8/28/13 Report - Beach Erosion, 1860 Shipwreck, Canadian Coins & Nugget Ring

Written by the TreasureGuide for the exclusive use of treasurebeachesreport.blogspot.com.

Typical Treasure Coast Beach This Morning Near Low Tide.

I haven't been out to the beach very much lately, partly because of a foot injury.   I went out this morning to take a look.  It wasn't very exciting.  It was pretty much what I expected, with one exception.

I did find one spot where there was about a four foot cut, and not in renourishment sand.  The cut didn't run far.  The slope in front of the cut was mushy.  Nearer the water the sand was more firm.

Below is the cut that I found.  It ran maybe a hundred yards or less.  I think it probably occurred yesterday morning when a local thunderstorm came through.  Local storms can cause enough waves to create some erosion.

Cut on Treasure Coast Beach This Morning.

This cut is not in replenishment sand, as most of the cuts are these days.

This erosion was at a place where the shoreline projected out into the water as illustrated by the blue lines in the picture below.

Erosion at areas of the shoreline like that shown by the red area above will be more productive than erosion at places that project into the water, such as that shown by the blue lines.  The cut shown in the photo above was at a place like that area illustrated by the blue lines above.  It appears that the shoreline was in the process of being straightened out a little.

Also notice the sea weed in the photo above.  I  talked about sea weed a little yesterday.  Here it shows that some small amount of filling occurred since the cut was created.

There is nothing like being out there.  There is no substitute for actually looking at a beach first-hand and perhaps doing a little sampling with your detector. 

Not only does that tell you if there might be much of anything to be found, but it also tells you how the sand is moving at different places.  That can be very helpful information.  Occasionally you'll be surprised by what you see no matter how much you've learned about how beaches work.

If you are out there looking at the beaches everyday that is a huge advantage.  Most of us don't want to live our lives on the beach though, and we have other responsibilities and other things to do.  We want to cut down on unproductive trips and make the most of our time.

Tomorrow I'll talk about one way to make the most of your time.  It involves really knowing the different spots along the shore.  When you know a lot about a lot of different areas, you can quickly check them out and move on until you find a beach that is really worth spending some time on.

I like to check on the beaches that I think have a good chance of being the most productive, but after taking a look, I often decide to move on to check out another spot without even taking my detector out of the car.   Why spend hours at a low probability spot when other spots might be more productive?  Of course to make that type of decision, you need to know the different beaches, and as I've recently described, you should know the frequency and average value of finds at that spot.  You'll also need to know how to read the beach and how to evaluate the current conditions.  Of course when you estimate probabilities you'll sometimes be wrong but over the long term it will pay off.

Gold Nugget Ring Dug on Treasure Coast Beach

Gold nugget rings were popular back some years ago.  Here is one I think is a little strange.  Only a small part of it looks like a nugget.  I don't know what that is about.


The wreck of the Robert J. Walker, a steamer that sank while returning from surveying the Gulf Coast in 1860, has been identified, in part from the unique square port holes.

http://www.livescience.com/39213-new-jersey-shipwreck-identified.html


We get a lot of visitors from Canada in Florida, especially during the winter.  That means that you'll find a good number of Canadian coins, especially at certain beaches such as Hollywood Beach, where Canadians tourists have gathered in great numbers over the years.  Anyhow, older Canadian coins can be worth a bit too.

Here is a good web site that gives values and information on Canadian coins.

http://www.coinsandcanada.com/coins-prices.php

I was looking up information on an older dug Canadian coin and discovered this web site.


Even though I was a little surprised by the cut I saw this morning, I was also surprised how little a adjacent beach has changed over the past weeks and maybe even months. 

We're still having mostly southeast winds.  The surf will decrease a little tomorrow, dropping down to 1 - 2 feet.  The low tide won't be real low tomorrow.

For now, Happy hunting,
TreasureGuide@comcast.net