Trophy agate found on the Pacific Coast

Darth Vader?

Here is last Thursday's agate trophy found by Sandra, one of our local beachcombers here on the Central Oregon Coast. Congratulations to Sandra on finding this beautiful black fortification agate among all of the Velella velella on the beach. That could not have been easy to see among all of that debris as the link to the (Velella velella) will show you.  

The center opening at the bottom shows a small pocket of druse or druzy quartz crystals which is a coating of small fine crystals which allows that area to be somewhat translucent under high intensity lighting. 

Agates are really showing up!

Bonnie's booty for the day

Nice collection there girl friend. Local resident beachcombers Bonnie and her husband each came home with about 6 pounds of agates to fill their tumblers.

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. 

2013 Agate Calendars are now available!

It's calendar season again, and this year we have  not just one but two wall calendar designs by Patrick a local beach comber and excellent photographer  whose camera has captured the beauty of these agates well in these presented images. "Agates and Jasper of the Oregon Coast", and "The Agate Hunter Blues". 

Available from FACETS Gem & Mineral Gallery in Newport, OR.  Just $14.95 each.

Kansas beachcombers find agates on the Oregon Coast

Agates found this last week by Bob & Toni

This was just a small selection of rocks found by our cousins.  More photos to follow.

News from the Oregon Coast...

Entered December 10, 2010... It is beginning to look a lot like beachcombing season again!  Frank was just in yesterday with a few trophies he wanted to share with everyone.  He found what we all believe could be a fossilized sea turtle scull, (yet to get this photo ) a very well defined fossilized Crepidula praerupta shell.  Frank has also been very busy educating our upcoming pebble pups by doing geological presentations for classes in our Lincoln County School District. Good job Frank!

The Oregon Coast Agate Club Christmas party was last night, great food and a fun gift exchange was had by all in attendance.  We have elected new leadership and hope to see the club continue to grow.  Visitors are always welcome to join us for the meetings held the 2nd Thursday of the month at 7:30 pm in the Central Lincoln P.U.D.(across the Hwy from Safeway) meeting room in Newport.  The annual show will be held June 18 & 19 at the Yaquina View School, multi-purpose room.

This photo to the right was found earlier last spring by  Roscoe. & Billy of Tillamook  What is it?  Looks like a crepidula...but developed the wrong direction.

Still Rock'n The Coast at Newport

Breaking News from the Oregon Coast, Richard & I saw this gravel bed Sunday the 8th and it is still producing agates for our guest here on the Oregon Coast! Frank was nice enough to forward this photo from his phone to share with you.

This is definitely a rare treat for beach combers during the summer when it is normally sanded in by the winds from the north. There is no way of knowing if this will look like this tomorrow, many times it is just a fleeting chance of (6 hours) the changing of the tide.

Fancy Jaspers and Agate

It is getting rather late in the season but these beauties were just found in the last week or so. All of these are nice and sizable, the amber colored one on the lower left is a sard agate (that has been back lit to see the translucency of the stone) the others are all fancy jaspers. Congratulations to our Toledo resident beachcomber Scott on these beautiful finds.

Spring break on the Oregon Coast

The low tides of spring have blessed the beachcombers with many treasures this spring. We are in the midst of 6 weeks of spring break here on the Oregon Coast.

Local beachcomber Lisa, just found these beautiful trophies and a whole lot more than the camera could hold today. Upper left shows some of her fossils, the largest fossil is about 1/3 of a Musashia indurata shell, and various other shell fossils (I threw a quarter in the photo just for scale). The lower left shows some nice petrified wood scattered in among the agates.

Weather has been wild and wonderful for storm watching too!

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.

Oregon Fall Beach Cleanup a Success!

Facing the threat of cloudy skies and rainy conditions on much of the coast, more than 3,700 beachcombers volunteered for the 25th anniversary of the SOLV Great Oregon Fall Beach Cleanup on Saturday. The entire Oregon coast, over 362 miles, was cleaned of debris that had accumulated since last spring. Volunteers removed an estimated 54,460 pounds of trash from Oregon’s beaches.

The SOLV Great Oregon Beach Cleanups occur twice a year when thousands of volunteers head to their favorite spots on the coast. Every beach is cleaned up of litter and marine debris, from the California border to the Columbia River.

Founded in 1969 by Oregon Governor Tom McCall to address litter and vandalism problems, SOLV’s mission has expanded to reach every county in the state and brings together government agencies, businesses and individuals in projects to enhance the livability of Oregon. Governor McCall also signed the 1967 Beach Bill into law, creating the Ocean Shore Recreation Area, managed by the Oregon Parks and Recreation Department for the benefit of all Oregonians.

Naturally the weather was picture perfect for sunday, monday & tuesday with a high of 90 degrees Monday here in Newport. September and October kicks off the lower rates at the coast and generally offers our guest to the coast better weather than June - Labor Day. Now we are all waiting for the great storm watching weather to start the beachcombing season for the agates to be exposed (removal of the sand by the storms to expose the gravel beds).

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.