Fun day at the Beach - EDIT NEW PIC ADDED

I had a great time collecting with my daughter recently on our trip to the Bay.  At least now I know that my next fishing trip won't get hexed!  I also met two BRF members, Daryl and Johnny.

My daughter and I were working our way slowly along the cliffs, she going faster than I like a shark tooth vacuum cleaner.  That means that I have to be more thorough and when I saw who was ahead of me I realized that I'd have to go even slower.  Up ahead was a figure that I recognized carring a sifter and a shovel, our BRF friend Daryl.  My daughter urged me to move ahead of him and I said that I thought that I knew him, so I'd like to catch up to chat, but not pass him.  Instead, my plan was to work back the other direction (she didn't hear me say that).  Daryl moved pretty quickly ahead presumably to sift a favorite spot of his while I tried to catch up.  In doing so, I climbed over a log put one leg on the other side and shifted my weight, only to find myself collapsing in deep mud up to my hip with my other leg still on the log, and the only thing keeping me from eating mud was my elbow on a tree limb 6" under the water.  With mud in my face, I managed to get back to my senses and catch up to Daryl to say hi.  We chatted for awhile and then went back to our collecting.  I also found out later that my daughter found that same mud hole!  Anyway, it was a pleasure meeting Daryl and look forward to seeing him in the field again.  I went back the other way thinking my daughter would do the same but she went the other way. 

Daryl eventually worked his way back and said goodbye after another short chat and I caught up to my daughter and collected for awhile longer.  We just about had enough and on our way back she decided that she wasn't quite through and wanted to turn around and try again for awhile.  About that time another collector caught up to us and asked if I posted on BRF.  I said yep and he introduced himself, Johnny, a BRF member.  We had a nice chat then and crossed paths on the way out too.  Nice to meet you Johnny! 

The finds for me were pretty much the usual mix except a little less with my daughter the vacuum cleaner working ahead of me all day, and Daryl too, but still had some pretty cool stuff including a large Hemi that is my centerpiece for the trip. Even though it's really one of the bigger ones that I've found there it has a little damage, but still pretty cool.  I thought that I had found a big meg when I spotted a root in the sand.  I reached for it expecting to re-enact Daryl's video when all that came out was the root...DOH!  Another "fragolodon" as Daryl calls them.  But it did make me realize that it could happen just the other way too, ya never know.

My daughter found pretty much the same type of stuff, maybe even more variety, including a beautiful perfect hemi.  But in my opinion, the find of her trip was a ratfish plate.  I didn't realize that they were found here, but now I know that they are.  I don't have a good pic today but will post one soon of it, but you can see it in the pic of her finds below.  It's the second specimen from the right above the top row of tiger sharks.

Anyway, I had a blast, met some great people, and spent time with my daughter again doing what we both love to do.  It's really not about the stuff we find, it's the act of finding and to me, sharing it with her, that makes it so fun for me.

EDIT:  I added a new pic of what I thought might have been a ratfish plate, but I guess it could be a ray or some sort of fish pharyngeal plate...I think that the texture isn't like any of the ray material that I've found, but I'm going to go back and examine some old stuff that I collected.  I'll post in the identification section and see what comments y'all have..