Written by the treasureGuide for the exclusive use of Treasurebeachesreport.blogspot.com.
To the left is a Mapquest image of an area that I used to enjoy. This area has changed a good bit since then, but I thought I'd show a few old coin holes.
By the way, I never ran into another detectorist at any of these spots back when I was hunting this area.
First, a trivia question: What U. S. President had a home that you can almost see on this map? I'll give the answer below.
I put numbers by some of the spots that I particularly enjoyed hunting for one reason or another. All five of these spots were small areas that could be quickly checked when I was in the area or passing by. If conditions were right, I would mine them, otherwise quickly move on.
Virginia Key has been renovated in recent years. When I was down that way, it was pretty much dilapidated and abandoned. There were a few people that used the parking lot up by spot 1 on the map but not many.
I'll start there. In the shallow water to the left of the "1" was one deep dip next to a rock groin that produced a good bit of modern gold jewelry. Surrounding the dip was a more shallow area that produced a few rings, but the dip was where the good hunting was.
On the beach by the "2" were some old white sand dunes that produced a lot of modern US silver coins. That area was one of the heavily used "colored beaches" back in the days of segregation. Anytime the dunes eroded you could find silver coins along with a few other surprises. The silver coins were mostly from the fifties and forties. Note the groins there.
By the "3" there was an unattractive junky beach where you could also find some older US coins. The coins there were not in good condition like those from the sand dunes at point two. They were often corroded very thin by the acid mangrove muck.
Old bottles also washed up there after Hurricane Andrew.
Near point 4 was a coral outcropping that was carpeted by old silver coins after hurricane Andrew. Most of the time the outcropping was covered entirely or partly by sand.
Near point five there was the remains of what appeared to be a gate. I doubt if there is any sign of the gate remaining now. Old US coins could be found there, including earlier coins such as barber dimes and shield nickels when the beach was eroding. These coins were generally older than those coming from the dunes at point 2.
There was a hard packed area near point 5, which I think was what remained of an old road or parking area right next to the beach, and I think the gate might have been where people paid an entrance fee. The hard packed area was eroding. I don't know that a fee was collected there for sure, but there were a lot of coins concentrated in that area
There are other spots on those two islands that I won't comment on much now. Some are still good areas for detecting modern jewelry and are rather well know and heavily hunted.
You might also know that genuine treasure chests were found on these keys. And you might know about the skirmish at the lighthouse, the military operations on the key and the coconut plantation, etc. Over by the lighthouse can be found traces of an old well that was a source of fresh water used by some of the very earliest explorers to pass by that area.
The answer to the trivia question: President Nixon had a summer home on the Key Biscayne.
It is easy enough to find good research material on these keys.
Satellite images like these can be very useful.
Climate Central says that 95% of major hurricanes occur in August, September or October. That means that it isn't over yet. There is still a lot of time left.
Here is the link to read more on that.
http://www.climatecentral.org/news/quiet-august-no-guarantee-of-an-inactive-hurricane-season-16378
The largest tidal bore of the decade in China destroyed part of a sea wall and injured onlookers.
Video: http://news.sky.com/story/1132109/huge-wave-crashes-into-wall-over-30-hurt
If you remember back in 2004, I think it was, when we had multiple hurricanes hit us in the same year, after those hurricanes the West bank of the Indian River was covered with tons of bottles, many of which were old. In the years after that the bottles were destroyed by erosion control projects or covered again by nature and most of the bottles disappeared. A few have been showing up again recently. They are few for sure in comparison, but it just goes to show that there are still a lot of them out there ready to appear again when conditions are right.. It would be easy to believe that they are gone forever, but I don't believe that.
If you were wondering, I found out that Michael E. received no reward or even offer of reward. Michael didn't return the ring expecting a reward anyhow and was glad to do the right thing. As I said, most of the time you probably won't get a reward, and sometimes not even a thank you, which I really have a hard time understanding, but that is the way it is.
Nothing new in the Atlantic and not much new on the Treasure Coast that I'll bother to report today.
Happy hunting,
TreasureGuide@comcast.net
