Winter is the perfect time to hunt agates and fossils on the Oregon Coast

K.T. Myers (left) and Guy DiTorrice, both of Newport, search for agates and fossils
in a creek near Newport's Beverly Beach State Park. (Joe Hansen/Special to The Oregonian)

Click here to read  the entire Special article in the Oregonian, by Joe Hansen - on December 11, 2013 

My notes: A good time was had by all as we all found a nice selection of goodies in just a couple of hours. I found a pocket full of jasper, petrified wood, fossils some agates and one sizable smooth sagenite agate specimen. It certainly was a beautiful sunny, warm 52 degrees and no breeze for our November stroll on the beach.  You can see by my coat hanging from my back pack it was actually too warm for the long sleeves.  Not a bad trip considering that the sand still needed to be swept out to sea by the winter storms. Maybe tomorrows south westerly storm will help to scour the sand away and expose some more gravel beds. 

Agate as big as Mick Jagger lips

Stella, of Yachats found this agate while beachcombing at Nye Beach!

A Beautiful Weekend on the Oregon Coast for a Festival!

2nd Annual Yachats Agate Festival This Weekend

Sheri of Waldport found these nice fossils

Join us this Saturday and Sunday, January 19^th and 20^th from 10:00 a.m. to 4:00 p.m. for the 2nd annual Yachats Agate Festival at the Yachats Commons. This free event will feature spectacular displays as well as family friendly learning opportunities for all ages. 

FACETS Gem & Mineral Gallery will have K.T. Myers the author of the Pocket Guide Agates of the Oregon Coast there with the books, plus locally made agate jewelry and more. 

< - - Beachcomber Sheri of Waldport, will be speaking and sharing some of her tips to successful beachcombing on the Central Oregon Coast. 

Agate found just yesterday!

Sandy's trophy agate for yesterday weighs just under 1 pound!

Jane showed me two beautiful agates last night that she had just found on the beach, I will try and get photos of those to share with you when she gets back in.  Sandy found the rest of these pretty agates and 2 pieces of sea glass Saturday while beachcombing on the Oregon Coast.

Agates are rock'n the coast at Newport!

6 Treasures found in just 10 minutes!

Lucky beachcomber and local resident  Scott brought in 1 jasper and 5 agates  Friday to share with you.  Sorry I was not able to back lite these beauties for you to really enjoy their true translucency and colors.

Did you get to enjoy our beautiful weather this weekend?  Couldn't ask for anything better as it was better than summer, being in the 60 degree range and no wind!

Agates abound on Oregon's Central Coast...

Sandy's agates and Scot's arrowhead..

These trophy agates were found by Sandy  beach combing here on the Oregon Coast earlier this season before the tsunami covered the beaches with sand.  These agates are all so beautiful,  the top one about 4-5",  as we call it "fang" on the far left is large and quite unusual as it is sard agate with sagenite and zeolites together.  The two white agates both have a cavity opening and feature a fortification pattern at the opening of each.

The lower right foreground is a 2" arrowhead of jasper.  More photos will follow later as I can shoot them.

Stay safe and have fun out there folks.

Large Smiling Sard Agate found.

Agate collector Nancy, of Sacramento was beachcombing here on the Oregon Coast when she found this beautiful  smiling 3" sard agate weighing at just under ½ pound with fortification banding surrounding a crystalline pocket.   Congratulations Nancy on another wonderful find.

Beautiful black agate found...

This beauty was brought in recently 5 inches long and it weighs almost a pound.  Local beachcomber Kathie found this agate with beautiful red jasper highlights and it is now polished.  Nice find Kathie!

Trophy agate

Congratulations to agate collector James of South Beach who just recently found this beautiful agate weighing in at ¼ of a pound and 2¾" long. The stone appears black with white frosting, however when illuminated with a strong light source from the bottom you can see it is a lavender cloud agate. We were so worried that the frosting would disappear on this beauty but it came out well. This will make a nice addition to ones agate collection.

Your never too old!

These two beach-combing seniors, Kay (in white shirt) of Newport and her guest Judy of Deming New Mexico were caught playing in the sand box just months before it became the blacktopped boat ramp parking lot for the marina at South Beach. NOAA the agatized clam belly on the lower right foreground was just found June 7, 2010 during Newport's NOAA party.

Wonderful Agatized Fossils

Here is a summary of some of the most recent agatized fossils found here on the Oregon Coast by local beachcombers. These are really beautiful specimens and hope these will help you improve your collecting ability to collect fewer but better specimens and leave those common "leaverites" (leave it right there) on the beach for some one else. We would also like to take this time to thank the many folks that have shared their trophies with us that many others will learn more about responsible collecting.

Editors Notes: Photos to the left showing 2 black limb cast with fortification banding, were found by Scott of Newport. Upper right an enhydro (water agate) "Clam-Belly" Agate, found by Mary Lou of Newport. Lower right photo taken wet of a complete agatized gastropod (snail-like), found by Frank of Agate Beach.

John's Beachcombing Trophies Found at Newport

John one of our agate collectors from Stayton comes out a couple of times a year for beach combing here at coast and as you can see he had a great visit. These are just a few of his recent trophies he found this week here at Newport.

Editors Notes: Image lower right appears to possibly be a "Clam Belly Agate" (agatized fossil) the one above it is an extra fancy carnelian with a beautiful lacy coating. Sorry about the glare of the light, we wanted to share with you the beautiful red-orange hue.

More Treasures Found on the Central Coast...

Tim had quite a good time out beachcombing here on the Oregon coast last week. Translucent green agate to fancy jasper, sardonyx, banded, select fancies, agatized limb cast, fossilized mollusks shells and more... There are two shown as polished that he just took out of the tumbler to share with us.

It is nice to share in our guest treasures they find here on the coast it is like getting to go with them but we stay here warm and dry...

2" Agate Geode Found on the Beach.

2 weeks ago, agate collectors Wes and Shanna of Seal Rock found this spectacular agate geode while beach combing on the Oregon coast. It appears that it might have been an enhydro agate with a thin shell of agate that broke against the extreme force of the Pacific Ocean and our extremely rough and rocky coastline. The crystalline structure is very unusual as the white crystals (possibly calcite or zeolites) are flat and round much like the flat fungus or mushrooms that grow on trees in the forest. As you see by the illuminated shot the quartz crystals are very clear.

Today a hazardous weather advisory has been issued: Expect high winds and periods of heavy rain over the next week as a series of storms will rotate into the central Oregon coast. Please be very careful out there on the beach, it would be advisable to watch the storm from a high vantage point, a look out or from the safety and warmth of your hotel room over looking the coast line!

Beachcombing trophys found for the New Year!

< - - Jeremiah of Newport, found this beautiful sagenite carnelian agate Saturday beachcombing south of town while hunting for agates with his dad for New Years. It is about the size of the nickel beside it. He also found another beautiful trophy of carnelian (as shown below) weighing in at just under a pound and measuring 4 inches wide.

This is great fun as a family activity when done in pairs for safety sake. His dad also had some treasures as shown in the photo to the right above his large carnelian, the other agates were drying out in the photo but the color and sizes are impressive. The white agate laying on the large carnelian displays a nice white banded design throughout.

Recent Beachcombing On The Oregon Coast

< - - Lucky resident beachcomber Chelsea of Lincoln County found this 5 inch sard agate weighing at just under 2 pounds a couple of weeks ago. Her dad Tim also likes strolling along the beach finding agates.

Tim found these beautiful agates Monday. - - >
These are just a few of what Tim found. The largest one a fancy agate has a very thick skin covering what appears to be a light blue agate, the white agate to the right of the quarter is a clam bellie agate, the center red one is a very nice carnelian agate. Good hunting by these two agate collectors.

Busy Season here on the Oregon Coast...

The storms have been numerous, delighting our seasoned beachcombers, tourists and novice agate hunters alike. The weather and the waves have caused a variety of changes on the beaches, as well as all sorts of stuff washing up or being exposed. This is a time of discovery with the uncovering oddities and good reports of treasures being found on the local beaches, one couple had even found an old glass fishing float with some fish net still attached. Our guest are really enjoying the hunt looking for agates and jaspers.

Sorry I haven't had a chance to keep up lately, work has been wild. This is the first photo I have been able to take in weeks. I haven't had time to take any photos of recent treasures that have been found. Plus on top of everything else, our updates are in the work for the new revised copy of the pocket guide Agates of the Oregon Coast that will be out next year. Hard to believe it is time for a reprint already. We thought the first printing would have lasted for two years or so.

Beautiful weekend beach combing for agates in Newport!

Boy what a great weekend here on the coast, sunny, no wind or rain! Saturday a local couple had already found a couple of great fossil shells, one was a Musasha indurata (pictures to follow later after Christmas, due to no time for photos).

Parking for all the agate beds was scarce yesterday when we took our drive south. The beaches were still covered with sand yesterday but the beachcombers were getting their fill of collecting agates of the Oregon Coast. Today Cheryl a local beachcomber, brought in her beautiful black banded trophy agate weighing in at 1¼ pounds and just under 4 inches in length.

Oregon Shores Vacation

Thank you to local beachcombers Linda and Mike for sharing your photo with all of us that others too may see what our Oregon shores looked like a few weeks ago. This was not the norm for the summer time but an exception!

Today and for the weekend we are having more minus tides again. Maybe some of us will be lucky and find some treasure in the tide pools again. However we are all anxiously awaiting to see what the winter storms will uncover.