Caspersen Beach, Florida...hunting for shark teeth

We love the beach.  I'm sure ya'll know that by now :).

One of the things we enjoy while on the coast is "treasure hunting".  Shells, sea glass, driftwood, stones...and sharks teeth.

While we have had pretty good luck with the first four, the last one has always alluded us.

Some time ago, my oldest son mentioned to me that he sure would like to go to a beach that had fossilized shark teeth to be found.  Hmmm...  I got on the computer and started researching beaches known to have the fossils and one of the first places to come up was Venice Beach in Florida.  At the time, we were somewhere in the western US, so I filed the info away for "some day".

Just before we left on our walkabout, I looked up the "shark tooth beach" as we called it (Venice Beach) to get an idea of the best place to go, etc.  What I discovered was another lesser known beach just south of Venice called Caspersen Beach.  Lesser known, less populated = right up my alley :). 

Our plans to go to Caspersen Beach were actually what led us to Myakka State Park and their palm cabins.  We needed someplace to spend the night that was close(ish) to the beach but not outrageously expensive and the palm cabin fit the bill perfectly.  It was only about a thirty minute drive from the cabin to the beach...

The storm system that the Ranger had told us about that morning at Myakka was getting closer and closer, but we headed to the beach anyway.  I'm so glad we did, it was one of the most beautiful things I have ever seen.  The dark and stormy sky, THAT WATER!!!, and the dark sand... *sigh* so pretty...

The kids didn't waste any time, they got right on in the water and started searching for treasures.  I just watched them and prayed that the storm would go around us...

We had a few sand shovels and sifters with us to help with finding the teeth, but we just weren't having much luck.  The kids were having fun trying, so we kept at it...

After a while, the kids were getting tired, the storm was getting closer, and we were just about to call it a day when a lady came walking up the beach towards us.  It was obvious what we were doing and she stopped to see if we had had any luck.  We showed her one of the few teeth we had found...

She wasn't surprised that we hadn't found very many (she said she never did at Caspersen or Venice, either) and told us of ANOTHER beach, yet further south, that she always found lots of shark teeth on.  We thanked her for the tip and headed back to our car for dry clothes.  Well...a walk on the boardwalks, a few more pictures, and then the dry clothes ;)...

Ya'll, God is so good to us.  Even in the smallest of things, He is there.  Taking care of us.  We stayed on the shark tooth beach as long as we wanted, fulfilling this long held dream of my child's.  After that, we took our time walking some of the boardwalks, just enjoying the views.  Then we went to the car, got dry clothes, walked a few lots over to the changing facilities, and juuust as we got back to our car to leave - it started to rain.  Then all out STORM.  You cannot tell me that was just a coincidence.

"Sometimes God calms the storm...

sometimes He lets the storm rage 

and calms His child..."

:)...