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SC 'Mega' Fossil & Megalodon Trip


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#1 ScubaShafer

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Posted 26 August 2006 - 08:27 PM

The Cooper River lost MANY megalodon teeth and artifacts during the first day of diving SingleDivers.com. The diving was a blast and Bill aka OTWDiver was an excellent boat captain - he knows the river like the back of his hand (actually, he has the river tatooed on the back of his hand - psych!).

We didn't have a camera with a wide angle lense large enough to encompass all the megalodon teeth, but here is a picture of some of the "old" bottles and Indian artifacts the river released to us on the first day of diving.

P82507972.jpg

Edited by ScubaShafer, 30 August 2006 - 03:29 PM.

It's a GR8 day to be alive!

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#2 OTWdiver

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Posted 27 August 2006 - 08:25 PM

Greetings from the Cooper River! We've just completed day 3 of diving with one more day left to extract more secrets and treasures from this unusual dive destination.

Bruce aka ScubaShafer along with Rick aka H20 found several amazing artifacts pictured above. From left to right we have a small early 1900's bowl fragment (light colored). Next to it is a 1750 to 1770's Dutch Ginger Beer bottle (light colored with the handle). Above in the middle is a late 1700's feather edged pattern plate fragment. Below that is a 600 to a 1000 year old ancient Indian utilitarian bowl half (dark black). Next to that is free hand blown dark colored rum bottle with an applied neck. Next to that is an early 1900's clear medicine bottle.

All of these were given up by the Cooper River Gods on our first day of diving!

Day 2 and 3 were also bountiful both in artifacts and TEETH!!! All KINDS of teeth and bone and yes the granddaddy of them all...several MEGALODON TROPHY teeth!

As they say...if you missed it...you REALLY MISSED IT!!! But hopefully SingleDivers.com will do another trip to the Cooper to give you another chance.

Oh yes, did I mention several of the River's veterans came out to join us and clearly enjoyed themselves saying this was one of the best Cooper River trips that they had ever been on. Oh yes...and the food was awesome. SingleDivers.com SURE knows how to prepare a lunch spread and cook a mean bbq of fresh fish, chicken, venison, pork, veggies and more.

And in true NEW SingleDivers.com tradition....ask us about the ancient Indian Love Beads that our divers found, rubbed, and enjoyed the vitures of great luck and love....

To be continued...
"Those who have never seen themselves surrounded on all sides by the sea can never possess an idea of the world, and of their relation to it" Goethe

#3 OTWdiver

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Posted 29 August 2006 - 09:40 PM

Well if you didn’t get to come on this trip you missed it. The divers were the best and the weather was the greatest. Our trip photos will start to come down the pipe soon. We added an optional day for those diehard river rats and it paid off. On Monday which was Day 4 and last day of our diving adventure we added two colonial pipes dating the 1700's, one arrowhead 600 to 6000 years old, a utilitarian rum bottle from the 1800's, and seven anchors for the boat supply if we need one. BTW...if you need one, let me know. There were also a tooth from a bison approx 1 to 1.5 million years old and another trophy Meg shark tooth approx 8 million years old.

I want to thank everyone on the trip for making it one for the record books :lmao: . We now have bragging rights for this season on the river with this haul. :banghead: The proof is in the pictures. So check back to see the full reports from everyone along with the pictures coming soon.....
"Those who have never seen themselves surrounded on all sides by the sea can never possess an idea of the world, and of their relation to it" Goethe

#4 WreckWench

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Posted 30 August 2006 - 07:39 AM

This was such a cool trip! I must say that I think the river gods have captured my soul! I love antiques and I love diving...where else can you do both at the same time!

Oh yeah...I had some great beginners luck...as did our other two rookies on the boat! While technically not a rookie as I had dove the Cooper River once before...I was still a newbie but I think I dismissed that moniker with some of the really cool teeth and artifacts I found.

I'm still trying to get some pics taken uploaded to showcase a few of them....will post more as I get some of the pictures from the trip posted! -ww

Contact me directly at Kamala@SingleDivers.com for your private or group travel needs or 864-557-6079 AND don't miss SD's 2018-2021 Trips! ....here! Most are once in a lifetime opportunities...don't miss the chance to go!!
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#5 ScubaShafer

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Posted 31 August 2006 - 05:31 PM

Check out some of "The Haul" that was made from only three days of diving the river!

-- The "Gang" -------------------- Kieth's Haul
P8270802.jpg P8270800.jpg DSC03425.jpg DSC03421.jpg
-------------- Of "Special" Interest -------------------- The "Haul"
It's a GR8 day to be alive!

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"Good things come to those with weights." ScubaShafer - 2008

#6 madlobster

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Posted 31 August 2006 - 06:01 PM

Great take guys!! :bam: Treasures to be proud of for sure, looks like a great trip! :2cool:
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#7 ScubaShafer

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Posted 31 August 2006 - 06:17 PM

The fourth day of diving (Monday) was spent trying to find "artifacts" further up river.
As you can tell from the pictures - we did "GOOD!" - And with only four divers!

P8280835.jpg P8280829.jpg P8280837.jpg
It's a GR8 day to be alive!

"Good things come to those who wait." Heinz - 1980s
"Good things come to those who wait." Guinness - 1990s
"Good things come to those with weights." ScubaShafer - 2008

#8 ereediver

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Posted 31 August 2006 - 08:17 PM

That is some really cool stuff. How is it that the Cooper River is such a depository for so many artifacts, and teeth. Anyone know why so much stuff is found there? Serious question, that is a lot of teeth specially if they are that old.

#9 OTWdiver

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Posted 31 August 2006 - 09:25 PM

Why you ask is the river so rich in fossils? Well the Cooper River was a main route for commerce with boats and barges serving the low country plantations with a means to move product down to the port of Charleston and to ports beyond. There were several major Revolutionary war battles along the river banks, and don’t forget the Civil war erupted in Charleston harbor at Fort Sumter, that guarded the mouth of the Cooper and Ashley Rivers that join to form the peninsula of the City of Charleston. The ferries that served the movement of persons across the river in lieu of any bridges also contributed to items being thrown into the river or dropped. The river also served as a dump site for hundreds of years for the plantations along the river.

The fossils come from a period of time when the ocean was much higher and the area was 75 miles or so offshore. This shallow near coastal water was the feeding ground for the Megalodon which found easy prey of whales that used the shallow water rich in plankton as their own feeding ground. These sharks had bite radiuses up to 6 foot diameter. Every time a shark feeds it sheds teeth. They are scattered all along the coast, but the years of sand and sediment have buried them. The river has now cut through the layers of sediment. Sand and silt move down river and into areas of lesser current.
The heavy items are left behind and pushed by current into areas we refer to as fossil beds.

The reason the Cooper is such a unique divers destination comes from the fact that three major rivers were dammed to form Lake Marion. The flow of all three rivers was diverted into a single hydro electric plant that discharged into the Cooper river basin. This started the removal of thousands of years of silt and sand that covered the bottom of a previously slow moving river. This has exposed the fossil layers and has contributed to the large visible fossil beds we are diving on. The other rivers along the coast have the same deposits of fossils but without the flow of water the silt and sand remain covering the fossil layer below.

I hope this answers your question!
"Those who have never seen themselves surrounded on all sides by the sea can never possess an idea of the world, and of their relation to it" Goethe

#10 DiverBabs

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Posted 31 August 2006 - 09:29 PM

Check out some of "The Haul" that was made from only three days of diving the river!

-- The "Gang" -------------------- Kieth's Haul
P8270802.jpg P8270800.jpg DSC03425.jpg DSC03421.jpg
-------------- Of "Special" Interest -------------------- The "Haul"


That's amazing! I had no idea what that trip was all about. Looks like one I'd love to catch in the future.
Thanks for sharing.
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#11 DiverBabs

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Posted 31 August 2006 - 09:32 PM

What are the dive conditions? Temp, vis (any at all?)
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#12 WreckWench

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Posted 31 August 2006 - 09:38 PM

I was so excited when I found the pipe stem...in fact I found 2 of them and thought that was really cool! Then I found the pipe bowl and all my dive buddies thought that was very cool and very rare. Being a newbie I said to myself...I sure wish I could find an entire pipe...and on Monday our last day...I saw a pipe stem barely sticking out of the sand and I was so floored when it was attached to a pipe bowl that I almost lost my reg in the current trying to get my dive buddy's attention and assistance in getting it up to the top. pipes_colonial.jpg (I was wearing a drysuit so could not put it down the front of my suit for protection and it would have broken in my bag or pocket.) Needless to say the day was made complete with my find of a colonial brass hinge and old boat hinge as well as MANY MORE TEETH and newer gen bottles.

Yes it was a stellar day and a stellar trip.

If you missed it...you REALLY missed it as OTWDiver said!!!

But the good news is that we can do it again...and we WILL!!!! -ww

Contact me directly at Kamala@SingleDivers.com for your private or group travel needs or 864-557-6079 AND don't miss SD's 2018-2021 Trips! ....here! Most are once in a lifetime opportunities...don't miss the chance to go!!
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Click here TO PAY for Merchandise, Membership, or Travel
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#13 OTWdiver

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Posted 31 August 2006 - 09:41 PM

What are the dive conditions? Temp, vis (any at all?)

The viability is about 3 to 4 foot but you are crawling around on the bottom of the river. Knee pads and all. The area immediately in front of you is all you are looking at. A strong dive light replaces the loss of sunlight that is absorbed by the tannic stained water. It is for practical purposes a night dive mid day. You will see the area in front of you quite well.
The temps on this trip were in the mid 80's
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#14 WreckWench

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Posted 31 August 2006 - 09:44 PM

There is one more story we HAVE to tell and that is the story of the ancient Indian love beads. The story goes that ancient Indians would place a love bead on the mat of thier spouse to indicate that they wanted to make love that night. In the morning the bead would be replaced until the next time one or the other wanted amor.

Our divers had so much fun looking for and finding love beads of all sizes and shapes including ones that clearly must of been 'orgy' beads as they had so many holes in them!

While we are not clear exactly how the legend holds up for modern day divers...we clearly felt the need to collect these articles of love 'just in case'...so here is mine! Love_Bead_cooper_river.jpg

Contact me directly at Kamala@SingleDivers.com for your private or group travel needs or 864-557-6079 AND don't miss SD's 2018-2021 Trips! ....here! Most are once in a lifetime opportunities...don't miss the chance to go!!
SD LEGACY/OLD/MANUAL Forms & Documents.... here !

Click here TO PAY for Merchandise, Membership, or Travel
"Imitation is the sincerest flattery." - Gandhi
"Imitation is proof that originality is rare." - ScubaHawk
SingleDivers.com...often imitated...never duplicated!

Kamala Shadduck c/o SingleDivers.com LLC
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formerly...
710 Dive Buddy Lane; Salem, SC 29676
864-557-6079 tel/celfone/office or tollfree fax 888-480-0906

#15 nurseshark

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Posted 01 September 2006 - 09:26 AM

Whoo Hoooo..what a great trip ya'll had..maybe next year I can come and muck through the sand and silt for all those hidden treasures too!!!

But after looking at all those pictures, I do hope there are a few things left for us that didnt get to make the trip this year..what a haul!!! :cheerleader:

Karen




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