Photo of Beach Just South of Fort Pierce Inlet This Morning.I checked three beaches this morning. From what I saw I would have to say that not much has happened yet, but there is a little erosion beginning. The cut in this photo was a little over two feet high at its highest point. There were a number of modern coins there in a relatively wide line running along the cut. As usual, zinc pennies pretty well defined the top and ends of the line. Heavier coins were towards the middle of the cut and a near the lower edge of the coin line.
You usually will find erosion first in areas where there are obstructions such as jetties, inlets, seawalls, or rocks that obstruct the normal flow of sand and in areas where the sand has been brought in from somewhere else to build up the beach. That was the case today. South of the Fort Pierce inlet, you have three of those things - an inlet and jetty to the north and dredged fill sand on the beach.
Erosion will most often be on the south side of any such obstructions. On the north side of jetties, for example, you will most often see the beach building up rather than eroding due to the obstruction. The normal flow of sand along most of the East Coast of the US, and certainly Florida, seems to be towards the south.
John Brooks Beach Looking South This Morning.In contrast to the beach just south of the Fort Pierce inlet, here is another photo, which shows the beach at John Brooks. There was no new erosion there this morning. In fact, the sand seemed to be building up. You can see the sea weed, which is one sign of that. The sand there was also very mushy. Something will have to change before that beach erodes. I think it will take more than higher seas, most likely a change in how the waves are hitting the beach.
I believe,that most of the treasure beaches around the Treasure Coast will look more like this beach until something changes, so you might want to check out the beaches with obstructions to the flow of sand first.
Forecast.
Now that I've already talked about the current conditions, as much as I know about them, I'll jump ahead to the forecast.
Today the seas are supposed to increase to 7.5 feet this evening. Saturday it is supposed to increase from 7.5 feet to 8 feet, and then start slacking off a little Sunday.
The wind is going to be north/northeast through the next few days. That could make for improving conditions.
Right now, I've not seen enough yet to raise my conditions rating from a 1 yet.
There are some cuts out there, but I don't think that they are cuts that will produce cobs yet, and that is what my conditions rating system is focused on.
You can find modern items and old shipwreck artifacts with conditions that are not as good as those required for old silver and gold cobs. I just don't think things have improved enough yet to have a good chance at cobs. Hopefully that will come. I would say the chances of improvement are very good if the surf web sites are correct.
Happy Hunting,
TreasureGuide@comcast.net
