Comments on: Sea Coconut Drifts from South America to St. Pete Beach

By: Candyce

Candyce — Wed, 18 Jan 2012 00:58:42 +0000

Good evening BH,
Recently my Husband & I had the pleasure of a stay at Beach Place Condos, neighboring the bridge at John’s Pass, in Madeira Beach. The beach was truly a beautiful site to see except on the morning of 1-4-2012, allot of odd debri had washed ashore. With camera in hand, off we went to satisfy our curiosity. We were amazed at the range and amount of sea life before us.
This evening I decided to attempt identification of those in the pics I did take and stubbled across your site. I wanted to let you know that we saw many of the Sea Coconuts as shown in the Upham Beach photo, seemingly small coconuts and some attached to others as you’ve described above. Now that I’ve read your article, I’m somewhat put out with myself for not taking pics of them for you to see.
Take care and happy beach hunting to you!

By: beachhunter

beachhunter — Mon, 30 May 2011 14:15:00 +0000

Hi Teresa, yes it sounds like you’ve found sea coconuts. Finding two or three together in their husk is very rare and worth keeping intact. Here’s a link with photos, though not of three together like you have: http://www.seabean.com/guide/Manicaria_saccifera/

But yes, if you removed the husk, they should polish nicely.

By: teresa

teresa — Mon, 30 May 2011 03:54:31 +0000

I recently was in Florida at Cape San Blas and i found what looks like sea coconuts…. I think. The difference is that there are 3 joined together. I noticed that the pics of the ones shown of Bill Blazek’s are shiney….mine has a ruff husk coating….hmmmm If I remove the hard outer coating and sand them …will they be shiney as well?
Just wondering…If I knew how to post a pic I would . I would like to know for sure what this is I have found.
Teresa
Curious in Ga

By: beachhunter

beachhunter — Mon, 16 Aug 2010 14:26:07 +0000

Hi Ellen,
Sea coconuts do not have a very thick shell, so the ones that are older and have more wear and exposure do tend to break. Just keep looking and you’ll find one that is in better shape and is more durable.

By: Ellen Ridgeway

Ellen Ridgeway — Mon, 16 Aug 2010 13:26:47 +0000

I recently got interested in seabeans while working with BP and turtles during the beach cleaning. My first coconut brust and fell apart. What can I do to avoid this as I found two more yesterday. Thanks.?

By: beachhunter

beachhunter — Fri, 12 Mar 2010 20:14:28 +0000

Hi John,
Offhand I don’t know of a specific vendor that would sell seabeans, but you can inquire at http://seabean.com/
Most people that collect the beans seem to be more interested in collecting than in selling, but the seabean.com website might be able to give you a contact that has some for sale.

By: John

John — Fri, 12 Mar 2010 18:47:14 +0000

Great post! I’m about as far from the ocean as you can get (Kansas) but I’d love to have some sea coconuts. Is there an on-line site that sells sea coconuts (and/or star nuts and hamburger beans)? Thanks!

John

By: beachhunter

beachhunter — Wed, 29 Jul 2009 15:11:24 +0000

Hi Joe,
Yes, some collectors use rock tumblers to polish their sea beans. In fact, last year at the Sea-Bean Symposium there was a demonstration / presentation on how to do it, based on one person’s experiences.

In the book Sea-Beans from the Tropics, Perry & Dennis devote several pages to explaining the process of polishing sea-beans with a tumbler.

By: JOE THOMPSON

JOE THOMPSON — Wed, 29 Jul 2009 14:06:39 +0000

HAVE YOU EVER HEARD OF A PROCESS OF POLISHING SEA BEANS WITH A ROCK TUMBLER ?

By: beachhunter

beachhunter — Sun, 26 Jul 2009 13:46:35 +0000

Thanks for stopping by and commenting Alan. I visited your blog, http://orangeblossomtrails.wordpress.com/. It’s developing into a very nice read. I see you are from Lakeland. I have family there. Too far from the beach for me though…