Venice, FL - July 2025

            I’ve dove in Florida so many times that I’ve lost count of just how many times I’ve been there.  But this time around was different.  I was treading different waters with different intentions, in search of a new experience … fossil diving!  I was on the West/Gulf coast of Florida for the very first time.  The city was Venice which is renowned for its abundance of fossils in its shallow coastal waters.  I am unaware as to why there are so many fossils here but what I know for sure is that fossil hunting is all the rage in this lovely coastal city.  It’s not just a thrill for scuba divers but also for locals and out-of-towners just wandering by foot on the beach!

            I had an unsettled feeling when there were heavy rains the day prior to my first scheduled dive with Aquanutz, but to my surprise, conditions were perfect following the lousy weather.  According to Captain Mike, we were good to go!  When I first arrived at the dock , I was a little surprised to see how tiny the boat was.  Probably the smallest dive charter boat I’ve ever been on.  Good thing I had a car rental because I had to unpack all my gear, hand it to the staff onboard, and stow my extra large dive bag in the trunk of that Hyundai Kona!

            On our ride out to sea, Captain Blair traversed the calm seas with ease while Captain Mike showed us a collection of sample fossils.  He went on to explain what to look for in the ocean topography to be a successful fossil hunter.  Most of us onboard were novice, but eager to learn and find our own haul.  The crew supplied us with mesh collection bags.  The only other requirements were hands that were ready to dig, an enthusiastic attitude, and a keen eye.

     

            I will be quite honest though.  I was a little intimidated initially.  I knew coming into this that it would be solo diving meaning you don’t go out with a buddy.  It’s just you by yourself, in low visibility conditions in the middle of the ocean.  As scary as that sounds, it wasn’t scary at all!  It was shallow diving in calm conditions.  I actually found it relaxing!  And while the low visibility part may sound frightening, we did have 15 feet of clarity which the crew described as stellar for this area and our purposes.  The deepest I hit was 34 feet.  The benefit of it being shallow means that if you feel like you’re getting lost, you can pretty much pop up (slowly and safely!) to the surface at any time to reorient yourself to where the boat is anchored.  Once you see it, descend, and continue your fossil hunt while heading in the direction of the boat.  Simple!  This is not east coast Florida where a strong enough current can cause you to drift as far as 4 miles in 40 minutes.  Solo diving over there??  No thank you!!

            The intent of it being solo diving, I’m sure, is so you can find your own haul of fossils.  If you’re with a buddy covering the same ground, who really bears ownership to these treasures?!  So we back rolled off the side of the tiny boat, one by one, and scattered like sand in the wind.  For the first several minutes, all I was seeing was sandy bottom and nothing spectacular.  My thoughts were, “oh my god, I’m all alone, there’s no interesting marine life, there’s no fossils to find here, this visibility is awful, and this is worse than the railroad bridge at home!”  But then I started finding things that I thought looked like fossils.  So I picked them up and stuffed them in my mesh bag.  Halfway through the dive after I felt like I was super far from the boat, I thought it a good idea to pop up and see how far it actually was.  To my surprise, it was much closer than I thought!  That certainly put my mind at ease, so I descended and continued hunting.

            Once back on the boat, I emptied my bag and Blair helped me identify my finds.  I assumed I had just picked up a pile of rocks and worthless ocean rubble, but she told me I had actually found several whale bones and a dugong bone!  She also pointed out some ray tooth plates and even a rare Astragalus ankle bone from a deer!  And yes, some rocks as well.  Suddenly, I was super motivated, confident, and anxious to begin dive #2.

            On this next dive we were near a reef where I encountered some friendly sea life.  A timid toadfish hiding in a hole, some familiar crabs, busy Sheepshead fish, and tiny hermit crabs.  And then what happened?  I found my first fossilized shark tooth!  Once I found one, I started finding many.  And then I realized how divers can easily become addicted to this!  It’s quite thrilling to find that familiar shape of a shark tooth slightly buried in the sand or just sitting on top, fully exposed, just waiting to be found.  The teeth I found were mostly lemon, bull, and sand tiger shark teeth.  I even found a fragment of a Megalodon tooth!  I was so hoping to find a fully intact, super large Meg tooth like some others onboard did but I was not quite as lucky.

  

   

            Dive #3 was more sandy bottom with only some reef.  It was a little mucky with slightly lower visibility but I continued to find more shark teeth fossils.  In addition to those, I found at least 7 sand dollars.  Unfortunately, I didn’t realize just how fragile they are.  I broke at least 3 of them just by handling them.  I thought I was being gentle, but apparently not!  Aside from those finds, I was thrilled to encounter a HUGE robin fish.  I’ve seen many of these back at home but much smaller, like the size of a mouse.  This one was more comparable to the size of a cat!

            I had an amazing day participating in 3 dives that were new and outside of my comfort zone.  My confidence was boosted by diving solo comfortably without having any mishaps or incidents.  The support of Blair and Captain Mike put my mind at ease.  Unfortunately, my 2^nd scheduled day of fossil diving was cancelled due to an uptick in the winds which made for some rough seas.  But I was satisfied with my haul of fossils that filled up an entire dive mask box.

            It is so humbling to find these specific fossilized remains that belonged to once living, functioning creatures who lived their lives unbothered by humans in a world that existed and thrived as it was meant to.  These remains have been resting on the ocean floor for MILLIONS of years.  There they lay, untouched, undiscovered, until I came along.  ME!  The first person to ever lay eyes on THESE particular animal remains.  Call me crazy, but I now have a connection with a part of history that existed in a world completely different to that which we are familiar with today.  The history of life on earth and how far back it extends is truly fascinating.  Humanity is but a miniscule part of earth’s billions of years worth of history.  Earth has endured so much before we even arrived.  These fossil remains are a true testament to that.  Earth history and life in all forms is fascinating beyond my ability to even begin describing just how amazing it was, is, and will continue to be.  If only they could talk, these fossils would have such a story to tell.