I finally got an opportunity to go the Withlacoochee River in far south Georgia to collect agatized coral. Collecting on the river is only possible when the water level is low and this had not been the case for over a 1-1/2 years since I learned of the location and got the itch to go there.

The Withlacoochee River

The Withlacoochee River runs from northwest of the Valdosta area to the Suwanee River in north Florida. Agatized coral is known to outcrop in certain areas along the river. There are many stretches that have remained basically unchanged for hundreds of years with large cypress and oak trees lining the banks.

Spanish moss in the Cypress

You have to get to the locations by canoe. This requires a whole lot of very strenuous paddling and portaging.

View of the River and Canoe

The collecting was done right in the river as I plucked coral heads from the bottom, dragged them over to the shoreline or small man-made islands, and broke them open with my trusty 6-pound sawed-off sledge hammer to see if they were hollow and agatized. I got a little messy from the spray of mud, sand and algae that occured when cracking the a big ones.

Messy Mike

I had a terrific time paddling the river and found plenty of likely suspects that had to be whacked. As you can see from the following pictures, all the hard work and perseverance paid off with lots of specimens with an assortment of shapes and colors.

Click on each specimen picture to enlarge

I spent the night in a nearby motel and planned to hit the river again the next day but woke up to a tremendous thunderstorm. It was all the rain that was necessary to raise and cloud the water so that collecting was not feasible. I was disappointed but happy with all that the Withlacoochee had already provided and headed off toward home.

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