon tooth within about 15 minutes of the start of the dive. I kept looking at it because I didn't believe it, and I wanted to make sure it didn't bust in my bag. I swam ...
June 4 2004 Fossil Diving Trip   Colleton County, South Carolina, USA
June 4 2004 Fossil Diving Trip
June 4 2004 Fossil Diving Trip   Colleton County, South Carolina, USA
Today, tha duDe and I went fossil diving. It was his first time in the water this year, but he was as ready as I was to get in and find some shark's teeth. My first dive was a winner - I didn't really find anything superb, but I picked up so many teeth that I really didn't even notice the time passing. Visibility was awesome, and by the time I was out of air I was even more excited than when I started. I re-tanked, emptied my dive bag, and immediately went back into the water. I didn't find as m...
Fossil Diving for Mammoth Teeth, part deux   Colleton County, South Carolina, USA
Ever since I found the mammoth teeth last week, I've been dying to get back out to the river to see if there was more there. Plus, lots of people have been telling me to go back, because if the fossils just washed out, there could be way more stuff there. I followed the sage wisdom, and went back this morning. I didn't want to be greedy, so I only took one scuba tank. Once in the water, I swam directly to where I found the elephant teeth. Then I searched the area. Nothing. I was a little disappo...
Raising the Mammoth   Colleton County, South Carolina, USA

The first fossil dive of the year is always a tough one. You have to figure out where all your gear is, make sure it works, remember how to put it all together, blah, blah, blah. I was just ready to get into the water and find some shark teeth! Of course the primary goal is to find a big megalodon tooth, but with diving, there is always the outside chance that you'll run across something amazing. We arrived at the dive spot on time itching to gear up. I managed not to clock df in the cranium ...

Raising the Mammoth   Colleton County, South Carolina, USA
DW decided it was time to dive. The weather has been getting hot, so the river called us. We arrived around 9:00 and suited up by 9:30. The bottom was littered with gravel and layer. I decided to move down river from DW and got caught in a nasty current. It was too much for me, so I swam to the edge and re grouped. Meanwhile DW was raking in the teeth. The next dive, I decided to fan a little. This turned up a few more teeth than last dive, but no real keepers. Since I ditched my wetsuit to be l...
There's nothing left   Colleton County, South Carolina, USA
Today, thA duDe and I left with the intentions of hitting the rapids - a spot in the river where the current has been ripping so hard the past few weeks that you can't keep your spot when you wear 60 pounds of lead. We were hoping that a week without rain would have slowed the flow. How wrong we were. The spot was still raging and one look at it was all we needed before we decided that there were other spots we could find. So we headed back up river until we found a good candidate. We parked the...
The streak comes to an end   Colleton County, South Carolina, USA
I was being real today. I knew the killer streak I've been on couldn't last. But still I went as you expect I would have. It was cool, though. Diving is always fun. Da f0ssZ and I hit the river today with images of giant angys shimmering in our head lights. We went to the spot with the whale again so I could show df. The river was up high again, and the current was raging. On top of it, it was cold! The sky was covered with low, dense clouds and there was a breeze blowing all day. Perfect diggin...
I'll take quality over quantity any day   Colleton County, South Carolina, USA
Lately, excitement has been building earlier and earlier in the week for the Saturday foray into the river. This week, it hit me about Tuesday. I've had an incredible run of luck lately, and my expectations are getting higher every time. Today was no exception. thA duDe and I were at the boat landing by 9:45, but we couldn't dive yet. We had a piece of business to attend to. You see, I recently bought a boat and it had to be christened (see the tools page for the low-down; I think its one of the...
I'll take quality over quantity any day   Colleton County, South Carolina, USA
I'll take quality over quantity any day
I'm quickly becoming spoiled   Colleton County, South Carolina, USA
Again today, I went diving in the Edisto. The currents were raging, so I found it hard to stay in one place, but I managed. The river levels have been higher than normal the past few weeks, so a little extra erosion and reworking of the bottom has taken place. I dove today the same place that I did the week after da f0ssZ and I started diving this river. I didn't really think I was going to find anything. After all, I already covered it pretty well back then. Oh, was I wrong. With all the extra ...
Wait till you see THIS!   Colleton County, South Carolina, USA
After having eaten breakfast, I made a decision. Days off are few and far between. I had to go one more place. Yep - diving. With the rain, though, I didn't think it was going to be worth the trip. Rain generally makes the Edisto cloudy, and vis is pretty important there. I called up T-Money, but he was already down at the big ditch. Poor him. Oh well... I hitched up the boat, packed my gear, rented a tank, and went on my way. I pull into the landing and found out that I forgot my oars. CRUD! If...
Boating woes   Colleton County, South Carolina, USA

Once again my pal da f0ssZ braved the gators, snakes, bugs, and raging current to liberate fossils from the Edisto River. This is how the story was told to me. df went with a dude from his office. they hit the water in the morning and drove around the river until they found a suitable place to dive. They were a few miles away and they hit a chunk of limestone in a shallow part. It snapped the shaft of the motor. Yup. The most harsh punishment the river can dish out without killing you. They w...

t$ Tackles the Edisto   Colleton County, South Carolina, USA

t$'s first trip down under the murky depths of the Edisto. Not a bad haul, huh?

...
What did we do to deserve such luck?   Colleton County, South Carolina, USA
Da f0ssZ rolled into town today and we hit the Edisto like a vengence. The day started of with a bad omen - f0ssZ's bag fell off and he almost lost it. Total suckage, but he found it and there was no damage done. J of the golden shovel showed up and we had a mad fossil fest. We were all over this one spot almost the whole day, and for good reason. Check out the haul! We were picking up teeth every few seconds. At one point when we were both on the surface, da f0ssZ said one of those things that ...
What did we do to deserve such luck?   Colleton County, South Carolina, USA
da f0ssZ went with me to the Edisto river and found loads of goodies. He was cool enough to send me pictures of his best stuff to add to the web site. I made a little e-collage with them with my photo editor. Not bad, huh? That Angustidens on the upper left is gigantic. He said it was 4 1/4" long, and the tip is broken off. It would have easily been over 4 1/2" long which is HUGE for an angy. Right below that are two horse teeth he found....
To boldly go where no man has gone lately…   Colleton County, South Carolina, USA
Ok, our thinking was that if we can find piles of teeth where we had been looking, then we can most likely find piles of teeth other places, too. So we developed this grand scheme to search a stretch of the river by raft. I used GIS software to plot the length of the river we would search, and I concluded that it would take about 2 hours to float from spot a to spot b. Oh, how wrong I was. Try 4 hours. But this isn't a site about rafting, it’s a site about FOSSIL HUNTING! And that's what we did....
Another fun day on the Edisto   Colleton County, South Carolina, USA
Once we find a new spot, we can't leave it alone. We got up early today so we could have maximum bottom time. And once again, the weather was beautiful. Well, at least it was sunny. It was also dreadfully hot, but when you're in the water, that doesn't matter as much. So let's just say it was nice! The last two outings really tipped us off to what we could expect from this spot, so yesterday I went out and bought a boat so we could access other parts of the river not previously reachable on foot...
Another fun day on the Edisto   Colleton County, South Carolina, USA
Another fun day on the Edisto
My new one day record!   Colleton County, South Carolina, USA
My new one day record!
My new one day record!   Colleton County, South Carolina, USA
Early this afternoon, we set out to the Edisto River. thA duDe has been jonesin all week to get out there since he heard about last week. Again, the weather was perfect, and we were in the water by noon. We went a little further than we did last week, and it was well worth it! I just couldn't quit picking up teeth. They were everywhere down there. I've never found more than I did today. I really didn't find that much quality, though. I came away with one nice Mako, which was cool. As long as I h...
A spot to secure the future   Colleton County, South Carolina, USA
Since the developments are nearing completion, I feared the end of toothing. Such fear sent me on a mad hunt for a new place to find teeth. After weeks of driving and researching, da f0ssZ and I took the plunge and decided to try our luck in a new place. We mapped out several possible locations and headed off with the sifting gear to try our luck. The first spot we tried was where we would spend the rest of the day. We got into the water and stuck the shovel in, and within minutes, we struck fos...
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