First Parish Found in St. Augustine. Photo in St. Augustine Catholic magazine. See link below.
The following linked article is from the St. Augustine Catholic Magazine which tells about the first parish in the United States. It was found near Aviles St. in St. Augustine and was destroyed by Francis Drake in the 16th Century.
Here is the link.
http://faithcatholicdigital.com/publication/?m=5884&l=1
If you are interested in hunting fossils, here is a web site that will give you a lot of background. It also links to the Florida Museum of Natural History web site.
The water level on Florida rivers is now low enough to hunt fossils in Florida rivers such as the Peace River.
Here is the link.
http://www.backintimeexpeditions.com
And here is a YouTube Video from SedickCoins showing items from their upcoming auction.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=A_UixeVespA&hd=1
Pretty neat.
I recently mentioned that is helpful to be able to quickly identify coin lines if and when you happen to run into one.
Just to repeat, I define a coin line, as a number of coins found running in a line parallel to the water line. A coin line can vary in length and width. A narrow line would create nearly a straight line if you drew a line between the coins. A wider line would create a rectangle pattern.
A coin hole, on the other hand is a bunch of coins in an area roughly the shape of an oval.
In both a wide coin line and a coin hole, zinc pennies will generally be higher on the beach and further away from the water, while heavier coins, such as quarters will be generally be found closer to the water and lower on the beach.
The point I wanted to discuss now is how to identify a coin line when you do run into one.
First, the best thing to do when finding a coin that might possibly be part of a coin line, is to check around the found coin in all directions. If another coin is found above or below or to the left or right of the first, then there is a stronger possibility that the find is a part of a coin line. Again, check in around the latest find and see if there is another.
If you find two or three about the same distance form the water, check on either side of those to see if the line continues. Make sure to cover the area in between coins and the area above and below to see if the line is narrow or wide.
Just the other day I found a very narrow, or what I would call a "tight," coin line.
There were a number of coins roughly equidistant from the waterline in a line that ran for 70 to 100 yards. Very few other coins were found other than those in the line.
I use a few different scan patterns to quickly identify coin lines, but I'll have to continue with that some other time.
The main point is, when you find one item, check to determine if it might be part of a line or hole. If you find that it is, then you know where to spend your time, either following the line or working the hole.
Forecast and Conditions.
The wind is now from the west and the seas are calm. It is a good time to check the low tide areas and get into the water where that is permissible.
If I was going to get into the water I would be looking for places where the sand was recently removed, like dips or where there were rip currents that moved the sand.
Sometimes the dips below old cuts are good.
There is no tropical activity to speak of.
Remember where cuts and holes appeared last week. Certain holes tend to reappear seasonally year after year.
