2022 Discover Neighborhoods - Spring/Summer
Issue link: http://www.epageflip.net/i/1466766
PAGE 38 Want to hunt for shark teeth & shells? Visit Caspersen Beach Park Many Caspersen visitors are armed with their homemade or custom shark tooth sifters ready to shake the sands of the Shark Tooth Capital of the World. Step into the Gulf and try your luck. Fill up the porous sifter. Then, very, very slowly shake the grains of sand from the sifter. The pot or sifter thickens as you expose broken shells, bits of seaweed, a bottle cap and, just maybe, a dark triangular form. It may be a shell fragment; then again, it may be a million-year-old Megalodon, mako, lemon, or tiger shark tooth. Don't expect large teeth. Unless, of course, you want to snor- kel or scuba dive offshore. If you are not into sifters, snorkels, or scuba, there is always shopping. The annual Shark Tooth Festival, the Venice Museum store, and Venice shops offer teeth at every price point and size, or find that perfect piece of shark tooth jewelry. You will not find an abundance of shark teeth north of Venice Fishing Pier to the Casey Key inlet. The 3.2-mile strip of beach receives a periodic beach replenishment. Its latest dose was in 2015 when 790,000 cubic yards of sand were barged in from way out in the Gulf and delivered via pipeline as a slurry to Venice beaches. Beach replenishment not only supports tourism but also creates a sand/dune barrier to mitigate storm surge and provide fantastic nesting opportunities for thousands of sea turtles that return yearly. At least some of them. It is estimated that one in a thousand hatchlings will return to start a new generation. It takes sea turtles 20 to 30 years to reach sexual maturity, with the females returning to the same beach on which they were born. After sexual maturity, they return year after year. Volunteers perform early morning patrols every day during nesting season, marking nesting sites, documenting numbers and species, protecting nests from predators, and educating beachcombers about what they can do to protect the nests. There's more to Caspersen Beach than its teeth and turtles. If bad weather rolls in, the waves from the night before may have deposited a treasure trove of shells: striped calicos, rainbow coquinas, olive shells, orange scallops, horse conchs, and wonderful whelks. You can walk the beach for miles hunting that perfect shell. You may even find a sand dollar but for those seeking the coin of the realm, come armed with your high-tech metal detector. Surf fisher-folks are usually out and about in the early morn- ing, but are they catching? The offshore coral rocks offer places for fish to hunt and hide. If you are catching, it may be a sea trout, pompano, snapper, red drum, or shark! But watch out because you may be in direct competition with the brown pelicans. A beautiful, shaded boardwalk on the dunes runs for 250 yards above the beach. It is wheelchair accessible at both ends and includes picnic tables, benches, even beach showers. If you can't be on the beach, you can still catch all the action, perched on the boardwalk. How did Caspersen Beach Park end up not being a gated community? While its fossil history goes back a couple million years, its park history is almost brand new. In 1968, the land on which the park is located was owned by the Caspersen family. It was deeded to Sarasota County for 20 years. In 1972, the county held a successful bond referendum. The land was purchased and permanently deeded to Sarasota County as a park. It's one more piece of the crazy quilt we know as Venice. By Corky Dalton PHOTOS PROVIDED BY CORKY DALTON These beach-goers are using special sifters to find shark teeth. A boardwalk at Caspersen Beach Park follows the coastline. Small Florida horse conchs