Written by the TreasureGuide for the exclusive use of treasurebeachesreport.blogspot.com.
Raft Recently Found on Treasure Coast Beach.I don't know if this is from immigrants floating in or something else. It reminds me of other rafts that I've seen on the beach, although most of them were much more substantial and used by Cubans arriving at South Florida.
Thanks to Bob H. for the photo. He said this raft was found on the beach north of the Island Dunes complex.
A few days ago I mentioned Odyssey Marine and wondered if it would repeat the previous pattern of rebounding sharply after a big drop in the stock price. Well, as I expected, it did - but not as sharply as the last time. The increase has been more gradual, even though yesterday it increased almost eight percent. At times yesterday, it was up nearly 20%. It also increased very nicely the two previous days of trading as well.
I received a link to a story this morning suggesting that the recent share price increase is due to the Gairsoppa project.
The Gairsoppa is believed to hold a cargo of silver worth more than $210 million today. Odyssey's salvage agreement with the United Kingdom will give Odyssey 80 percent of the net salvaged value of the silver recovered.
Thanks to Jim M. for submitting the following link to that story.
http://finance.yahoo.com/news/Odyssey-Marine-pops-on-apf-2722516200.html?x=0&.v=4
The expected value of that silver will be less if the price of silver continues to decrease. The price of silver has gone from over $40 an ounce to around $30 this month.
The spot price of gold is about $1657 this morning. It was up to $1900 not long ago.
Yesterday I talked about analyzing beaches. You might want to refer back to the sketch that I used yesterday. I'll talk a little today about how old treasure coins move on a beach.
First, you might recall that I did a survey once asking where people had found old treasure coins on the beach. The results confirmed what I had personally found. Treasure coins have been found on almost every part of a beach at one time or another - even in places, that according to some theories, would be surprising.
You might also recall that I mentioned yesterday how the sand on the front of a beach is frequently eroded and replaced. On the very front of the beach sand is lost and replaced many times each year, while on the back beach, the sand is not moved nearly as often or as much.
Of the treasure coins found on the front beach, most are washed in at one time or another. It might appear that they were washed out of the beach by recent erosion when they appear below a cut, but in most cases they had to wash in first. That could occur either when the beach was building or when the level of the beach was cut down and the water was high and coming in and dropping coins on the lowered beach. In front of a cut there is some pretty heavy wave action that could bring in coins and drop them at the base of a cut.
I've actually seen cobs fall out of the face of a cut as the beach was cutting, so I know they wash out at times. On the front beach, the question is how those cobs got in the sand that was cutting in the first place. Remember, on the front beach, the sand has been removed many times and then replaced. When the dunes are low and far back, there is no way for the coins to get on the front beach other than washing in at some point.
Between the two methods mentioned above, the most likely is that the cobs are washed in by the rough surf when the front of the beach has been lowered.
I've never found cobs on the surface of a building beach, although I have found them on the surface just above the face of a cut and in the sea weed line on uncut beaches. However, cobs are never, or should I say almost never, found on or near the surface of a beach front that has a lot of newly accumulated sand on it.
I've seen coins flip up over the face of a cliff, so I have some idea how that can happen. It also appears that small cobs can under certain circumstances travel with the shells, and they are sometimes found in the with the shells above the face of a cut.
If you watch items move in the surf on the front of the beach, there is a lot of variation on how they move at different times. Sometimes they'll wash up the slope, sometimes down the slope and sometimes move more sideways. Sometimes they'll flip, sometimes slide, and sometimes roll, and sometimes they'll pretty much stick where they are as they seem to bury themselves. There are many variables to take into account. I definitely can't get into all of that now.
Anyhow, I am sure that cobs wash onto the front beach where they are later uncovered by erosion. It appears to me that they mostly wash in when the surf is rough and the level of sand has been lowered and there is strong wave action all the way back to the face of the cut. After they wash in and are deposited, they are covered as the old cut fills and the beach builds again.
That is my best theory anyhow. I'll have to get around to talking about other situations and other parts of the beach some other time.
I reminded of some other factors that I don't have time to get into today.
I guess I'll stop there today.
Treasure Coast Beach Forecast and Conditions
The surf web sites are now predicting higher seas, up to 6.5 feet by Monday. then Calm seas are expected for a few days and then starting to increase this weekend.
Very often the surf web sites predict higher seas several days in advance but as the time draws nearer the predictions for big seas either disappear or is reduced very significantly. Hopefully will actually get six foot or higher seas.
Philippe seems headed into the mid Atlantic. Opehlia could form again and might be the reason for the predicted higher seas.
Until then, conditions on the Treasure Coast remain poor.
Happy hunting,
Treasureguide@comcast.net