Florida!!!!! Venice Beach a.k.a Shark Tooth Beach

We planned to do all the parks the first part of the week and then spend one whole day relaxing and enjoying the beach. We decided to drive to Venice beach.  It was a bit of a drive, 1.5 hrs about.  We wanted to try to get away from the more crowded beaches closer to Orlando and have been wanting to go to this beach since hearing about it on a documentory.  Fossolized shark teeth regularly wash up and are uncovered on this beach.  people just walk up and down looking for teeth or sifting for them in the shallows.  We were so glad we decided to go to this beach! Hardly anyone there and the water was amazing!!

We decided to go grab some lunch.  We just picked a place and it ended up being really good. Then we just headed back to the same beach, lots of close easy parking spaces still and we just went right back to the same place we were earlier. There were a few more people on the beach and the tide was coming in so the waves were a little higher but it was still amazing!

We actually sat right next to this sign the whole first part of the day and didn't realize what it was because we were on the other side from the sign.  When we got up for lunch we actually read what it said.  I think that is so exciting to think this was where a sea turtle crawled up and nested and there are little baby turtles growing under the sand right there!  Sea Turtles are one of my very favorite animals

This is seriously my all time very favorite beach I have ever been too.  The water was actually warm!  It was so nice and clear and beautiful.  The kids spent all day in the water without getting cold and I loved that you could see what was around you for quite a long way.  James and Mike went snorkeling down along the beach for quite a long time and the other kids just played and played.  We all loved it!  Will was scooping up sand saying he wanted to bring some home with us. We didn't find any shark teeth because we needed to be there at low tide and we needed a sifter or strainer to help sift through the sand but Mike did find half of a fossilized tooth that we brought home with us.  Next time, we are bringing sifting tools!  Definitely worth the drive, even though we hit a traffic jam on the way back to Orlando.  Everyone had such a great day at the beach and the scenery was so green and beautiful that nobody really minded too much.