Manna from Heaven

Well, although it wasn't quite bread in the form of Manna, it seems like I was really blessed to find a bunch of stuff last week, most notable a perfect  ~3.5" Meg.  I hit the beach a total of 4 times.  One of those days was spent with Govinn.  We actually bumped into each other the day before without realizing who each other was until we actually crossed paths.  I was like "John, is that you?", and he replied "Daryl, is that you?"  Anyhow, we chatted briefly about what each other had found and I showed him the 3.5" Meg I had found less than an hour earlier.  Had I not been there before him, he surely would have found it.

The teeth in the pics below is what I amassed over 4 trips, with much of it coming from sifting here and there and everywhere I could think of.  What's really cool is that I found my first piece of seal jaw, minus any teeth.  Govinn found a piece the week before with a molar still attached and I couldn't believe it.  Then, I go a few days later and find a section nearly identical to his, just mine has no teeth, and the front incisor socket is missing mostly.  Turns out we found them in the same section of beach, so considering how rare seal material is, I'm convinced they are associated.

As I mentioned in the BRFWFC forum thread, the day we spent collecting together at the beach was brutal as far as wind conditions go.  Gusts of 50 to 60+ mph were soaring over the tops of the cliffs.  There were a couplf of small falls that occurred while we were there, one of them coming just a minute after we walked passed an area, a bunch of basketball sized boulders came crashing down on old pile and rolled right across our path just 30 or 40 feet behind us - yikes!

I've gotten emails from folks over the last several months asking how I find so much sometimes.  Well, first off, no one posts trips when they don't find much of anything, inlcuding me.  So, for every trip I post, there's tons of trips in which I don't find much.  Secondly, I put a lot of time and effort into collecting.  If you've seen me at the beach, then you've seen my shovel and screen and occasional 5 gal bucket.  WHen surface collecting stinks, I resort to sifting.  It too is not always real productive, so if you don't want to go home empty handed, you work even harder and move more material.  I know I'm preaching to the choir here for some of you, but so many folks are accidentally mislead into thinking that the beach is littered with all these teeth.  There are good days, and then there are tons of bad days.  So, if you have the strength, energy, and intestinal fortitude to work hard at it, you'll go home with a few teeth.

Besides the assorted pics below, I took a stab at my first video while out collecting.  I'm so glad I took my camera with me on the day that I found the nice Meg.  I had the willpower to not pounce and pick it up right away, but instead got the camera out, snapped a couple ground shots, and gave the video thing a try. 

Enjoy.  Watch out Spielberg here I come!