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Winter Reading

A very late trip report, but since most of us here in the east our slowly learning the ways of the Eskimo, at least I can provide some reading material to pass the time.  It always helps when I am a little long winded.  My apologies to Eric and Greg since one, I have taken so long to get these out, and two I probably won’t remember all the details.  But here goes:

This takes place in August of 2009.  Me and my friend Eric came down from New York and were invited by my good friend Greg to stay at his house and fossil hunt for a couple days.  Greg was an awesome host and he has a wonderful family and home.  We got in really late from New York driving down to Northern VA due to we stopped at St. Claire Pa with instructions from Brad (AKA Brachiomyback) to collect some fossil fern imprints at a few sites.  Well using his trip report photos and directions from locals to find the landmarks we arrived and spent a few hours chipping away at the shale and found many many broken specimens.  I apologize for not taking any photos but I left them all at my parents house which I am slowly turning into a museum!

We visited with Greg and his family for a little while and got to bed because we would be up early to get the boat hooked up and be on our way to Calvert Cliffs!  I don’t even have to explain how excited I was I don’t think I slept at all last night.  I have read every trip report for the cliffs and thoughts of wonderful shark teeth and fossils ran through my mind all night!

Morning finally arrived and we were on our way.  After getting to a boat launching site which was a lot of fun from the get-go we were on our way.  An absolutely beautiful day, hardly a cloud in the sky, sunny, warm and all we had to do was get out far enough in the water and cruise along!

At the first spot we stopped I realized what was in store for me.  This was something entirely different then screening, or wandering the beach at camp Lejeune, or the PCS.   I had no idea what to look for.  There was shells, sand, cliffs, rocks, wood and piles of dirt everywhere.   So I did what I figured was best, and after Greg went one way, and Eric stayed in the middle, I started walking the other way, looking high and low, along the cliffs, in the piles of dirt, in the surf and on the beach.  Nothing.  I didn’t see a thing.  Was it just me, was I blind?  What was I looking for.  Well I felt a little better when Eric hadn’t found anything either but Greg started finding little teeth right away.   

I decided to go with what I knew best, screening.  So I waded back out to the tied up boat, grabbed my shovel and screen and started scooping up sand and shells that were in the surf.   Eric did the same thing and on my first screen, surprise, a big Hemi lower with a broken root lobe!  Well it was a start!  I continued with the screening and found nothing.  Nothing else. 

We continued searching and moving to different spots along the cliffs and slowly but surely we all started finding more and more little teeth.  Even if the teeth were small it was still a great day to be out.  I was thoroughly  enjoying just being out in the warm sunshine, the water was warm, it was a new place.  Just a great day to be out.  We would stop every so often, drink down some water, eat some snacks and keep going. 

Towards the end of the day and when we got to the farthest of our travels south did we start finding some larger teeth.  Greg found the first big tooth being a pretty nice lower Mako!  It was complete and perfect and got us all motivated to start at the ground and continue our search.  I got into a really rocky area and decided I was probably walking to fast so I slowed waaayyy down and started looking in between the rocks in the cracks and in the little pools of water the waves left behind and before I knew it I saw my first big tooth.  A Mako.  A really nice upper.  From what I could tell it was complete.  I reached down to pick it up and as soon as I touched it realized those rocks had other ideas.  The tooth was completely wedged in.  Well I wasn’t about to break the tooth by pulling on it so I carefully wiggled it and pushed on the big rocks until it popped out into my hand!  SUCCESS.  Except for a tiny chip in the blade I was perfect and very colorful!  My first Calvert Mako! 

I wandered up and down that spot hoping for my second big tooth and spent a good hour there with nothing else to show for it so I went back to show off my new prize.  Upon finding Eric who gave me a dirty look due to his bad luck, I felt bad for him since it was only his third time ever looking for shark teeth so he was having a terrible time and only managed a few small teeth.  I then caught up to Greg who was picking up his own Upper Mako as well. 

By then the sun was setting and it was time to hope that we had enough fuel left to make it back.  What a day, I can wait to get back there.  I think I need to spend a week there though.  But I think I will wait until after a big storm!  But I will never complain about a day finding teeth with great weather, great friends and a nice tooth to boot!

Location Calvert County, Maryland, USA

ID3600
MemberMikeDOTB
Date Added2/13/2010

The Finds
The tooth of the day!
  

Links
Frozen Day at the Beach
Frozen Day at the Beach
mega trifecta at calvert cliffs
mega trifecta at calvert cliffs
Toothing in a Winter Wonderland
Toothing in a Winter Wonderland
  

Comments
- 2/14/2010
Reviewer : Flex68 from Virginia United States
Total Rating : 10
That is definitely one killer blade! Enjoyed reading your report... helped me think of warm ocean breezes and hot August sunshine ! Definitely not what we've been stuck with here all winter !!! Content Quality : 10 of 10

Drool Quotient : 10 of 10

Picture Quality : 10 of 10
VOTE! Agree  Disagree 

Nice tooth! - 2/14/2010
Reviewer : Govinn from Virginia United States
Total Rating : 10
I've been to the cliffs twice since I've been here and you've got me beat with that tooth. Great report! Content Quality : 10 of 10

Drool Quotient : 10 of 10

Picture Quality : 10 of 10
VOTE! Agree  Disagree 

Nice Report Mike - 2/17/2010
Reviewer : Fat Boy from Maryland United States
Total Rating : 10
That is a killer mako, awesome. And that ray plate is a dandy too. Nice reading material to ponder and reflect on while there's 2' of snow still outside my window! I enjoyed the read, thanks. I know we talked about maybe hooking up that week, but it wasn't possible for me at that time. Some day though... I can tell you that I'm chomping at the bit to get back down South for a visit...maybe hook up then. Content Quality : 10 of 10

Drool Quotient : 10 of 10

Picture Quality : 10 of 10
VOTE! Agree  Disagree 

I'm in - 2/17/2010
Reviewer : MikeDOTB from North Carolina United States
Total Rating : No Rating
Hey Kevin any time you are coming down just give me a heads up! I'm gonna try to get back up to Virginia/Maryland again soon as well!
VOTE! Agree  Disagree 


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